Kinship and Inheritance among the Sabana de Bogotá Chibcha at the Time of Spanish Conquest

Information from documents in the Colombian National Archives & chroniclers' accounts are utilized to clarify questions concerning kinship organization, marriage, & inheritance patterns among the Chibcha of the Sabana de Bogota & Valley of Ubate at the time of Spanish conquest in 1537. Contrary to statements made by some chroniclers & modern writers, the Chibcha were uniformly matrilineal in descent, inheritance, & succession to political office. 16th century & early 17th century lawsuits, tours of inspection (visitas ) & other documentary evidence indicate that prehispanic Chibcha communities were composed of a hierarchy of kinship-territorial units. Permanent membership in these units & accompanying access to land rights were matrilineally defined. Following conquest, the Chibcha appear to have continued to reckon descent matrilineally. In the colonial period, land rights were inherited via a combination of patrilineal (Spanish imposed) & matrilineal patterns, with the latter appearing to have been stressed in reservation lands. AA.