Muisca people

The Chibcha were an indigenous people in South America and were part of the Chibcha language family of languages. They consisted mainly in the Andes from the Muisca, Guane, pool and Chitarero. They lived partly on the Rio Magdalena, near the present-day Bogotá, Colombia. Previously they lived in what is now Panama, and on the eastern Andes of Colombia.

Culturally, the Chibcha were similar to the Inca. They used agriculture by means of a good irrigation system. Their garb was woven from cotton. They were known as good goldsmith; the jewels of the Chibcha consisted of gold leaf and were decorated by fine strands and anthropomorphic figures. After the Inca era, the Chibcha have formed controlled by caciques ( chiefs ) States which were culturally developed very far to the Conquista. It is known that you used emeralds as a medium of exchange.

The Spanish explorers arrived around 1536 this people, which subsequently led to the disintegration of its social and political structures. Until the 18th century the culture of the Chibcha was as good as extinct.

Today, even a South American cultural complex to organize the indigenous is called " Chibcha ".

Religion and organization

The Chibcha revered Bochica, a descendant of the sun demigod. Their religion does not seem to differ from that of other pre-Columbian cultures very human sacrifices were not rare. They gave their gods emeralds.

They were organized in a kind of confederation of several tribes, these were the Muiscas Guanes, Laches, and Pijaos Chitareros.

The Muiscas north of Zipaquira resident, were characterized by the dominance of the goldsmith's art so much of that it became the main supplier of the Inca Empire.

The ruler in Zipaquira, the capital city in Colombia today, ruled not without difficulties about the different provinces, as these were largely autonomous, but received taxes, which were adapted to the resources of the province. The absence of a common defense explains the vulnerability of the empire that went down without difficulty by the Spaniards.

From a Chibcha tradition of Eldorado myth has sprung, the not inconsequential drove the Spaniards to explore and conquest of South America. The Chibcha had the custom to cover their new king during the enthronement with gold dust. The new ruler in the sun should shine like the son of the sun, as he was. This king then had to bathe in the sacred Guatavita Lake, while the crowd threw valuable items into the water. As witnesses of the ceremony, many of these objects in the Museo del Oro in Bogota are exhibited, including the gold raft of Eldorado.

The houses of the Chibcha were circular, mostly built jointly and made ​​of wood and straw.

See also: Indigenous peoples of South America