Editing Muisca (section)

{{short description|Indigenous people of Colombia}}
{{other uses}}
{{citations needed|date=February 2025}}
{{See also|Muisca Confederation}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Muisca
| native_name      = {{lang|cba|Muysca}}
| native_name_lang = cba
| image            = Gold Museum, Bogota (36145671394).jpg
| image_caption    = [[Muisca raft]] (1200–1500 CE)<br />representation of the initiation of the new ''[[zipa]]'' at the [[Lake Guatavita|lake of Guatavita]]
| popplace         = [[Altiplano Cundiboyacense]], {{COL}}
| total            = 14,051
| total_year       = 2005
| total_source     = census
| total_ref        = <ref name=CensusMuisca>{{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20160604215116/http://www.sdp.gov.co/portal/page/portal/PortalSDP/SeguimientoPoliticas/Politicas%20Poblacionales/pueblosIndigenas/Tab2/Informaci%F3n%20nacional%20sobre%20acciones%20y%20procesos%20para%20pueb.pdf Total population of Muisca in Colombia: 14,051] – Ministry of Internal Affairs – accessed 21-04-2016</ref>
| total2           = 10,000,000 Chibcha Mestizos (approximately)<ref>Ministerio de Cultura (2010) "Muiscas, los hijos de Bachué". Bogotá</ref>
| langs            = [[Chibcha language|Muysccubun (Chibcha)]], [[Colombian Spanish]]
| rels             = [[Muisca religion]], [[Catholicism]]
| related          = [[Guane people|Guane]], [[Lache people|Lache]], [[U'wa people|U'wa]], [[Tegua people|Tegua]], [[Guayupe people|Guayupe]], [[Sutagao people|Sutagao]], [[Panche people|Panche]], [[Muzo people|Muzo]]
}}
[[File:Colombia MuiscaLocationMap.jpg|right|thumb|260px|Location of Muisca in Colombia.]]
[[File:Eastern cordillera of the Andes.jpg|right|thumb|260px|View of the Eastern Ranges of the [[Andean natural region]]<br />[[Lake Tota]] is clearly visible]]
[[File:Altiplano Cundiboyacense.png|right|thumb|260px|The Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges; territory of the Muisca]]
[[File:Sabana de Bogota.png|right|thumb|260px|Southwestern Altiplano; Bogotá savanna, territory of the southern mosca (''zipa'')]]

The '''Muisca''' (also called the '''Chibcha''') are [[indigenous peoples in Colombia]] and were a [[Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia|Pre-Columbian culture]] of the [[Altiplano Cundiboyacense]] that formed the [[Muisca Confederation]] before the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]]. The Muisca speak Muysccubun, a language of the [[Chibchan languages|Chibchan language family]], also called ''Muysca'' and ''Mosca''.<ref>{{in lang|es}} [http://muysca.cubun.org/muysccubun Muysccubun, the language of the Muisca] – Muysccubun dictionary online</ref> The first known contact with [[list of conquistadors in Colombia|Europeans in the region]] was in 1537 during the [[Spanish conquest of New Granada]].

In [[New Spain]], Spanish clerics and civil officials had a major impact on the Muisca, attempting to [[Christianize]] and incorporate them into the [[Spanish Empire]] as subjects.<ref>[[Jorge Gamboa Mendoza|Gamboa Mendoza, Jorge]]. ''Los muiscas y su incorporación a la monarquía castellana en el siglo XVI: Nuevas lecturas desde la Nueva Historia de la Conquista''. Tunja: Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia.</ref><ref>Cobo Betancourt, Juan F. (2024). ''[[doi:10.1017/9781009314046|The Coming of the Kingdom: The Muisca, Catholic Reform, and Spanish Colonialism in the New Kingdom of Granada]]''. Open access. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9781009314053}} </ref>

Postconquest Muisca culture underwent significant changes due to the establishment of the [[New Kingdom of Granada]]. Sources for the Muisca are far less abundant than for the [[Aztec Empire]] of [[Mesoamerica]] or the [[Inca Empire]] and their incorporation to the Spanish Empire during the colonial era. In the New Kingdom of Granada and into the colonial era, the Muisca became "the official 'tribe' of the Colombian nation" and "a local version of the [[Aztecs]] and [[Incas]]".<ref>quoted in Cobo Betancourt, ''The Coming of the Kingdom''. 25</ref><ref>[[Carl Henrik Langebaek|Langebaek, Carl Henrik]]. ''Los herederos del pasado : indígenas y pensamiento criollo en Colombia y Venezuela''. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes: Ediciones Uniandes 2009</ref> Recent scholarship on the Muisca by archeologists, anthropologists, and historians is revising the understanding of the Muiscas' prehispanic and colonial era past.