List of conquistadors in Colombia in the context of Nikolaus Federmann

The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) were a pre-Columbian culture and colonial communities of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, whose customs lasted up the beginning of the 19th century and Colombian independence, and are indigenous peoples in Colombia in a process of cultural re-definition and revitalization. The Muisca spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan language family, also called Muysca and Mosca, which is part of an important revival effort. The first known contact with Europeans in the region was in 1537 during the Spanish conquest of New Granada.

In New Spain, Spanish clerics and civil officials had a major impact on the Muisca, attempting to Christianize and incorporate them into the Spanish Empire as subjects.

Bacatá (Chibcha: Muyquytá or Muequetá) is the name given to the main settlement of one of the Muisca Confederations on the Bogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern settlement of Funza, in the centre of the savanna. Bacatá was the main seat of the zipa, the ruler of the Bogotá savanna and adjacent areas. The name of the Colombian capital, Bogotá, is derived from Bacatá, but founded as Santafe de Bogotá in the western foothills of the Eastern Hills in a different location than the original settlement Bacatá, west of the Bogotá River, eventually named after Bacatá as well.

The word is a combination of the Chibcha words bac, ca and tá, and means "(enclosure) outside the farmfields", referring to the rich agricultural lands of the Sabana Formation on the Bogotá savanna. Bacatá was submitted to the Spanish Empire by the conquistadors led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada on April 20, 1537. Santafe de Bogotá, the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada, was formally founded on August 6, 1538. The last zipa of an independent Bacatá was Tisquesusa, who died after being stabbed by a Spanish soldier. His brother, Sagipa, succeeded him and served as last zipa under Spanish rule.

Tunja (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtuŋxa]) is a municipality and city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 the municipality had a population of 172,548. It is the capital of Boyacá department and the Central Boyacá Province. Tunja is an important educational centre of well-known universities. In the time before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, there was an indigenous settlement, called Hunza, seat of the hoa Eucaneme, conquered by the Spanish conquistadors on August 20, 1537. The Spanish city was founded by captain Gonzalo Suárez Rendón on August 6, 1539, exactly one year after the capital Santafé de Bogotá. The city hosts the most remaining Muisca architecture: Hunzahúa Well, Goranchacha Temple and Cojines del Zaque.

Tunja is a tourist destination, especially for religious colonial architecture, with the Casa Fundador Gonzalo Suárez Rendón recognized as the oldest remnant. In addition to its religious and historical sites it is host to several internationally known festivals and is a jumping-off point for regional tourist destinations such as Villa de Leyva, Paipa, and Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. It is a stop on the Pan American Highway which connects Tunja to Bogotá and Santa Marta and eventually to the northern and southernmost parts of South America.

Tundama or Saymoso (15th century – late December 1539 in Duitama) was a cacique of the Muisca Confederation, a loose confederation of different rulers of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of the Colombian Andes. The city of Tundama, currently known as Duitama and part of the Tundama Province, Boyacá, were named after the cacique. Tundama ruled over the northernmost territories of the Muisca, submitted last by the Spanish conquistadores.

Tundama was killed late December 1539 with a large hammer by Spanish conquistador Baltasar Maldonado. His successor, Don Juan was killed shortly after, ending the reign of the Muisca in the New Kingdom of Granada, the name for present-day Colombia and a part of Venezuela in the Spanish Empire.