The Panche or Tolima is an indigenous group of people in what is now Colombia. Their language is

unclassified Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know ...

– and possibly unclassifiable – but may have been

Cariban The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pockets ...

. They inhabited the southwestern parts of the department of Cundinamarca and the northeastern areas of the department of Tolima, close to the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much o ...

. At the time of the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predec ...

, more than 30,000 Panche were living in what would become the

New Kingdom of Granada The New Kingdom of Granada ( es, Nuevo Reino de Granada), or Kingdom of the New Granada, was the name given to a group of 16th-century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Royal Audience of Santa ...

. Early knowledge about the Panche has been compiled by

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

Pedro Simón ''Fray'' Pedro Simón (San Lorenzo de la Parrilla, Spain, 1574 - Ubaté, New Kingdom of Granada, ca. 1628) was a Spanish franciscan friar, professor and chronicler of the indigenous peoples of modern day Colombia and Venezuela, at the time ...

. According to the latter, the word ''panche'' in their own Panche language means "cruel" and "murderer".

Panche territory

The Panche were inhabiting the lower altitude southwestern areas of the Cundinamarca department, close to the Magdalena River. Their northern neighbours were the

Muzo Muzo () is a town and municipality in the Western Boyacá Province, part of the department of Boyacá, Colombia. It is widely known as the world capital of emeralds for the mines containing the world's highest quality gems of this type. Muz ...

in the northeast and the Pantágora in the northwest, in the east the

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan l ...

, in the southeast the Sutagao and to the south and southwest the

Pijao The Pijao (also Piajao, Pixao, Pinao) are an indigenous people from Colombia. Ethnography The Pijao or Pijaos formed a loose federation of Amerindians and were living in the present-day department of Tolima, Colombia. In pre-Columbian time ...

. The northern limits were defined by the Río Negro and the Guarinó River and the southern limits the Coello and Fusagasugá Rivers. The Panche people were organized in a loose confederation with different subgroups whose names still remain as municipalities of Cundinamarca.

Municipalities belonging to Panche territories

Description

The Panche were a strong group of warriors who fought numerous battles with the neighbouring Muisca. They walked partially naked and were ornamented with earrings, feathers and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

en pieces.Martínez, 2005 The Panche hunted and fought wars with their enemies using sticks and clubs and poisoned arrows. They used poison of spiders and snakes for their arrows.

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s of the Panche were discovered in Tibacuy,

Viotá Viotá is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative divisi ...

El Colegio El Colegio () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative ...

Cachipay Cachipay is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Tequendama Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Cachipay borders Quipile in the west, Zipacón in the east, Anolaima in the north and La Mesa in the south. The urban centre is ...

, Albán, Sasaima. Rock paintings have been found in Tibacuy. Like other indigenous peoples of the Americas, such as the

Guane Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602. Geography The municipality is divided into the barrios of Cabo de San Antonio y La Fe, Catalina, Cortés, Hato de Guane, Isabel Rubio (Paso Real d ...

, the Panche performed

cranial deformation Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the human skull, skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull ...

. According to Pedro Simón, the Panche performed

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

on parts of their conquered enemies.De Perdomo, 1975, p.253 Some sources state they ate everything except for the heads, which they hung in their ''bohíos''. However, later research by various researchers has found no evidence for cannibalism and attribute the cannibalistic ideas to the Spanish conquistadores. In terms of their burial practices the Panches differed from their neighbours that the dead were not oriented in a fixed position, like the Muisca with their heads to the east and the Muzo with their heads to the west.De Perdomo, 1975, p.275

History

The Panche civilization has been described from 300 AD onwards. Around the year 1000 migrations from the Caribbean coast of Colombia happened inward. After the Spanish conquest and the installation of the

, the Panche quickly diminished due to their resistance against the Spanish conquistadores.Chair of the Panche chief, resistance against the Spanish
/ref> The first Spanish conquerors who invaded the Panche territories were Juan de Céspedes and Alonso de San Martín. Later conquest was performed by Hernán Venegas Carrillo. More than 2000 artefacts from the Panche are stored in the Museo del Oro in

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

1543-44 - Expedition Hernán Venegas Carrillo

References

Bibliography

* * * {{authority control Andean civilizations Indigenous peoples in Colombia Colombian culture Unclassified languages of South America