Spanish conquest of the Muisca
The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of different rulers; the "psihipqua" of Muyquytá, with his headquarters in Funza, the "hoa" of Hunza, the "iraca" of the sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi, the Tundama of Tundama, and several other independent "caciques". The most important rulers at the time of the conquest were "psihipqua" Tisquesusa, "hoa" Eucaneme, "iraca" Sugamuxi and Tundama in the northernmost portion of their territories. The Muisca were organised in small communities of circular enclosures ("ca" in their language Muysccubbun; literally "language of the people"), with a central square where the "bohío" of the "cacique" was located. They were called "Salt People" because of their extraction of salt in various locations throughout their territories, mainly in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, and Tausa. For the main part self-sufficient in their well-organised economy, the Muisca traded with the European conquistadors valuable products as gold, "tumbaga" (a copper-silver-gold alloy), and emeralds with their neighbouring indigenous groups. In the Tenza Valley, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense where the majority of the Muisca lived, they extracted emeralds in Chivor and Somondoco. The economy of the Muisca was rooted in their agriculture with main products maize, yuca, potatoes, and various other cultivations elaborated on elevated fields (in their language called "tá"). Agriculture had started around 3000 BCE on the Altiplano, following the preceramic Herrera Period and a long epoch of hunter-gatherers since the late Pleistocene. The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation in Colombia, and one of the oldest in South America, has been found in El Abra, dating to around 12,500 years BP.