page_title: History of Bogotá
section_title: Pre-Columbian era
hierarchical_section_title: History of Bogotá / Pre-Columbian era
caption_attribution_description: Sección del Parque Arqueológico de Sogamos. Foto: Ricardo Rodríguez Q.
context_page_description: The history of Bogotá refers to the history of the area surrounding the Colombian capital Bogotá. The area around Bogotá was first populated by groups of indigenous people that migrated from mesoamerica. Among these groups were the Muisca that settled on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in what is now Cundinamarca and Boyacá. With the arrival of the Spanish colonizers the area was developed into a major settlement that was founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1538, and became capital of the Spanish Empire provinces and the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. With independence, Bogotá became the capital of the Gran Colombia, and -subsequently- of the Republic of Colombia.
context_section_description: The first indigenous people inhabiting Bogotá were the Muisca, who spoke Chibcha. At the arrival of the conquerors, the Muisca have been estimated to consist of 110,000 to two million people. The Muisca occupied the mild-climate highlands between the Sumapaz mountains to the southwest and the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy in the northeast. They lived within an approximate area of 25,000 km² (9,700 sq mi), which comprised Bogotá's high plateau, the current Boyacá department portion, and a small part of Santander. The most fertile lands were ancient Pleistocene lake beds, remnants of Lake Humboldt, forming the Bogotá savanna, an area called Bacatá, and regions irrigated by the Bogotá, Suárez and Chicamocha Rivers.
  Politically, the area formed part of the Muisca Confederation with the northern ruler called zaque (ruling from Hunza, present-day Tunja) and the southern ruler, based in Bacatá, the zipa. The Muisca were predominantly farmers and traders and formed a dispersed population occupying numerous small villages and settlements with wooden and clay houses, called bohíos by the Spanish. The iraca of sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi was the principal religious leader. Other rulers were Tundama in the city of the same name, now called Duitama and various independent caciques, mainly of Guatavita, Ubaté, Ubaque and Vélez. The original hunter-gatherer population of the Herrera Period, predating the Muisca, slowly changed into a sedentary community based on agriculture. The people cultivated maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, tubers, such as yuca, tobacco, arracacha, sweet potatoes and various fruits and vegetables. The Muisca people were called "Salt People", due to their extraction of salt from brines in large pots. The main salt mines were and are still in Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Tausa, at the northern edge of the Bogotá savanna. Emeralds were mined in Chivor and Somondoco and traded with the Muzo, who were called the "Emerald People". Cotton was cultivated by the higher-altitude neighbours, such as the Lache and U'wa to the north.
caption: Model of ancient Muisca houses in the Archaeology Museum of Sogamoso. These types of housing were present in what is now Bogotá.
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