At various locations throughout their Muisca Confederation, the people constructed temples honouring their main deities; Sué, the Sun, and his consort Chía, the Moon.

[4] Conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, after defeating the last zipa of the southern Muisca Tisquesusa in 1537, founded the city of Bogotá on 6 August 1538.

Two other main expeditions reached the newly founded capital of the New Kingdom of Granada in 1539; led by Nikolaus Federmann from the east and Sebastián de Belalcázar from the south.

[6] During the early colonial period, the Plaza Mayor was a market square, where circus acts, civil, religious and cultural events, and until 1681 bullfights were held.

The Holy Chapel was built at the end of the 17th century and the Viceroyalty Palace on the southeastern corner started construction in 1719 and was inaugurated in 1724.

[1] The present-day Primary Cathedral on the eastern side dates from the early 19th century; construction was started in 1807 by Domingo de Petres and finished in 1823.

[7] The National Capitol on the southern side, the seat of the Colombian Congress, was initiated in 1846 but due to the political instability of the country it was not finished until 1926.

[9] The Palace of Justice, a large international style building where the Supreme Court is housed, was first built in 1921 but was destroyed by a fire during the Bogotazo after the murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in April 1948.