Chibchan

The Chibchan languages are a family found from eastern Central America to northern Colombia, and take their name from the Chibcha language of the Colombian highlands. The Huetar and Guna lived in the isthmus, and the Muisca on the high plateau of Cundinamarca and Boyacá.

The Muisca were not one state but followed three great rulers: the hoa of Hunza, the psihipqua of Muyquytá, and the iraca, the religious ruler of Suamox. Their lands held an estimated one to three million people when the Spaniards invaded in the 1530s. They were then brought into the New Kingdom of Granada, and many of their customs lasted until the early nineteenth century.