Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada (English: Summary of the conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada) is a document of uncertain authorship, possibly (partly) written by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada between 1548 and 1559. The book was not published until 1889 by anthropologist Marcos Jiménez de la Espada in his work Juan de Castellanos y su Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada.
Epítome narrates about the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, from the start from Santa Marta in April 1536 to the leave of main conquistador Jiménez de Quesada in April 1539 from Bogotá, arriving to Spain, about "The Salt People" (Muisca) encountered in the conquest expedition in the heart of the Colombian Andes, their society, rules, religion, handling of the dead, warfare and neighbouring "cannibalistic" Panche.
The text has been studied by various authors over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, mainly by Juan Friede and modern scholars and various theories about authorship and temporal setting have been proposed. The document is held by the National Historical Archive in Madrid, Spain.
Contents The document is written in old Spanish in the present tense and first person with descriptions of Jiménez de Quesada, written as Ximénez de Quesada, in the third person. The margins of the main texts are notes with sometimes difficult to discern text, vagued in time.Ramos Pérez, 1972, p.283
The route from the coast to La Tora
Epítome starts with a description of the Caribbean coastal area where the expedition Spanish conquest of the Muisca started. The author speaks of the Magdalena River, dividing the Spanish provinces of Cartagena to the west and Santa Marta to the east. In the document, the Magdalena River is also called Río Grande, thanks to the great width of the river close to Santa Marta. A description of the journey over the river is given where the heavy and frequent rains made it impossible to disembark the ships (brigantines). According to the Epítome, the Spanish could not ascend further than Sompallón. The distance unit used, is the legua (league), an old and poorly defined unit of distance varying from to .Epítome, p.81
On the second page, the rich golden burial sites of the Zenú are described, as well as the routes inland from later Venezuela, that was conquered by German conquistadors. The next paragraph narrates about the start of the main expedition inland from Santa Marta, leaving the city in the month of April 1536. It is said Gonzalo Ximénez de Quesada left with 600 men, divided into 8 groups of infantry, 10 groups of cavalry and a number of brigs on the Magdalena River. De Quesada and his troops marched over land on the bank of the river. Names of the captains in the army of De Quesada are given as San Martín, Céspedes, Valençuela, Lázaro Fonte, Librixa, de Junco and Suarex. The captains heading the brigs are named as (Francisco Gómez del) Corral, Cardosso and Albarracín. The troops went out of free will and consent of the governor of Santa Marta, Pedro de Lugo. The troops went under command of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.Epítome, p.82 The third page describes that the troops spent more than a year and more than 100 leguas on their journey. They reached La Tora [present-day Barrancabermeja], farther than any soldier had gone before, after 150 leguas. The expedition took so long because of the waters and the narrow passages of the surrounding area.Epítome, p.83
El Camino de la Sal
From La Tora, Jiménez de Quesada sent the ships further upriver, for another 20 leguas, until it became impossible to continue. The indigenous (yndios) here didn't live on the river banks, but on small islands. Because of the impossible trajectory along the river, Jiménez de Quesada agreed to ascend over land "on his left hand", climbing a mountain range that later became known as the Sierras del Opón. The consumption of salt is described as coming from Santa Marta along the river for "70 leguas" and so far from the coast the grainy salt was expensive and only available to the highest social classes. The rest of the salt came from urine or palm trees. Higher up, the salt was different; came in loafs, much like sugar loafs.
The salt of this type was less expensive and the conquistadors concluded that the grainy salt went up the river, while the better salt came from higher altitudes down the river. The indigenous people who carried the salt, told the conquistadors that it was coming from a land of richness. This led the Spanish uphill, on the Camino de la Sal ("The Salt Route") to search for its source. At this point, the Sierras del Opón were crossed and the brigantines returned to the coast, leaving the majority of the soldiers with De Quesada because many of his troops had died already during the expedition. The route over the Sierras del Opón is described as rugged and little populated by natives, a journey of various days and 50 leguas long. In the sparse settlements, the conquistadors found great quantities of the high quality salts and after a while they had crossed the difficult mountainous area, reaching a flatter terrain, described as "what would become the New Kingdom of Granada". It is described that the people of this area were different and also spoke a different language from the people along the Magdalena River and of the Sierras del Opón, making it impossible to understand them at first. Over time, it became possible to communicate and the people in the flatter area, called San Gregorio provided the conquistadors with emeralds.Epítome, p.84 Jiménez de Quesada asked the people where they were coming from and the natives pointed him to the Valle de los Alcázares (Bogotá savanna), upon which the troops headed that way. They encountered a "king" they called Bogothá who gave the conquistadors many golden objects to expel the Spanish from his lands and the indigenous people told the Spanish the emeralds were coming from lands belonging to the "king" of Tunja.Epítome, p.85
Entering Muisca territory
The lands crossing the Sierras del Opón consisted of valleys (on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense), where each valley was ruled by a different person. The valleys were densely populated and around the valleys (to the west) lived indigenous people who were called Panches. They consumed human flesh, while the people from the New Kingdom of Granada (i.e. Muisca, called moxcas) did not perform cannibalism. Also the difference in climate is reported; the Panche lived in warm climates while the Muisca lived in cold or temperate climates. Epítome describes the extent of the New Kingdom as "130 leguas, more or less, long" and "30 leguas, in some parts 20 wide". The Kingdom is divided into two provinces; that of Tunja and of Bogotá (modern names are used). The document describes that the rulers have surnames referring to the terrain and are "very powerful" and have caciques who are subject to their reign. The population is described as approximately "70,000 in the Bogotá area, that is larger" and about "40,000 in the smaller and less powerful Tunja province". The relation between Tunja and Bogotá is described as filled with many and ancient wars. According to the Epítome, the people from the Bogotá area had long-standing wars with the Panche, that lived closer to them than to the people from the Tunja province.
From Funza to Hunza
Jiménez de Quesada left Bogotá and went to Coçontá (Chocontá), that he called Valle del Spiritusancto. From there he went to Turmequé in a valley he named Valle de la Trompeta, the first of the Tunja lands. From Turmequé he send his men to discover the emerald mines and after that leaving for another valley, of San Juan, in Muysccubun called Tenesucha and from there to the valley of Somondoco where he spoke to the cacique Sumindoco, who governed the mines or quarries of emeralds and was subject to the gran cacique of Tunja. Many emeralds were extracted. He decided to continue to search for the cacique of Tunja, who was at war with the Christians. The document describes the lands of Tunja as richer than those of Bogotá, although those were already rich, but gold and precious emeralds are more abundant in Tunja. In total 1800 emeralds, large and small were found and De Quesada had never seen so many and precious ones in his life. The rich resources of Peru are described in relation to the mines of Tunja, where the emeralds were more numerous than in Peru. Epítome describes the process of extracting the emeralds with wooden sticks from the veins in the rocks.Epítome, p.87 From the emerald mines of Tunja, he returned to Bogotá.Epítome, p.86
Reception of the conquistadors by the Muisca
Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada continues with a description of how the indigenous people received and saw the conquistadors. The people experienced great fears seeing the Spanish, and saw them as children of the deities Sun (Sué) and Moon (Chía). The people believed, according to Epítome, they were sent to punish the people for their sins. Hence they named the Spanish usachíes; a combination of Usa, referring to the Sun and Chíe to the Moon as "children of the Sun and the Moon". The document narrates that the Muisca women climbed the hills surrounding the valleys and threw their infants to the Spanish, some from their breasts, to stop the fury of the gods. It is described that the people very much feared the horses, and only bit by bit got used to them. Epítome says that the people started to attack the Spanish, but were easily beaten because they feared the horses so much and fled. The text describes this as the common practice in the battles of the indigenous people (bárbaros) against the conquistadors during all of 1537 and part of 1538, until they finally bowed to the reign of his Majesty, the King of Spain.Epítome, p.88
The Panche
The description of the Panche is different in Epítome than the Muisca; the Panche are described as a much more war-like people, their rugged terrain worse for the cavalry and the style of warfare different. While the Muisca "fought" using screams and shouting, the Panche are described as fighting silently with slingshots, poisoned arrows and large heavy poles made of palm trees (macanas) swinging them with both hands to hit their enemies. The practice, later described from the Muisca as well, of tieing mummies on their backs is reported from the Panche. The habit is described as showing what will happen to their opponents; fighting like they fought and to instigate fear in the enemy. Of the Panche is described that when they won their battles, they celebrated their victory with festivities, took the children of their enemies to sacrifice them, captured the women and killed the men by poking out the eyes of the combat leaders. The combat of the Panche is described as fiercer as of the Muisca and the combatants walked naked. They had tubes made of animal skins where they held the lances and bow and arrows to shoot. The Panche warriors are described as eating the flesh of their enemies at the battlefield or later at home with their wives and children. The process of treaties is described as performed not by the men, but by the women, as "they cannot be refused".Epítome, p.89
Descriptions of society