The Muisca: Legends of Gold

[@faustovrz]

At least cocaine was not the first thing about Colombia that comes to mind. As a Muisca descendant that was a relief!

[@adrianvilla6191]

As a Colombian, thank you very much for the video. There is so much mystery around Muisca history, partially because, as you said, all written sources come from the Spanish. Additionally, the formation of the Colombian nation state in the 19th Century brought the attention of many intellectuals, who wanted to establish a national myth in a similar way that happened in Mexico or Peru with the Aztec and Inca Empires. Although this interest was the seed of future archaeological research, in my opinion this also led to some degree of mystification of the Muisca legacy, compensating the gaps of written history with speculation and modern tales, that might or might not coincide with the Muisca cosmogony and mythology. That being said, there's one version of the story of zipa Tisquesusa that I really like. The story tells that he went to the oracle in Ubaque (ca. 50 km to the east of modern Bogotá). Ubaque prophesied that Tisquesusa would die drowned in his own blood after being assaulted by a foreigner. When Tisquesusa found out the Spanish were coming, he hid himself. A spanish soldier eventually found him and killed him, in order to steal his golden ornaments, without knowing that he was the Zipa, one of the most important chiefs of the Muisca. ... I know this story has that "self fulfilling prophecy" element, so common in Greek mythology, so it might be made up or be a mash-up of other stories, but I really like it and I'd like to believe it's true.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I never knew that about the prophecy so I appreciate you sharing it.

[@joendeo1890]

I do think those types of stories are fairly common and universal to the human experience. I've heard similar stories from Africa, India, and China. So why not South America? The first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang was afraid of death and wanted to become immortal. So he had many wise men try to help him acheive it. And some of them ended up making him drink an elixir of mercury which slowly poisoned him and led to his early death. A French man put it succinctly "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." And that is a universal human experience I think.

[@Neldonax]

"foreigner" is a really loose term, though, it could mean someone from a whole different world, or it could mean someone from the town over.

[@pozzowon]

0:13 excellent and very precise introduction. Heck even in Venezuela we didn't learn anything about next door Colombia. My head exploded when I visited the National Museum in Bogotá and saw 10,000 years of history

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@michaelstone5298]

Well that's kind of the point of this channel isn't it reliable info on ancient America.

[@michaelanderson2166]

The casting was explained incorrectly: the wax is used to make the mold. While firing the mold, the wax melts out leaving a void for the molten metal. The metal and wax don’t touch. It would be a very poor pour if it did.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you for clarifying. That's what I intended to get across but I summarized it pretty quickly.

[@RanaRene2022]

Thank you very much for covering the Muisca! My wife is from Bogotá and, as you said, you don’t hear about them much outside of Colombia. It’s interesting how they traded salt for gold. I’m sure you have lots of suggestions for episodes, but I’ll throw a few out there: -The San Agustín culture -The Kogi people of the Sierra Nevadas

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@diegospangler9701]

Muisca native here thank you for your video.

[@fernandoborrego2187]

I would just like to thank you for your videos. In all of history youtube, there are so few channels dedicated to pre-columbian people, and this is the best channel I have found by far, you present the information clearly, properly sourced, and in a manner that is extremely easy to understand. This is an amazing channel and my first recommendation for English speakers for an introduction to pre-columbian peoples. I also really appreciate the way you treat the American continent as a whole, giving this much needed context. I would love some episodes about Argentina, but I especially recommend about the Tupi-Guaraní cultural complex, they are a really interesting people and the tropical Americas have domesticated all sorts of crops we now consider global, from peanuts to manioc to papaya and of course, yerba mate. Saludos desde el sur!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! The Tupi-Guaraní already have a spot on my list. I just don't know when I'll get around to them.

[@rasapplepipe]

Thank you for covering this Chibcha culture. The way I understood the legend of El Dorado was that an old ruler would sacrifice himself on a raft filled with gold jade emeralds tobacco and coca leaves perhaps also yopo and he would drown in that lake under the weight of all his treasure. Also he had gold skin but also a huge gold nose ring,gold earrings ,gold bracelets, gold anklets and, gold necklaces.

[@AncientAmericas]

Haven't heard that version but that's really interesting!

[@MADReFlex]

I read the same thing several years ago.

[@superhappyfuntimeshow]

he did not sacrifice himself, no no no, that is added American myth. He bathed himself in the water and when the gold washed off he emerged a leader, they misinterpreted his "rebirth" as a sacrifice.

[@dontaescisson7472]

Are we talking about the movie back in 2000

[@latronqui]

This channel is GOLD

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@ecocodex4431]

And my dyslexic butt over here like "THE MUSICA!?!?!"🎶💃

[@tlhm7102]

Aren't these the people that invented the do-re-mi?

[@erlinglarsen]

​@@tlhm7102 no they invented Fa-So-La-Ti the other people invented Do-Re-Mi😂

[@khilorn]

Glad I wasn't the only one 😶

[@Tsuruchi_420]

You said it, now I can't unsee it

[@dubuyajay9964]

Yeh. :(

[@shroomer952]

Thank you for this video. I recently lost a very old friend who was a Muiska musician, and now thanks to you I know even more about the history of his people!

[@tlhm7102]

I'm pleased to say that i have lived enough to behold a whole new Ancient Americas video. Loved it!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@13catfishswim]

As a Colombian-American this video was amazing!! It's very difficult to find information on the indigenous history of Colombia here in the US so thanks for making this knowledge accessible. Would love to see more videos on indigenous people and cultures from this region.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I'd like to cover the Tairona someday but I have no clue when we'll get there.

[@murdread]

As a Colombian I'm so very thankful to you for covering the Muisca with this amazing video. Bless you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@ZeusMcKraken]

Whenever I go into my garden to work on a sunny day I have ancient americas playing on the AirPods filling my mind with wondrous tales of times past. So grateful.

[@LucasRestrepo-x5x]

As a Colombian American with Muisca heritage this is Amazing. Thank you!

[@Great_Olaf5]

"The Muisca, like their neighbors, also combined gold with other alloys such as silver and copper to create other previous metals." I believe that alloys and precious metals were intended to go in the opposite positions of this sentence.

[@AncientAmericas]

Whoops! You are correct. That's my bad.

[@writethepath8354]

By bizarre coincidence, I scrolled to and read this comment exactly as he was narrating it

[@sauerkrautlanguage]

I actually learned about them in school here in Venezuela, but by the name of Chibchas, which is the broader language family to which the Muisca language proper belongs.

[@connormurphy683]

Chibcha and Muisca are both names for this particular group. The name Chibcha for the larger linguistic family was taken from the Chibcha/Muisca language and applied to the whole, in the same way that the name German was generalized to the Germanic family. This happened quite a lot in naming indigenous families of the Americas, including Arawakan, Cariban, Aymaran, Mayan, Totonacan, Caddoan, Iroquoian, Algonquian, Muskogean, Tupian, etc.

[@reeyees50]

Great video, im Colombian ,and you did justice to our archeology. Kudos!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Carloshache]

Yay! Finally. I'm also a big Muisca "fan". Modern day Colombia is somewhat a successor to the Muiscas. The Bogotá area wouldn't be the same power, economic and mining centre without them!

[@alonsotello4415]

Not just the Muisca but the whole Chibcha peoples.

[@vhozonian]

​@@alonsotello4415 I wish that was the case or else we'd also have control over the Istmo regions who are also inhabited by other chibcha nations.

[@GizzyDillespee]

​@@vhozonianWith genetic testing, the miltary could remove anyone who has European genes, and return the land to indigenous people only. Those national boundaries are European creations too.

[@vhozonian]

@@GizzyDillespee That's genocidal and therefore wrong. Besides, even if we executed such a macabre plan, that ethnic purge would also include the Muisca nowadays who also have European genes. I have European genes as well, even if I don't look European.

[@vhozonian]

@@GizzyDillespee I'll also add, if we really want to become completely genetically indigenous, the only way how is by reproducing for 9 generations. Eventually, the European genes will be gone. (This isn't to say that we should force interracial marriages which is still genocide)

[@ryanJP422]

Woke my wife and 7 kids up for this drop

[@AncientAmericas]

I hope you didn't get them up too early.

[@GarfieldRex]

Loved it! When I moved to Bogota (I'm from a warmer city in Colombia) I always thought: "How the F would the Muiscas live here? Why the F would the Spanish put the capital here? Too cold!!" But now I'm used to it. Muiscas are the most investigated pre-Columbian people here. We have dictionaries, societal structures, accounts regarding adulthood, and every aspect studied. The descendants are still alive today, much of Cundinamarca and Boyacá population has Muisca blood, and many many places still bear Muisca names, from big cities, to little towns and even shops. They're pretty alive in today's imaginary and culture. Thanks for looking to this corner of the world! Blessings 🙏🏽

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@ericab6247]

I confirm this!! Thank you for sharing this so other people can also realize this. I’m currently reading “Dorado Refulgenete: Los Muiscas en la línea del tiempo” and it goes deep into so much about them and this land. Haven’t seen it translated into English tho so the language barrier is still a thing 😅😊

[@ericab6247]

Also fyi @ancientamericas, Bogotá was named Bacatá and the Spaniards bastardized the name as they did so often across Latin America.

[@rawiri8]

I appreciate your effort covering a los Muiscas. Would've loved a section about linguistics and toponyms but I understand the limitations of sources given most if not all of them are in Spanish. Greetings from a Colombian historian.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I would have loved such a section as well but we had to work with what had. Maybe we can explore those in another episode someday!

[@chrisball3778]

When de Quesada realised he might get in trouble for murdering Sagipa he wrote one of the most disgusting letters in all history justifying his actions. He claimed that he'd only tortured Sagipa a little bit and that it wasn't his fault he died. In his own words the torture was performed 'so mildly that a child of five or six could not have died or been maimed by it'. Just imagining someone so evil that they'd torture someone to death, blame the victim for dying and then casually admit to torturing little kids too turns my stomach. He got Leprosy later in life and is one of the people who most clearly deserved it in all of history, although he sadly lived well into old age. There's a fairly detailed and very readable (although utterly harrowing) account of the Spanish invasion of the Muisca in 'The Search for Eld Dorado' by John Hemming, but it's several decades old at this point and I can't vouch for its accuracy.

[@ZenobiaofPalmyra]

Clearly not surviving torture is a skill issue.

[@chrisball3778]

@@ZenobiaofPalmyra Not a skill anyone should ever, ever have cause to develop!

[@DiegoCarmonaStickGuitar]

This one of the only two documentaries in english about the Muiscas. gongratulations for all the effort put into it and for what you achieved despite the little information you had available in your language

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! My research assistant deserves most of thanks. He really did a lot of the heavy lifting on this one.

[@pedrosampaio7349]

Can you share the ither one too? If you know anything in Spanish that'd be great too, I can understand it.

[@spacebunny4335]

Thank you for this video. The Muisca were one of the first civilisations that got me interested in pre-Columbian history.

[@yosephbuitrago897]

LETS GOOOO a video about the Muiscas the exact moment I go to Colombia for med school 😩✌️

[@frogfunk43]

Some of my ancestors were of the Guane People and were the neighbors of the Muisca and spoke a related Chibchan Dialect/Language.

[@gabriels.i.780]

A small correction at 32:29. The territorial entity known as "Virreinato de la Nueva Granada" which loosely corresponded to the contemporary Colombian territory, didn't quite come into being until the Bourbon reforms in the 18th century. Around the time Jiménez de Quesada lived, "Nuevo Reyno de Granada" was the name he gave the territories that would later be governed from 1550 until the 18th century as the "Real Audiencia de Santa fe", which was an administrative region of the "Virreinato del Perú" corresponding to the inland departments of actual Colombia. Other regions of actual Colombia belonged to the "Real Audiencia de Panamá" and the "Real Audiencia de Quito", under the jurisdiction of the Virreinato del Perú as well. Before that, at the time Jiménez de Quesada underwent the expedition inland, all these territories were under the jurisdiction of the "Real Cédula de Tierra Firme" or were called "Gobernación de Castilla del Oro de Tierra Firme" .

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you for clarifying. I didn't realize that the name was different.

[@Alexrocksdude_]

The frequent reminders on the reliability of sources is important, its good to have perspective about the reliability of history! The whole video is amazing, well researched, written and presented and it helps that its a fascinating topic. You'd be a great teacher.

[@GIR9595]

Hell yeah shouting out Dr Ed, he's why i'm here looking for videos like this in the first place! Love his podcast!

[@AncientAmericas]

Dr. Ed is a big inspiration for the channel. He's a hero!

[@GIR9595]

@@AncientAmericas Love to hear it! Hopefully he's aware of his influence! Might have to let him know on the patreon if not

[@lahistoriadeellas6587]

Thank you so much for this, as a Colombian I really appreciate it

[@Strider_Bvlbaha]

"I had a heck of a time finding it out so now you're gonna learn it too"--that is that attitude we want to see in education! Appreciate you & your team's work immensely, especially in these underpublished sorts of things. My people (Chahta) have an idea that waaaaaaaaay back (like, 12-15,000 years ago kinda way back), we split off & moved north from one of the Andean peoples in present day Peru or Columbia; lots of the info on cultures we would consider to be distant cousins (like the ancestral Muisca) is both hard to find and usually not in English. The political settlement of the Muisca sounds very like that of the pre-colonial Southeast, which makes me wonder what evidence we have for chiefs gaining power primarily by subjugating surrounding villages/cities militarily vs independent towns simply deciding to affiliate themselves with a particular chief. Imperial politics never did well here in the Southeast (though it was clearly more wide spread down yonder in Central/South America--it's part of why we moved away from there); interpreting Muisca society from fragmentary evidence through a Southeastern lens is risky, but the colonizers have a tendency to interpret everything through the lens of Imperium & it distorts their observations horribly. Looking in from the outside, one might describe Southeastern villages and townships as existing in subjugation to larger cities--even thinking villages paid tribute or taxes--but that would be an incorrect interpretation based on how Western politics works. In the Southeast, there's a prevailing cultural understanding that each individual should abide under the authority of an elder or social better, but it is equally important that no one *force* you to be under the political authority of a *particular* person or town--and that means you have the ability to choose to be under no-one's authority but your own, to refuse to participate in alliances, or to switch from acknowledging one leader to another at any time. There may be a social price to pay in refusing to participate if your village is in the middle of a whole district of villages allegiant to one particular chief or faction, but it is an option. There's some evidence in the Southeast that buffer areas of minimal allegiance were encouraged as a practical way to prevent territorial wars between major political or religious centers until colonization began to induce migration west into areas allegiant to a particular polity--the first thing I noticed in the map of the pre-invasion political regions was the appearance of a buffer area between the two most powerful regions. Also, chiefs kept detailed records of the contributions of the villages/townships in their area--it sounds like taxes or tribute, but taxes are an obligation based on a predetermined value/amount. In a naturally redistributive society, no-one has to make you pay taxes--the social value of gifting to the community (for distribution by the chief to those in need, or for use in trading) is an end in and of itself. The purpose of record keeping was to ensure that a) animals weren't being hunted past the capacity of a given area and b) that enough land was devoted to raising crops such that there would be a reasonable surplus, but not so much that more labour hours would have to be devoted to agriculture than was beneficial (there are, of course, other things that need doing beside growing food!). If you're not being forcefully subjugated, but rather have placed yourself in allegiance to a certain chief/town/city, you aren't sending in a yearly tribute, but instead contributing to the welfare of your nation in general (though that may bring with it a tacit expectation that the chief/town/city you are cementing your allegiance to with this gift will protect you militarily at need--kinda like a treaty of mutual assistance in need, but less formal than that makes it sound). Regarding the potential prophetic vision of conquest--the only thing about it I have a hard time believing is that the guy buried the treasure under the tree after realizing "our society is come to an end." That sounds like a very Western storytelling motif I'd easily believe was appended on (El Dorado comes to mind again)--possibly because of the tendency for European audiences to think Indigenous stories don't have a 'satisfactory' end (different cultural understandings of what the 'point' of a story should be). Given that Tisquesusa gave his wealth away in the face of Spanish invasion, I'd say there is a good chance the original tale did not end with the treasure under the tree (or if it did, there was a specific reason associated with local religion/customs that has been lost in favour of the allure of buried treasure). One of the (pragmatic) ways a chief keeps their post in a matrilineal society is to give gifts generously & be fair in distributing the produce of the community--there are ALWAYS other men equally qualified for your job who would step right up should you choose to be selfish, power-hungry, or cowardly--so it would be odd to just *bury* all the wealth associated with your office if you thought the world was about to end.

[@sarahwatts7152]

This was a great read! I agree that the tree myth sounds like a great story, and the interpretation that the wealth was given away really made me think. All the sources from the video (the written ones, anyway, not the archaeology) was from such a heavily westernized lens that it's hard to know. Such a shame that oral accounts from the Muisca at the time weren't "important" enough to write down

[@doolittle8888]

Another great video, as always!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@mattp.158]

My Spanish is at the level where I can read a book whilst consulting a dictionary about 5 times per page and I hadn't heard of the Muisca until about 30 minutes ago. Great video!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@osvaldobenavides5086]

Thanks for showing what an amazing place our side of the world is!

[@NoLimit24]

I’ve been waiting for somebody to go in depth into the muisca! So excited to watch. Thank you so much for making this!

[@AERIALRECONLLC]

I recommend going to Lake Guatavita in Boyacá. They have native tour guides with a mock village. The tour also centres around the volcanic lake that the Spanish referred to as El Dorado.

[@El-Comment-8-or]

Fantástico! Another great video/documentary! Thanks so much for making these! Really everything you say about the Muisca sounds like the other cultures of the Andes. The golden raft looks exactly like golden rafts found in Chimú and Inka sites. A great creator god that fades into the background behind the more prominent sun god, is also an Inka thing. The raised fields, the Chicha feasts, what they wore, and ate, it’s all the same in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. To me the missing history of this region is just how connected and integrated all these cultures are. They are often treated as individual, distinct, isolated cultures. But I think of them as being part of a pan-Andean culture. Something like the Chinese. Maybe never having been unified under one ruler, but all belonging to the same culture, with some regional variations.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@mera6555]

Chimu and Chimu-Inca representations of vessels feature reed boats, now known as caballitos de totora. These are more frequently seen in Moche art, primarily because the Moche were more inclined to depict a wide variety of subjects. Natives around Ecuador and the Chimu territory also constructed wooden rafts with sails, at least around the time they were conquered by the Incas up to the early 19th century. However, these rafts were seldom represented in their precolumbian art, except for a wall relief of a raft with a sail in Tucume, a Sican site conquered by the Chimu and then by the Inca, and I think there was some depiction on Colombia's South Pacific coast as well.

[@El-Comment-8-or]

@@mera6555 In the Museo de Oro is a miniature raft made of gold. It is credited as having come from the site of Pacha Camac, south of Lima. It is flat series of cylinders lashed together, which likely represent wooden logs. It could be a raft, or maybe a litter. There are human figures standing around a well dressed guy sitting on a chair. It looks exactly like the one in the video. I’ve also read about the expedition of Pizarro to conquer Peru, where the Spanish captured a raft exactly as pictured and represented in the museum. It was upon interrogating the rafts crew that Pizarro first heard of a people known as the Peru, later to be known as the Inka. This was not a totora, which I’ve also seen while visiting Trujillo and Puno. It’s a very basic water craft. Gracias para te interesa.

[@chicagosebdesigns9883]

FINALLY! My family, my ancestors!!! 🎉

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@alexandrejose8362]

Thabks for going through the trouble to research the Muisca, it was worth every second!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@yokumato]

As a Bogotan I recommend to visit the Gold Museum in Bogota for and exposure to the skills of the Muisca and other cultures that occupied what is now Colombia. Other great sites to visit (not Muisca related) are the Ciudad Perdida (Lost city) in the north Caribbean coast and the San Agustin ruins in the Huila province in the south. Many different smallish cultures in that big territory but never one dominant enough to consolidate an extensive empire. Maybe better that way…

[@RafaCB0987]

The Muisca have a really cool history, thanks for sharing what you could find with us

[@ennykraft]

Could someone please tell me what the two tubers on the top at 36:09 are called? English is my second language and I couldn't understand what the narrator was saying. Thank you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Got ya covered. The tubers in the top left are achiras (Canna indica). The tubers in the top right are ocas (Oxalis tuberosa). The tubers in the bottom right are manioc (also called cassava or yuca, Manihot esculenta). The ones in the bottom left are sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas).

[@jayrurbano602]

Finally ❤ thanks for all the hard work Another excellent quality content

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@IndianTigress98]

Aren't the Muisca also known as the Chibcha and migrated as far north as Honduras? I find pre-Columbian Honduras and Nicaragua really interesting because that's where the North and South American tribes met, more specifically Mesoamerican peoples like the Nahua and Oto-mangues meeting Chibcha people for the first time. Awesome history, thanks again for another A+ video AA🙏

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! Yes, the Muisca are also known as the Chibcha but Chibcha also refers to a language group that is found across central American and Colombia. There are Chibcha speakers in Honduras and Nicaragua but I couldn't say how closely they are related to the Muisca.

[@GizzyDillespee]

​@@AncientAmericasTrade goods from South America, in Maya territories, suggest that there was at least indirect contact. Those in-between cultures were focused in areas that are still very remote, so... good luck finding detailed reliable info.

[@IndianTigress98]

@@AncientAmericas True, but if i remember correctly through linguistic evidence it was discovered that Chibcha languages from Central America are directly related to Colombian Chibcha. So the Chibchas in Central America might not be Muisca per se but im thinking at the very least they might share a common ethnolinguistic ancestor? Im not sure, but its interesting to think about!

[@ericab6247]

The Muisca spoke Muyhsqubún (sp?) which is in the Chibcha language family. This is also how the enslaved women from the coast were able to communicate with the Muisca when they arrived with the Spaniard invaders

[@ericab6247]

Because Caribbean languages are also Chibcha languages

[@theodoresmith5272]

Oh hell yeah. Colombia was a hot bed of precolombus culture. It is also really hard to find anything on the area so thanks man, this is big for me..

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@timmccarthy9917]

Regarding the Colombian conquest: the fact that Gabriel Garcia Marquez had the protagonists of One Hundred Years of Solitude start on the north coast and make their way inland is DEFINITELY an allegory.

[@steventhompson399]

This was fascinating. I don't know anything about precolumbian cultures in south America except the sequence of peoples in peru from caral-supe to inca. I've never heard about northern south America around Colombia and Venezuela before Europeans arrived in recent centuries

[@quentenwalker1385]

Loved this video - in fact your whole series.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@DaveLopez575]

I am from Colombia and I thank you for this video!

[@decem_sagittae]

What an excellent presentation. You really never disappoint. Bravo!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@atlasaltera]

Been waiting for the Musica episode for so long! Thanks to all who made it happen. So... when is the TrovaTrip to Colombia happening?

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! That would be a great trip!

[@PhroXenGold]

I was first introduced to the Muisca by an exhibition about them at the British Museum about a decade ago. It was very much focused on the gold, but it's hard to criticise the organisers for that, as the artifacts were incredible. I did try to look more into the Muisca people at the time, but, as you point out, good English material is hard to come by, so my interest kinda got put by the wayside. As such, I really enjoyed this video, helping to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge.

[@simplygunner]

Finally a new video! Love your videos so much and look forward to them

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Gidister]

Really good video. About all I knew about the Muisca was through playing EU4 in the Americas. Never played them as they are a small nation but you peaked my interest.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@bartholomew6023]

Same almost everything I knew before i started watching this channel came from EU4. Great game for introducing people into lesser known regions in history

[@uncletoad1779]

Great vid, fantastic channel, one of my favourites! Thank you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Gangamathr]

My eyes didnt deceive me! At last! Joy be the day! Thank you as always for an amazing video and the amazing work and effort noticeably invested in it!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@GringoLoco]

Excellent summary of the mighty Muiscas. Interesting to note the Spanish tried to get Sagipa's followers to fill a house with gold, like Pizarro did in Cajamarca. But it trickled in very slowly and he ended dying from being tortured ( see Restall and Fernandez-Armesto, "The Conquistadors") . Nevertheless, the heaviest gold piece ever sacked from South America came from Colombia, a solid gold porcupine weighing 132 pounds, though it likely came from the Zenu nation, neighbours of the Muisca. It is known Colombian emeralds were traded with the Incas to the south and the Aztecs to the north - apparently Moctezuma II gifted a Colombian emerald to Cortez and this was in Europe by the year 1520, before Colombia was even conquered (see "Oxygen Isotopes and Emerald Trade Routes Since Antiquity" by Gaston Giuliani et al.)

[@AncientAmericas]

Thanks gringo loco!! Also, thanks for that article! I know someone who will be very interested in it!

[@Sergioluis93]

Nice summary of the Muisca. Only one thing I'd like to correct. The picture at 8:25 of the camellones comes actually from the Zenú waterworks in northern Colombia

[@AncientAmericas]

Thanks for pointing that out!

[@portalthefella]

Glad to see a new video from you! Can't wait to watch

[@AncientAmericas]

Thanks portal!

[@_cloudsofheaven]

babe wake up new ancient americas vid just dropped !!

[@danem.9402]

Just discovered your channel. What a goldmine! No pun intended.

[@robertb6889]

Love your channel. Always happy to see a new video.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@fernbedek6302]

It is fascinating how the Amazon river system switched directions with the movement of South America. (Sorry, former Paleontology student, so geologic shifts distract me.)

[@JJPANZA]

Great episode! Greetings from Bogota!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@josedavidgarcesceballos7]

You know? Thanks to you I learned that chibcha people actually accupied a very interesting spot. Would you mind dedicating one of your videos to them? Cheers.

[@AncientAmericas]

Not anytime soon but they could definitely be the subject of an episode later.

[@chesterfieldthe3rd929]

This game was made with love. And it is a perfect match to people with an imagination and people with a sense of wonder for life. And it also has so much hidden content. If the creator had his way this game would've been the single most ultimate masterpiece in history. I can dream...... Hopefully one day he will get the chance to make the full version of this unique masterpiece. I love it so much. ❤

[@nicolasarias9873]

Yes. YES YOU MADE A VIDEO ON THEM THANK YOUUU

[@matthiasdvorsakhillebrand2393]

It was a very interesting video! I enjoyed it thoroughly! I can't wait for you to make a video on the complex societies of the Amazon, such as the Omagua and Kuhikugu cultures

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Daniel-x2b]

Hello Ancient Americas, firstly I would like to say that your content is simply splendid, a true masterpiece that should certainly receive more recognition not only from the historical community, but also from global society as a whole. I wanted to ask, have you ever thought about making a video telling the entire history of Pre-Columbian America chronologically? Citing the cultures of each era and their respective achievements? Because many other history channels that have already done so are very scarce and they are all quite incomplete. Also, greetings from Brazil !!! 🇧🇷 💛.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! That's a tall order and it would be difficult to boil down two continents worth of history into a 30 minute video.

[@ammohamed5320]

The Muisca were the original treasure hunters-legend says they covered their rulers in gold dust and sent them on a lake cruise, making 'El Dorado' the first glittering VIP party!

[@Anonymus-z3z]

No. That is a highy disrespectful missrepresentation. GOLD was not a commodity for the muiscas, it had a mysthical meaning and was used as a ritual object and as a symbol of power. They were not "hunting" for gold. They exchanged salt in order to obtain gold from other people coming from more to the north of Colombia. The true gold hunters were the europeans (spaniards), who raided the tombs and temples of chibcha and sinu peoples, and the English who even dared to drain the Gutavita lake in order to extract the gold. That is well documented.

[@thefolder3086]

Woah, I’ve been wondering about them for a while and I’m glade you finally made a video on them! I’ve only first heard of them from civilization games lol, and was surprised to learn they are an Andean civilization in the north Andes. It’s also interesting how “temperate climate” regions on the Andes often temperature wise correlates more with arctic temperatures, at least according to climate maps, yet civilization on the Andes consistently rise there.ig the climate on the andes might work differently than I thought. Since the northern andes splits into 3 branches, I wonder what civilization forms on the otehr branches.

[@zhcultivator]

Thank you for your videos as usual please make a video on the Chimu Empire or Kingdom of Chimor*.

[@AncientAmericas]

The chimu are on my list but I have no clue when I'll get to them.

[@zhcultivator]

@@AncientAmericas okay, that's completely fine. Have a great day or good night.

[@andreweanes907]

Its going to be a good monday when AA drops a new video

[@zhcultivator]

Please also make a video about the late preceramic El Paraiso culture, the Chorrerra culture, the Valdivia culture and the Paracas culture as well as the Chinchorro culture too.

[@AncientAmericas]

I've touched on Caral-Supe which is part of that preceramic group but I need to cover the others in their own episodes.

[@zhcultivator]

@@AncientAmericas Cool and well done for your hard work as usual. I hope you have had a great weekend so far :) .

[@tselone]

Another great vid!! 🎉

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Thebestman-f1j]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Numba003]

As an American, I've heard plenty about El Dorado (there's even a town in my state that shares its name, though we pronounce it differently), but I don't know if I've ever heard of the Muisca before this. Thank you for another very educational episode. It's cool to learn more about all these pre-Columbian peoples I know next to nothing about! God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@nikolasao]

Awesome video

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@NoverMaC]

did the Muisca or anyone in Colombian region have trade links to mesoamerica or the more southern parts of the andes?

[@AncientAmericas]

When I was researching this, I expected to find those kind of trade links but I could not find any. Gold was the one material that came in from beyond the altiplano and foothills. It's definitely possible that there were things I missed but that's all I uncovered.

[@tlaloqq]

Old but these people are my ancestors 😁family is from bogota and tunja/hunza

[@goinggray]

Loving your work! Thank you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@Chewywrinkles]

I love your content so much, thank you.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@wilmeraderbertflorezlopez6991]

My grandma made tones of chicha for New Year's Eve.

[@Rubashkyn1]

I am proudly of Muisca origin ❤

[@Liliphant_]

Babe wake up new Ancient Americas just dropped

[@superhappyfuntimeshow]

lemme tell ya, one year ago pretty much to the day I was at el infiernito and, even though it was closed for renovations, cuz I knew spanish and had knowledge of Colombian history; the archeologist living on site let me in and gave me an amazing and in depth tour. Colombia is full of some amazing history, sites, and rich indigenous cultures; get some spanish in yer lingo and head down there!!! The sculptures at San Agustin are crazy, the underground tombs at tierradentro are freaking INSANE (as was getting there and living up there for a week) and the trek to the lost city is amazing as well.

[@Andres66Cali]

¡Muchas gracias por este aporte!

[@pabloj1789]

Me encanta este canal

[@AncientAmericas]

Gracias!

[@coyote4237]

Thank you. This was interesting and enlightening.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@helenamcginty4920]

Hit this at 5am. Really need more sleep. I am ashamed to admit I never even knew where exactly Columbia was even. Mind you, Im English and dont even know where the counties south of Derbyshire and Cheshire are. Im a northern lass see. 😅.

[@almightychantz333]

Great video once again, thank you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@user-ff8vv9ui2z]

Does anyone know anything about or any sources about the Timoto-Cuica? They are a related group but I can't find anything about them anywhere.

[@AncientAmericas]

Unfortunately, I've never read up on the Timoto-Cuica so I'm not aware of any specific source.

[@tobo7580]

When you described the lose connection of the Muisca and their 'unions', I had to instantly think about the Greek City states and all the Greek leagues that existed. Loose connections of cities, that allied with one another, with one of the cities having 'more say' then other cities. So that's the best description I could come up with. But yea, calling it a confederation ain't it.

[@GizzyDillespee]

They use that word in the sense of "Iroquois Confederation" rather than the Greeks.

[@tobo7580]

@@GizzyDillespee I know how it is meant. But when he read the way the system was setup overall, it simply reminded me very much of the Greek city states before the Macedonians installed themselves as the effective hegemons of the Greek realm.

[@rjcorreia3788]

Have you considered going into detail about the mythological creatures and monsters of precolumbian cultures like the ahuitzotl and cipactli of aztec mythology since i can almost never find any in depth sources discussing what little info we gave of these creatures

[@AncientAmericas]

Maybe someday. As long as I can good sources, an episode will always be in the cards.

[@stupidminotaur9735]

Great video as always.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@huntermccluer4821]

New ancient americas it’s gotta be a good week

[@millenials_best]

Truly awesome channel. Your hohokam video was hands down my favorite. Have you done one on 1400 AD in the southwest, what the heck even happened? We don't freaking know

[@AncientAmericas]

I suspect that you're asking because of this episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2HUoKtta9mXiKMsi=6AcqEwuly_FClk9q Andy Ward has beaten me to the punch. Besides briefly touching on it my Hohokam video, I haven't really delved into it yet. When I get around to making an episode on the Ancestral Pueblo, we'll probably cover it in more detail.

[@millenials_best]

@@AncientAmericas ya stop it I just watched the Andy ward video. Ugh. Lol. You got me

[@AncientAmericas]

To be fair, I had just watched it too so it was on my mind when I read the comment.

[@millenials_best]

@@AncientAmericas I take great interest in both your work!

[@zhcultivator]

Please consider making a video on the Xingu Peoples of Brazil's pre-columbian history if possible since they built large densely populated settlements with roads, bridges and pre-planned villages especially in the Upper Xingu region. I think it's a just a shame that they didn't build a state society in pre-columbian times though (afaik).......

[@AncientAmericas]

No worries. They are on the list!

[@zhcultivator]

@@AncientAmericas Thanks! and have a good night or a great day.