Conquest of Bacatá

Date: April 20, 1537 • Location: Funza, Colombia

Bacatá, the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation in present-day Colombia, was conquered by Spanish conquistadors led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.

Bacatá 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.