Chibchas

Chibchas, one of the civilised peoples of the New World, who at the time of the discovery occupied a territory about 6,000 square miles in extent in the province of Cundinamarca, Colombia. They were divided into two hostile nations, with a collective population of over a million, one ruled by the Cipa ("lord") of Bacata or Bogota (now Funza), the other subject to the Zaque ("chief") of Ramiriqui and Hunsa (now Tunja). The Chibchas, also called Muyscas, had attained a considerable degree of culture, as shown by their paved highways, suspension bridges, temples, colonnades, statues, hieroglyphics, weaving and dyeing, weights and measures, and especially their great skill in gold and silver work. Their descendants have been completely merged in the Spanish population, and, unlike their Peruvian neighbours, have ceased to speak the national language, of which nothing survives except a few songs and an unpublished dictionary.