Muisca rulers

{{Short description|Rulers of loose chiefdoms in pre-Spanish Colombia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} [[File:Gold Museum Muisca Tunjos BOG 03 2018 8305.jpg|thumb|Muisca Tunjos.]] '''Muisca rulers''' were so-called "aggrandizers", that is charismatic leaders at the head of various factions, who forged alliances and relations of subordination with various communities and ruled over the Muisca, a pre-hispanic indigenous group of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Andes.<ref name="Hope Henderson">Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 2005, p. 151</ref> The Muisca communities did not have a unified political entity, but were ruled by several chiefdoms or ''cacicazgos'', some of which formed confederations of chiefdoms.<ref name="François Correa Rubio">François Correa Rubio, ''El sol del poder: Simbologia y politica entre los muiscas del norte de los Andes'', 2004, p. 18</ref> At the time of the Spanish invasion, four confederations were thriving in Muisca territory: Bogotá, Tunja, Duitama and Sogamoso.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-2">Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI'', 1987</ref> Additionally, there were independent chiefdoms in the north-west.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-3">Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI'', 1987, pp. 38–39</ref> The Chibcha-speaking Guane and Lache were also ruled by the confederation of Guanentá and the confederation of El Cocuy respectively.<ref>Blanca Ofelia Acuña Rodríguez, ''Territorio Indígena de la sal en la Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. S. XVI'', 2006</ref><ref>Camilo Barrios, ''Los Guanes: Una comunidad periférica?'', p. 26</ref>

Power was based simultaneously on prestige and authority,<ref name="Ana María Boada Rivas">Ana María Boada Rivas, ''The Evolution of Social Hierarchy in a Muisca Chiefdom of the Northern Andes of Columbia'', 2007, p. 9</ref><ref name="Carl Langebaek">Carl Langebaek, ''Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys'', 1995, p. 29</ref> in the form of rules of succession and a degree of popular consent.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI,'' 1987, p. 30</ref><ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> Economically, chiefs (or ''caciques'') are in permanent competition to show strengthen their legitimacy and power (and finance artisanery) by redistributing an accumulated surplus of goods.<ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> Chiefs had a distributing role as organizers of Muisca ''tamsas'' (erroneously translated as "tributes"), in receiving goods from their subjects and redistributing the accumulated products in exchange for labor.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-4">Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI'', 1987, p. 47</ref>

== Muisca chiefdoms and ''capitanías'' == Muisca chiefdoms were centralized, but not state-like, as communities remained autonomous.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek">Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys'', 1995, p. 27</ref> There were four or five levels of political hierarchy: At the base, there were the minor matrilineal units named ''uta'', which constituted major units (''sybyn'' or ''zybin''); ''sybyn'' formed chiefdoms, some of which were organized into confederations.<ref name="François Correa Rubio" /> Additionally, some chiefdoms of border-areas of the Bogotá confederation were ''uzacazgos'' (like Pasca or Guasca),<ref>Uribe Villegas, Martinón-Torres, and Quintero Guzmán, ''The Muisca Raft: Context, materiality and technology'', 2021, p. 301</ref> and represented an intermediate level of hierarchy between chiefdoms and confederations.<ref name="François Correa Rubio" /> Generally, a sybyn was a village and uta were groups of houses, however cases ave been documented of sybyn and uta existing independently.<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 1995, p. 150</ref> Potentially, there existed groups of one ''sybyn'' (major) and one ''uta'' (minor) unit, as the Muisca had a dualistic thought.<ref>Roberto Lleras Pérez, ''Las estructuras de pensamiento dual en el ámbito de las sociedades indígenas de los andes orientales'', p. 10</ref> Power was loose however, especially when subordinated territoires were far from the political center.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek" /> In modern-day Colombia, chiefdoms might correspond to ''municipios'' and ''capitanías'' to ''veredas''.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Regional Archaeology in the Muisca Territory: A Study of the Fúquene and Susa Valleys'', 1995, p. 113</ref>

The Spaniards called basic matrilineal units, whether ''sybyn'' or ''uta'', "''capitanías''", and the rulers of these entities were called "capitanes" (captains) in Spanish.<ref name="Hope Henderson" /> In ''muysccubun'', a major captain was called ''sybyntiba'' or ''tybarogue'',<ref name="François Correa Rubio" /> and a minor captain was known as a ''tybarogue'',<ref>Ana María Boada Rivas, ''The Evolution of Social Hierarchy in a Muisca Chiefdom of the Northern Andes of Columbia'', 2007, p. 5</ref> ''utatiba'',<ref>Eduardo Londoño, ''El lugar de la religión en la organización social muisca'', p. 1</ref> or just ''uta''.<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 2005, p. 154</ref>

== Non-patrilineal heritage of rule == The position of the ruler was inherited, but the line of succession was not patrilineal. Instead, the chief was succeeded by his nephew, the oldest son of his oldest sister. There were exceptions, and the ruler's subjects, apparently, had some say in the matter, if only to confirm the successor in his post.<ref name="bushnell">{{cite book |author=Bushnell, David |author-link=David Bushnell (historian) |title=Colombia: Una nación a pesar de sí misma |publisher=Planeta |year=2012 |isbn=978-958-42-1729-5 |location=Bogotá, Colombia |pages=26–27 |language=es}}</ref> Other family members inherited furniture of the chief.<ref>José Rozo Gauta, ''Los Muiscas: Organización social y régimen político'', 1978, p. 48</ref>

== Legitimacy == The legitimacy of chiefs was founded on individual prestige and institutional authority.<ref name="Ana María Boada Rivas" /><ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> The centre of a chiefs domaine is his ''cercado'' or enclosure.<ref name="Uribe Villegas">Uribe Villegas, Martinón-Torres, and Quintero Guzmán, ''The Muisca Raft: Context, materiality and technology'', 2021, p. 293</ref> The power of chiefs is not measured in terms of gold or money, but by the sumptuous decorations of the ''cercado''<nowiki/>'s wooden palisades and by the chief's exotic clothing.<ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> Inside ''cercados'', the chief possesses multiple structures, including his and his wive's residences and various stockhouses.<ref name="Ana María Boada Rivas" /> Powerful chiefs had large ''cercados'', whose vicinity was occupied by markets, feasts and ceremonies, whose surroundings were settled by multiple subordinated entities.<ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> However, the traditional interpretation of ''cercados'' as places where powerful chiefs, supposedly belonging to an elite composed of lineages, demonstrated their political domination has not been conclusively proven archaeologically, and is most likely to be associated with colonial misunderstandings.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Los Muiscas'', 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 266</ref> The ''cercado'' legitimised social and political relations as an axis mundi, and as spatial representation of tradition and continuity.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Los Muiscas'', 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 263–264</ref> Muisca elites built their legitimacy around the metonymical concept of ''gue'' ("house"; by extension "community" as opposed to "''gueba''", foreigner or sacrifice of foreigners), considered as a living thing, and it's needs (feeding).<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 2005, pp. 153–154</ref> Principles of seniority (''guexica'', "grandfather") and rules of succession (''guecha'', "uncle" or "warrior"), both related to the "''gue''" concept, were the basis for the chief's legitimacy.<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 2005, p. 159</ref> Polyginy (a form of polygamy) was, contrary to the sayings of some colonial-era writers, most likely a privilege of chiefs and captains.<ref>Ana María Boada Rivas, ''The Evolution of Social Hierarchy in a Muisca Chiefdom of the Northern Andes of Columbia'', 2007, p. 7</ref><ref>José Rozo Gauta, ''Los Muiscas: Organización social y régimen político'', 1978, pp. 5–7</ref> The chief's main wife was the only true "partner", of the same rank and power as the chief himself.<ref>José Rozo Gauta, ''Los Muiscas: Organización social y régimen político'', 1978, p. 21</ref> She was imposed on him by the members the ruling class.<ref>José Rozo Gauta, ''Los Muiscas: Organización social y régimen político'', 1978, pp. 12–13</ref> Before assuming their function, chiefs spend multiple years in a closed ''bohío'', before receiving the ear and lip pendants characteristic of their function.<ref>Uribe Villegas, Martinón-Torres, and Quintero Guzmán, ''The Muisca Raft: Context, materiality and technology'', 2021, p. 292</ref> Muisca chiefs' seats are similar to the Caribbean ''duho'', as they are low and have an elongated form.<ref name="Uribe Villegas" />

Redistributing the surplus of accumulated goods to the subjects was a fundamental part of achieving legitimacy.<ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> Indeed, a certain degree of popular consent was necessary.<ref name="Carl Langebaek" /> The chiefs power is individualistic and not institutionalized,<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', pp. 169–170</ref> and alliances are variously formed with ''sybyn'' (major basic units), ''uta'' (minor basic units) and individual ''gue'' (houses).<ref name="Hope Henderson" />

=== Minor ''capitanías'' (uta) === In some cases, the function of captain of a minor unit was hereditary, and in others it was assigned by the chief.<ref name="Hope Henderson" />

== Role == The main role of chiefs was to "feed" and serve of the deities, the settlement (a living thing), and the subjects.<ref>Hope Henderson, Nicholas Ostler, ''Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies'', 2005, p. 173</ref> Additionally, the role of the chief was to distribute the accumulated goods during "''tamsas''", falsely translated as "tributes".<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-4" /> The chief of Sogamoso, where the Sun Temple was located, cumulated religious and political functions.<ref name="José Rozo Gauta">José Rozo Gauta, ''Alimentación y Medicina entre los Muiscas'', 1998, pp. 95–96</ref> Reciprocity was practiced between members of the elite.<ref>Carl Langebaek, ''Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas SIGLO XVI,'' 1987, pp. 47–48</ref> Because of the ambiguity of the Spanish term "capitanía", the exact role of captains (at the head of basic matrilineal units) remains uncertain.<ref name="Hope Henderson" /> There is disagreement between Carl Henrik Langebaek and Jorge Augusto Gamboa on the exact politico.-economic role of chiefs, as the latter argues for a "moduler or cellular" model similar to Mesoamerica.<ref>MARTÍN ERNESTO ÁLVAREZ TOBOS, LOS MUISCAS. LA HISTORIA MILENARIA DEL PUEBLO MUISCA, Carl Hnerik Langebaek, doi: https://10.22380/20274688.841, 2020, Fronteras de la Historia</ref>

== Organization of Muisca territory == [[File:Mapa del Territorio Muisca.svg|thumb|Map of the Muisca territory according to Falchetti and Plazas in the 1970s. This map has received criticism, however, as it mainly uses the late 17th century chronicler Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita, considered unreliable.<ref>Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, ''El Cacicazgo muisca en los años posteriores a la Conquista'', 2017 Edition, p. 15</ref>]]

There were four muisca confederations of chiefdoms, and independent territories in the north-west.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-2" /> According to the Austro-Colombian anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, the north-west chiefdoms offered an idea of the state of muisca organisation prior to the expansion of some chiefdoms to form confederations.<ref name="Carl Henrik Langebaek-3" /> The chiefdom of Sogamoso or Iraca was related to the northern sun-cult around Sadigue, a parallel figure to Bochica.<ref name="José Rozo Gauta" /> According to some tales, the chiefs of Iraca were given religious rights by Bochica at his death.<ref name="Herrera Angel-1993" /> The chiefdoms of Sogamoso and Duitama were described as independent of Tunja in colonial documents.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Los Muiscas'', 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 93</ref> The position of the ''Zipa'' (chief of the Bogotá confederation) was such that not even the members of the nobility dared to look him in the face, and it is said if the ''Zipa'' needed to spit, someone would hold out a piece of rich cloth for him to spit on, because it would be sacrilegious for anything so precious as his saliva to touch the ground. Whoever held the cloth (all the while carefully looking the other way) then carried it off to be reverently disposed of.<ref name="bushnell" /> The histories and battles reported by the colonial-era writers called Spanish Chroniclers were liekly exaggerated or modified, but contain, according to Martha Herrera Angel, true events.<ref name="Herrera Angel-1993">{{Cite journal |last=Herrera Angel |first=Martha |date=August 1993 |title=Los senores Muiscas |url=https://www.banrepcultural.org/biblioteca-virtual/credencial-historia/numero-44/los-senores-muiscas |journal=Credencial HisÇtoria |volume=44 |via=Banco de la Republica en Colombia}}</ref> On the other hand, Carl Henrik Langebaek finds them to be moral stories told in the form of mythical narratives and misinterpreted by the Spaniards.<ref>Carl Henrik Langebaek, ''Los Muiscas'', 2019, Penguin Random House, p. 265</ref>

The ''Zipa'' was also given the responsibility of offering gold to the gods. He would cover himself with gold and float out on a royal barge to the middle of the sacred Lake Guatavita, where he would offer up golden trinkets. This is widely believed to be how the legend of El Dorado started.<ref name=bushnell />

When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived in the Muisca territories the ruling ''Zipa'' was '''Bogotá''' and the ''Zaque'' (chief of Tunja) was '''Eucaneme'''.

=== "Zaque" (term of disputed validity) === {| class=wikitable style="float:center;" ! colspan=5 | Muisca rulers of Hunza (''Zaques'') |- ! Image ! Name ! Start ! End ! Details |- | 60px|center | Hunzahúa | ? | 1470 | Founded city of Hunza, now Tunja |- | 60px|center | Michuá | 1470 | 1490 | Died in the Battle of Chocontá |- | 60px|center | Quemuenchatocha | 1490 | 1537 | Ruled when the Spanish arrived in modern-day Colombia<br> |- | 60px|center | Aquiminzaque | 1537 | 1539 | Last Muisca ruler |}

=== Zipa === {| class=wikitable style="float:center;" ! colspan=5 | Muisca rulers of Bacatá (''Zipas'') |- ! Image ! Name ! Start ! End ! Details |- | 60px|center | Meicuchuca | 1450 | 1470 | According to legend slept with a snake |- | 60px|center | Saguamanchica | 1470 | 1490 | Died in the Battle of Chocontá |- | 60px|center | Nemequene | 1490 | 1514 | Introduced the brutal Nemequene Code |- | 60px|center | Tisquesusa | 1514 | 1537 | Ruled when the Spanish arrived in Colombia |- | 60px|center | Sagipa | 1537 | 1539 | Last southern Muisca ruler |}

=== Other rulers === {| class=wikitable style="float:center;" ! colspan=5 | Muisca rulers of Tundama, Iraca and Turmequé |- ! Image ! Name ! Start ! End ! Details |- | | Tundama | | −1539 | Last ruler of Tundama |- | 60px|center | Sugamuxi | | −1539 | Last ''iraca'' of Sugamuxi |- | | Nompanim | | | Second-last ''iraca'' of Sugamuxi |- | | Diego de Torres y Moyachoque | 1571 | 1590 | Mestizo ''cacique'' of Turmequé |- |}

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== See also == {{Portal|Colombia}} *Spanish conquest of the Muisca *Muisca *Muisca Confederation

== References == {{reflist}}

{{Muisca topics|state=expanded}}

Category:Muisca rulers Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership