Bacatá | |
|---|---|
Main seat of thezipa | |
| Etymology: literally "(enclosure) outside the farmfields" | |
 Map of the Muisca Confederation | |
  Bacatá Location of Bacatá on the Bogotá savanna | |
| Coordinates:4°42′59″N74°12′44″W / 4.71639°N 74.21222°W /4.71639; -74.21222 | |
| Country | Colombia |
| Department | Cundinamarca |
| Populated | Herrera Period |
| Founded by | Muisca |
| Government | |
| • Zipa | Tisquesusa († 1537) Sagipa († 1539) |
| Elevation | 2,550 m (8,370 ft) |
| Geography | Bogotá savanna Altiplano Cundiboyacense Eastern Ranges Colombian Andes |
Bacatá (Chibcha:Muyquytá orMuequetá) is the name given to the main settlement of one of theMuisca Confederations on theBogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern settlement ofFunza, in the centre of the savanna. Bacatá was the main seat of thezipa, the ruler of the Bogotá savanna and adjacent areas. The name of the Colombian capital,Bogotá, is derived from Bacatá, but founded as Santafe de Bogotá in the western foothills of theEastern Hills in a different location than the original settlement Bacatá, west of theBogotá River, eventually named after Bacatá as well.
The word is a combination of the Chibcha wordsbac,ca andtá, and means "(enclosure) outside the farmfields", referring to the richagricultural lands of theSabana Formation on the Bogotá savanna. Bacatá was submitted to theSpanish Empire by theconquistadors led byGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada on April 20, 1537. Santafe de Bogotá, the capital of theNew Kingdom of Granada, was formally founded on August 6, 1538. The lastzipa of an independent Bacatá wasTisquesusa, who died after being stabbed by a Spanish soldier. His brother,Sagipa, succeeded him and served as lastzipa under Spanish rule.
The name Bacatá is maintained in the highest skyscraper of Colombia,BD Bacatá, and in the important fossil find in theBogotá Formation;Etayoa bacatensis.
The word Bacatá isChibcha, the language of the indigenousMuisca, who inhabited theAltiplano Cundiboyacense before theSpanish conquest. The word is a combination ofbac oruac,[1]ca,[2] andtá,[3] meaning "outside", "enclosure" and "farmfield(s)" respectively. The name is translated as "(enclosure) outside the farmfields", or "limit of the farmfields".[4]
Modern spellings areMuequetá andMuyquytá,[5] and the word is transliterated into Spanish asBogothá inEpítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada.[6]
The high plateau in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, is an area with an average elevation of 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level, populated since theprehistorical era. The first evidences of human settlement date to theLatest Pleistocene at 12,500 yearsBP. The oldest datedrock shelters are thepre-ClovissitesEl Abra andTibitó in the northern part of the fertile Bogotá savanna. During the occupation phases of these sites, the area experienced apáramo paleoclimate. Pleistocene megafauna asCuvieronius hyodon,Haplomastodon waringi andEquus lasallei populated the Bogotá savanna and served as prey for the first human occupants.[7]
When the climate after theLast Glacial Maximum became more favourable during the earlyHolocene, human settlement shifted from caves and rock shelters to open area sites where primitive circular living spaces were constructed using bones and skin of the then still abundantwhite-tailed deer. Early open area sites areChecua,Aguazuque andGalindo. Other rock shelters such asTequendama, in the south of the Bogotá savanna, remained populated or used for temporary settlement during thispreceramic period.[8]
The fertile soils of the Bogotá savanna, sediments of theSabana Formation, deposited in alacustrineenvironment as a result of the PleistoceneLake Humboldt, proved favourable foragriculture, that was introduced to the people by migrants probably from Peru and Central America. The earliest evidences of agriculture have been found inZipacón, to the west of Bacatá, and date back to 2800 years BP. Dating to around the same time,ceramics has been uncovered,[9] and the ceramic period was namedHerrera Period, afterLake Herrera, ranging from 800 BCE to 800 AD, with regional variations in time.[10]
The time after 800 is called Muisca, in the indigenous language Muysccubun meaning "people" or "person"; the language did not have separate singular and plural designated words. During the phase of the Muisca, technological advancement of earlier established agricultural techniques, precisearchaeoastronomical knowledge, a more developed social structure and a richreligion andmythology evolved on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The Muisca were renownedtraders with their neighbouring indigenous groups and developed asubsistence economy on the Altiplano. Main sources of their economy were agriculture and especiallysalt, that was extracted using large pots heated over fires from brines mined mainly inZipaquirá andNemocón. This process, an exclusive task of theMuisca women, gave the people the name "The Salt People". The high-quality salt was used as trade commodity with other indigenous groups, for the conservation of fish and meat and as spice in theircuisine.[11] Other products used for barter trade werecoca, gold andemeralds.[12]
The Muisca were known as skilledgold workers, producing a variety of golden figurines with thetunjos as most abundant artefacts. These votive figures were used in the religious rituals of the people around the main sacred sites on the Altiplano. The many lakes,wetlands and rivers, remainders of Lake Humboldt, on the Bogotá savanna were cherished as products of their gods. An important lake for the Muisca wasLake Guatavita, a circular lake at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) to the northeast of present-dayGuatavita. This lake formed the basis for the -not so much- legend ofEl Dorado; the "city or man of gold". At the initiation of the newzipa, a ritual was organised where he covered himself with gold dust and jumped into the ice cold waters of the lake from a raft. This ritual is represented in the famousMuisca raft, main artefact in theMuseo del Oro in the Colombian capital.[13]
The flatlands of the Bogotá savanna were dotted with several small settlements consisting of 10 to 100bohíos. The people constructed temples to honour their main deities;Sué (the Sun) and his wifeChía, the Moon. Another important deity for the Muisca wasBochica, who according to their mythology prevented the main river of the Bogotá savanna, theBogotá River, from frequent overflowings by creating theTequendama Falls. The present course of the Bogotá River is just east and south of Bacatá, a main settlement in the centre of the savanna. Analysis of the top soils surrounding the Bogotá River in proximity to Bacatá revealed several raised terrains used for agriculture.[14]
The name Muisca Confederation has been given to the loose collection ofcaciques who governed several small settlements on theAltiplano Cundiboyacense in the times before theSpanish conquest. The area of roughly 25,000 square kilometres (9,700 sq mi) was subdivided into maincacicazgos, with as most important from northeast to southwest the terrains ofTundama aroundTundama, theiraca ofSuamox, thezaque ofHunza and thezipa of Bacatá.[15]
The Spanishchroniclers describe a system of tributes or subordinatecacicazgos on the Bogotá savanna; dependencies of thezipa of Bacatá. The villages ofSimijaca,Guachetá,Ubaté,Chocontá,Nemocón,Zipaquirá,Guatavita,Suba,Ubaqué,Tibacuy,Fusagasugá,Pasca,Cáqueza,Teusacá, Tosca,Guasca, andPacho are described as part of the Bacatá rule.[16] Other researchers, asCarl Henrik Langebaek andJohn Michael Francis, have revised the idea of tributes and attribute the term to a translation error of the Spanish writers. The Muysccubun verb "to give, to present" waszebquisca and the word for "to give" waszequasca,zemnisca orzequitusuca.[17]
Modern anthropologists, such asJorge Gamboa Mendoza, attribute the present-day knowledge about the "confederation" and its organization more to a reflection by Spanish chroniclers who predominantly wrote about it a century or more after the Muisca were conquered. He proposed the idea of a loose collection of different people with slightly different languages and backgrounds rather than a strictly hierarchical organisation like theAztec andInca Empires.[18]
| Zipa | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Meicuchuca | ~1450 | 1470 |
 | Saguamanchica | 1470 | 1490 |
 | Nemequene | 1490 | 1514 |
 | Tisquesusa | 1514 | 1537 |
 | Sagipa | 1537 | 1539 |
Thezipa was the name of the leader of the southern part of the Muisca Confederation, mainly the Bogotá savanna and adjacent areas. As the Muisca lacked a written script, only the most recentzipas of the pre-Columbian period are known. The first reportedzipa was Meicuchuca, who reigned from Muyquytá between approximately 1450 and 1470. Much of his life is mythological, with the legend of the snake as main story.[19] His reign was followed by his nephew, Saguamanchica. At the start of his government, Saguamanchica submitted the neighbouringSutagao to the south of the Bogotá savanna in theBattle of Pasca. Approximately twenty years later, Saguamanchica went to war with thezaque of Hunza,Michuá and both leaders were killed in theBattle of Chocontá, fought around 1490.[20]
Saguamanchica was succeeded by Nemequene, who according to the biographies about him held a brutal reign over his people. One of his accomplishments was the installation of the Nemequene Code, a code of conduct with severe punishments for those who didn't comply with the laws he drafted.[21] Possibly the salt mining village of Nemocón was named after Nemequene, who died around the year 1514 and was succeeded by Tisquesusa. The latter was thepsihipqua of Muyquytá until the moment the first Europeans appeared in the Muisca Confederation, in March 1537. The light-skinned strangers came from the north after a strenuous expedition of almost a year where they lost more than 80 percent of their soldiers. The Spanish conquistadors brought horses, an unknown animal for the Muisca and especially the horse riders were feared by the people who thought the rider and the horse were one entity. Also the hunting dogs the Spanish conquerors brought on their journey created fear in the hearts of the people.[22]
Tisquesusa received a prophecy from one of thecaciques in the southern Muisca Confederation; he would "die, bathing in his own blood". When thezipa was informed of the advancing Spanish strangers, he fled his main seat in Muyquytá. The Spanish found the place abandoned and promptly founded the village ofFunza on April 20, 1537, ending the reign of thezipa in Muyquytá.[23][24]
Tisquesusa was stabbed by one of the soldiers of the Spanish troops and fled towards the western hills bordering the Bogotá savanna. As the prophecy had predicted, he died alone and bathing in his own blood in the hills ofFacatativá. His body was discovered much later. At the turn of the rule of Muyquytá, the government was taken over by Sagipa, Tisquesusa's brother. This succession was against the norm of the Muisca, where the eldest son of the sister of the previouszipa would become the new ruler. The Spanish used this anomaly to set the Muisca up against Sagipa, also known as Zaquesazipa, and pressured him to pay tributes to the treasurers of theSpanish Empire. The new rulers of the Bogotá savanna used the eternal enemies of the Muisca, thePanche who inhabited the western slopes of the Eastern Ranges towards theMagdalena River, as bait to lure Sagipa into a battle allied with the Spanish, theBattle of Tocarema, fought on August 19 and 20, 1537. The between 12,000 and 20,000guecha warriors of the lastzipa.[25] together with "between 50 and not more than 100" Spanish soldiers defeated the Panche who posed powerful resistance thanks to their knowledge of the rugged terrain.[26][27]
The official foundation of Santafe de Bogotá, a new city in near the Eastern Ranges, on August 6, 1538, byGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his troops, terminated the period of Muyquytá as "capital" of the southern Muisca. The city was founded in the present-day centre of the Colombian city as capital of theNew Kingdom of Granada. Sagipa, dethroned as ruler of Muyquytá, received continuous threats from the Spanish after the victory, to hand over the valuable treasures of the Muisca; golden objects, cotton mantles andemeralds. When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada left the New Kingdom of Granada with two other conquistadors in northern South America, who had reached the Bogotá savanna in early 1539, in May 1539, he left the rule of Bogotá and the colony in the hands of his younger brother,Hernán Pérez de Quesada. Hernán, with the assistance of his fellow conquistadors tortured Sagipa by burning his feet to have him give up his valuables. The lastzipa of Muyquytá did not survive these torments and died in the Spanish camp atBosa in 1539, ending the rule of the indigenous Muisca on the Bogotá savanna.[28]
The bloodline of Muyquytáwas maintained in one of the firstmestizo marriages in the New Kingdom of Granada; Sagipa's daughter, described as Magdalena de Guatavita, married conquistadorHernán Venegas Carrillo and the couple got four children; María, Fernán, Isabel and Alonso Venegas.[29] In a twist of fate, the latter, grandson of Sagipa; Alonso as descendant of Muyquytá, killed Spanish conquistador andencomendero of BogotáGonzalo García Zorro in aduel in 1566.[30]
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