Goldsmiths and salt-traders of the cold Andean plateau, the Muisca wove emeralds and the El Dorado ritual at Lake Guatavita into one of the densest societies in pre-conquest South America.
Conquered by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1537; the Zipa Tisquesusa fell that year, the last Zaque Aquiminzaque was executed under Hernán Pérez de Quesada in 1540, and the highland became the heart of Spanish New Granada. Muisca descendant communities persist around Cota, Chía and Suba today.
The atlas holds 3 border frames for Muisca Confederation — the shape you scrub through changes in 800 · 1537 · 1541.
A narrative of Jiménez de Quesada's conquest of the Muisca highlands and the New Granada campaign.
Places the dense Muisca chiefdoms within the wider story of the pre-Columbian Americas (broad context).