Tisquesusa

Tisquesusa, also spelled Thisquesuza, Thysquesuca, or Thisquesusha, referred to in the earliest sources as Bogotá, the Elder, (died Facatativá, 1537) was the fourth and last independent ruler (psihipqua) of Muyquytá, main settlement of the southern Muisca between 1514 and his death in 1537. The Spanish pronunciation of his name brought about the Colombian capital Bogotá. Tisquesusa was the ruler of the southern Muisca Confederation at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, when the troops led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his brother entered the central Andean highlands.

Name

The name Tisquesusa originates from the work Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias written by poet Juan de Castellanos decades after the events of the conquest. In his work, he names Tisquesusa as the zipa. However, the origin of this name is unknown, and Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, among others, maintains the name was originally "Bogotá". Later chroniclers, such as Pedro Simón simply took the names from earlier sources without verifying them.

Biography

Tisquesusa was cacique of Chía and following the Muisca heritage rules, he, as nephew of the previous ruler Nemequene, succeeded his uncle in 1514. At the start of his reign, Tisquesusa fought against the Panche in the west of the Muisca Confederation. The brother of Tisquesusa and later—according to Muisca heritage rule illegal—successor Sagipa was the general in the southern Muisca army.