Before the
Spanish conquest of the Eastern Colombian Andes, the region of Muzo was inhabited by the people with the same name. They extracted emeralds in pre-Columbian times, giving them the name "The Emerald People". Using poles of hard tropical wood and water, the people peeled the emeralds from the
formations, in particular the
Muzo Formation, named after the municipality. Historians have estimated the Muzo settled in the area of Muzo around 1000 AD. The
Cariban-speaking Muzo, like their
Chibcha neighbours, adored the Sun and Moon as
deities. Unlike their eastern neighbours, they did not construct temples.
Spanish conquest After the successful conquest by the Spanish of the eastern neighbours, the
Muisca, and partial submittal of the
Panche, the southern neighbours of the Muzo, the Spanish, in search of valuable resources, sent various conquistadors into the territories inhabited by the Muzo. The first to arrive in Muzo territory was
Luis Lanchero, soldier of the conquest expedition led by
Nikolaus Federmann, in 1539. He encountered fierce resistance by the indigenous Muzo and had to return to the newly founded capital
Santafe de Bogotá of the
New Kingdom of Granada in 1541. The Muzo used the rugged terrain to their advantage and attacked the forty conquistadors, whose horses had problems crossing the hills of Muzo, using
poisoned arrows. During a second invasion by the Spanish into the Muzo lands, in 1544, conquistador Diego Martínez discovered the rich emerald deposits of Muzo. A third campaign to submit the Muzo was executed by conquistador
Pedro de Ursúa in 1552. Also he failed to conquer the Muzo. A fourth time the Spanish attempted to subdue the Muzo to the Spanish Crown was successful; Luis Lanchero returned to the area where he was driven out almost two decades earlier, defeated the Muzo and founded the town of Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de los Muzos on February 20, 1559.
Colonial period The first evangelisation was performed by
Juan de los Barrios in 1566. The Spanish were highly interested in the emeralds of Muzo, proving to be the highest quality emeralds worldwide. They set up
encomiendas to guard the valuable gemstones and used the indigenous people to perform
slave labour for the extraction of the minerals. == Economy ==