The ''Cabildo Mayor del Pueblo Muisca'' is an organisation of

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, in particular the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

. It was established in September 2002 in

Bosa Bosa is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano (until May 2005 it was in the province of Nuoro), part of the Sardinia region of Italy. Bosa is situated about two-thirds of the way up the west coast of Sardinia, on a small hill, about ...

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The organisation, member of National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), focuses on defending the rights of the descendants of the Muisca, and the development of cultural and historical heritage, territory and health and the linguistics of the indigenous language, Muysccubun.

Background

The Muisca, meaning "people" or "person" in the indigenous language Muysccubun, were the indigenous inhabitants of the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

, the central high plateau in the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

of the Colombian

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

before the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

. Additionally, they inhabited neighbouring valleys and highlands as the

Tenza Valley The Tenza Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Tenza'') is an intermontane valley in the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The valley stretches over the southeastern part of the departments of Colomb ...

and

Ocetá Páramo The Ocetá Páramo (Spanish: ''Páramo de Ocetá'') is a páramo, which means an ecosystem above the continuous forest line yet below the permanent snowline. This particular páramo is located at altitudes between and in the Eastern Ranges of ...

. Their major concentration was on the fertile lands of the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

, bordered to the east by the Eastern Hills. The name "Muisca", or "Muysca", has been given to the native people by the

Spanish conquistadors Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

who reached the Muisca territory after a harsh expedition from the Caribbean coastal city of

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

in March 1537. The diverse collection of indigenous people known as Muisca or Chibchas, due to their language being part of the

Chibchan languages The Chibchan languages (also known as Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa R ...

family, was first submitted in the south, where the ''

zipa When the Spain, Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''Zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Funza, Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ...

'' of

Bacatá Bacatá (Chibcha: or ) is the name given to the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation on the Bogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern ...

was the main leader (''

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

''). The ''zipa'' conquered by the Spanish was

Tisquesusa Tisquesusa, also spelled Thisquesuza, Thysquesuca or Thisquesusha (referred to in the earliest sources as Bogotá, the Elder) (died Facatativá, 1537) was the fourth and last independent ruler ('' psihipqua'') of Muyquytá, main settlement of t ...

, who died in

Facatativá Facatativá is a city and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, located about 18 miles (31 km) northwest of Bogotá, Colombia and 2,586 meters above sea level. The city is known for its Archaeological Park Piedras del Tunjo (Rocks of ...

in April 1537. His successor was the last ''zipa'', under Spanish rule in the

New Kingdom of Granada New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, established with the foundation of Bogotá on August 6, 1538, by main conquistador

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (; 1509 – 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory n ...

. After he and two other conquistadors who reached the highlands of the Eastern Ranges,

Nikolaus Federmann Nikolaus Federmann (, ) (c. 1505, Ulm – February 1542, Valladolid) was a German adventurer and conquistador in what is modern-day Venezuela and Colombia. He is a significant figure in the history of Klein-Venedig (1528–1546), the concessio ...

and

Sebastián de Belalcázar Sebastián Moyano y Cabrera, best known as Sebastián de Belalcázar (; c. 1490 – April 28, 1551) was a Spanish conquistador. Belalcázar, also written as Benalcázar. He is known as the founder of important early virreinal cities in the northw ...

left for Spain in 1539, the reign of the

Spanish colony The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

was left in the hands of the brother of De Quesada,

Hernán Pérez de Quesada Hernán Pérez de Quesada, sometimes spelled as Quezada, (c. 1515 – 1544) was a Spanish conquistador. Second in command of the army of his elder brother, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Hernán was part of the first European expedition towards ...

. Under his command, various atrocities against the indigenous people were committed, including torture and murder. The last

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

pertaining to the Muisca,

Tundama Tundama or Saymoso (15th century – late December 1539 in Duitama) was a ''cacique'' of the Muisca Confederation, a loose confederation of different rulers of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of the Co ...

, was killed by conquistador

Baltasar Maldonado Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado,
– Bank of the Republic (Colombia), Banc ...

in December 1539 near

. During the colonial reign, the Muisca were enslaved by the Spanish and forced to pay tributes in gold,

emeralds Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, ...

and other valuables and forced to work in the emerald,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

salt mines Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations. History Before the advent of the modern internal combust ...

present on the Altiplano. A process of evangelisation was started with the formation of the Audiencia in 1550 and the last public

religious ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

of the Muisca under colonial rule took place in

Ubaque Ubaque is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Ubaque borders the municipalities Choachí in the north, Fómeque in the east, Cáqueza and Chipaque in the south and in the west is the ...

in December 1563. As with other pre-Columbian civilisations in the Americas, the indigenous population dwindled because of European diseases as

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

and

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

(65 to 85%) and the Spanish succeeded in the

mestizaje ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

of the indigenous groups; marriages between indigenous and European people.Francis, 2002, p.59 The Muisca language has been considered extinct since the late eighteenth century. Modern revival of the indigenous language is present in linguistic projects. In the early colonial period, the indigenous communities of the Bogotá savanna were subdivided into two main areas; Bosa and Bogotá.Herrera Ángel, 2006, p.127 The locality of Bogotá, Suba, was inhabited by Muisca since around 800 AD and originally called ''Zhuba''. During the expansion of the Colombian capital in the 1950s, conflicts with the indigenous peoples of Suba arose.Pedro Gómez vs. los Muiscas: la disputa por la tierra en Suba
/ref>

''Cabildo Mayor del Pueblo Muisca''

Several '' cabildos'' of indigenous people were formed in Colombia in 1989. At a forum held in 1999, ''Los muiscas; un pueblo en reconstrucción'', the Muisca communities formulated a plan for a proper organisation of their people.El Cabildo Muisca de Bosa y los desafíos históricos de la ciudad multicultural
/ref> The indigenous communities of

,Comunicado del Cabildo Indígena Muisca de Bosa
/ref> and Suba in

and

Cota Cota or COTA may refer to: People Surname * Ava Michelle Cota (born 2002), American actress * Chad Cota (born 1971), American football player * Chase Cota (born 1999), American football player *Ed Cota (born 1976), American basketball player * H ...

,Pronunciamiento público del Pueblo Ancestral Muisca de Cota
/ref> Chía and

Sesquilé Sesquilé is a town and municipality in Almeidas Province in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. Sesquilé in the Chibcha language of the Muisca means "hot water".

in Cundinamarca gathered between September 20 and 22, 2002 in Bosa at the first ''Congreso General del Pueblo Muisca'' where they established the ''Cabildo Mayor del Pueblo Muisca'', as member of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC). Additionally, the ''Cabildo Mayor del Pueblo Muisca'' supports the indigenous communities of

Ubaté Ubaté (originally Villa San Diego de Ubaté) is a town and municipality in the Ubaté Province, part of Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Ubaté is the capital of the province with the same name and situated in the Ubaté–Chiquinquirá Vall ...

Tocancipá Tocancipá () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Tocancipá is situated in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Easter ...

Soacha Soacha is an autonomous municipality of the department of Cundinamarca in Colombia, and part of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá. It has an important industrial zone and is home to mostly working-class families. Soacha borders Bojacá and Mosq ...

Ráquira Ráquira, is a municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Ráquira is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the urban center at an altitude of . It borders Tinjacá and Sutamarc ...

and

Tenjo Tenjo is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is located at an altitude of on the Bogotá savanna. Tenjo is part of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá and bor ...

.Tayrona, Emberá y Muisca
/ref> In 2010, two

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s were founded for the children of the descendants of the original Muisca.Tribus indigenas desaparecidas después de la conquista europea
/ref>

Activities

The ''Cabildo'' is active in five areas: education and culture, health, interethnic relations, territory and environment and linguistics.
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* *

External links