Muzo borders Otanche and San Pablo de Borbur in the north, Maripí and Coper in the east, Quípama in the west and the department of Cundinamarca in the south.

[1] Before the Spanish conquest of the Eastern Colombian Andes, the region of Muzo was inhabited by the people with the same name.

The first to arrive in Muzo territory was Luis Lanchero, soldier of the conquest expedition led by Nikolaus Federmann, in 1539.

[4] He encountered fierce resistance by the indigenous Muzo and had to return to the newly founded capital Santafe de Bogotá of the New Kingdom of Granada in 1541.

[1] They set up encomiendas to guard the valuable gemstones and used the indigenous people to perform slave labour for the extraction of the minerals.

[1] The Muzo mines are situated in the western flank of the Eastern ranges of the Colombian Andes.