(Muisca), a group of South American Indian tribes of the Chibchan language family; creators of an advanced ancient civilization in South America.
The Chibcha lived in the high valleys in the Cordillera Oriental in present-day Colombia. The basic economy was terrace farming (potatoes, corn, beans, squash); weaving and the making of pottery and jewelry were well developed. Their religion consisted of nature and ancestor worship. Several early class states (Bogotá, Tunja, Sogamoso), headed by supreme rulers, existed among the Chibcha at the time of the Spanish conquest (1536). Lack of coordination among these states and constant civil strife prevented the Chibcha from putting up serious resistance to the Spanish conquerors, who occupied the entire country in 153641. The descendants of the Chibcha have blended into the present-day mixed population of Colombia.