Qualla: Tunja

Tunja: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Before it was called Tunja, this city was called Hunza. Before it was a city it was the seat of the hoa, the northern Muisca ruler, who governed lands stretching from the Chicamocha River to the Panche frontier. When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived on 20 August 1537 with horses and dogs, he found the ruler Quemuenchatocha sitting in a chair dressed in gold. The gold, the emeralds, and the fabrics were taken. The ruler was taken next. What happened afterward is the longer story of a city that changed its name but has never stopped being one of the most important places on the Altiplano.

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Tunja: Twelve Thousand Years on One Plain

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense, where Tunja stands, has held human communities for approximately 12,000 years. Homo sapiens of the Tequendama culture lived in the area by 6375 BCE; archaeologists have recovered their skeletons, including arm bones, from regional sites. By 150 BCE t...

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Tunja: Two Capitals, One Confederation

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Muisca Confederation was divided. In the south, the psihipqua - also called the zipa - ruled from Bacatá, near present-day Bogotá. In the north, the hoa ruled from Hunza. The ruler Hunzahúa, brought from Ramiriquí and elected supreme chief of the region, had unified the north...

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Tunja: The Beheading of a Dynasty

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Jiménez de Quesada's soldiers took Quemuenchatocha to Suesca to pressure him for the location of more treasure. He abdicated in favor of his nephew Aquiminzaque and returned to Ramiriquí, where he died. Aquiminzaque initially accommodated the Spaniards - he converted to Catholici...

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Tunja: A Spanish City Builds on a Muisca One

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Captain Gonzalo Suárez Rendón founded the Spanish city of Tunja on 6 August 1539 - almost exactly a year after Bogotá's founding - on the lands where Quemuenchatocha had been captured. The main square was laid out with yards for a church and public buildings. By 1550 the city out...

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Tunja: The Safest City in Colombia

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Here is a fact most visitors to Colombia don't expect: Tunja is among the safest cities in the Americas. According to the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime's 2010 report, it has the lowest homicide rate in Colombia and is below the Latin American average. In 2015 t...

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