Muzo people

Muzo

Emerald from Muzo The Muzo were known as the Emerald People
Total population
100,000 (including Colima)
Regions with significant populations
Boyacá, Cundinamarca,  Colombia
Languages
Cariban, Colombian Spanish
Religion
Traditional religion, Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Guane, Lache, Muisca, Panche

The Muzo people were a Cariban-speaking indigenous group on the western slopes of the eastern Colombian Andes. They were a highly war-like tribe who frequently clashed with their neighbouring indigenous groups, especially the Muisca. It is said they performed cannibalism on their conquered neighbours.

The Muzo inhabitated the right banks of the Magdalena River in the lower altitudes of western Boyacá and Cundinamarca and were known as the Emerald People, thanks to their exploitation of the gemstone in Muzo. During the time of conquest, they resisted heavily against the Spanish invaders taking twenty years to submit the Muzo.

Knowledge about the Muzo people has been provided by chroniclers Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Pedro Simón, Juan de Castellanos, Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita and others.

The Muzo were inhabiting the lower altitude northwestern areas of the Cundinamarca department and western portion of the Boyacá Department, closer to the Magdalena River. Their northern neighbours were the Naura people, the Panche in the south, to the southeast the Muisca inhabited the higher altitude Altiplano Cundiboyacense. Their western neighbours were the Colima people.

The Muzo people were considered the first inhabitants of Boyacá, originally from Saboyá. Their territory stretched from the thick forests surrounding the Carare River in the north at the border with Santander, the Río Negro in the south, in the east the Pacho River and the Ubaté-Chiquinquirá Valley and the western boundary formed the Magdalena River. Other sources limit the Muzo area with the Sogamoso, Suárez, Magdalena and Ermitaño Rivers.