Muisca warfare

The Muisca inhabited the Tenza and Ubaque valleys and the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau of the Colombian Eastern Ranges of the Andes in the time before the Spanish conquest.

The Muisca economy was based on agriculture and trading raw materials like cotton, coca, feathers, sea snails and gold with their neighbours.

Between the northern and southern parts of the Muisca Confederation, battles were fought where the zipa, ruling over the Bogotá savanna in the south and the zaque of Hunza in the north contested for control over terrains.

The guecha warriors were armed with blowpipes, spears, clubs, and slings; and defended themselves with long shields and thick multi-layered cotton mantles.

Modern anthropological research has revised some of the accounts of the early chroniclers on the war-like status of the Muisca, who were even by the conquistadors considered more traders and negotiators than fighters.

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense and neighbouring Ubaque and Tenza Valleys to the east the inhabited was very much isolated from the coast of later Colombia, but via trade routes and many markets held frequently, they were connected with their neighbouring indigenous groups; to the west and northwest the Panche, Muzo and Yarigui people, to the north the Guane, Lache and U'wa, in the eastern part towards the vast flatlands of the Llanos Orientales the Achagua, Guayupe and Tegua people and to the south in the mountains of Sumapaz the Sutagao.

The Sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi was ruled by a priest, called iraca and the northernmost area headed by the Tundama based in the hills around the former lake of Duitama.

This legend formed the main goal for the Spanish conquest that took the conquistadors more than a year into the Andes, from Santa Marta, where they left in early April 1536.

[1] Although early descriptions by Spanish chroniclers narrate about warfare, later revision of earlier beliefs has revealed that the Muisca were more a community of traders than warriors.

[7] Both Pedro Simón and Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita describe the guecha warriors as strong and brave men, recruited from the people in the various villages of the Muisca Confederation.

[8] While jewellery was not common among the general people, and after installation of the Code of Nemequene even prohibited, the guecha warriors wore jewels such as golden or tumbaga nose pieces, pectorals, earrings and crowns with coloured feathers.

[18] The first battle was around the year 1470 in Pasca between the zipa of Bacatá Saguamanchica, leading an army of around 30,000 guecha warriors, and the cacique of the Sutagao, resulting in a victory of the first and the inclusion of the southern region into the Muisca Confederation.

[21] The narratives of the exhausted conquerors talk about attacks of hundreds of warriors against the greatly reduced troops of De Quesada, which the Spanish fought off.

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense , deep in the Colombian Andes, was the region where the Muisca established a loose confederation composed of small settlements. Their total population is estimated between 300,000 and two million people
Slings of woven cotton with stones were used by the guecha warriors in battle
The warriors threw their stones with slings when hunting or battling
Other than the general people, the guecha warriors were allowed to wear feathered crowns and golden jewels
To throw their arrows, the Muisca warriors used slings similar to the atlatl of Mesoamerica
Poisoned darts were shot using blowpipes
San Francisco , in the time of the Muisca called Chinga , was one of the locations where the guecha warriors defended the Confederation against the attacks by the Panche
Tocarema , present-day Cachipay , here guarded by rainbow god Cuchavira , was the site of the Battle of Tocarema on August 20, 1538, between an alliance of the Spanish with the last Muisca zipa Sagipa and the Panche people
Spears were used by the Muisca for hunting and fishing and in battle
The "thunder sticks" of the Spanish conquistadors scared the Muisca people and they considered them supernatural