Suesca  Suesca is a town and municipality in the Almeidas Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at north from the capital Bogotá. Suesca forms the northern edge of the Bogotá savanna and is a scenic countryside town which is well known because its landscape attracts devotees of rock climbing, trekking, and rafting. It is surrounded by dairy farms and flower plantations. The municipality borders Cucunubá and Lenguazaque in the north, Sesquilé in the south, Chocontá in the east and Nemocón and Gachancipá in the west. The name Suesca is derived from the Chibcha word "Suejica", "Sueica" or "Suesuca", which means "Rock of the birds" or "Tail of the macaw". Suesca was inhabited early in the of the Altiplano and the rock shelters formed the site for semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Herrera and preceramic periods. Before the Spanish conquest, Suesca was part of the Muisca Confederation. The "cacique" of Guatavita ruled over Suesca, the village close to the sacred Lake Guatavita and containing Lake Suesca where rituals were held. Suesca formed an important centre on the trade road to Boyacá, ruled by the "zaque" of Hunza. The merchants took carbon and salt on their way to the north. Every four days a market was held in Suesca. Suesca was also an important settlement for the pottery made by the Muisca. When conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived in Suesca in March 1537 he founded the modern town. In Suesca he sentenced a soldier of his army to death, for stealing mantles from the Muisca. After submitting the "zaque" of Hunza, Quemuenchatocha, the Muisca ruler was taken prisoner to Suesca in an attempt to let him reveal the location of his treasures. When the "zipa" of Bacatá, Tisquesusa, heard about the Spanish presence in Suesca, he sent a spy to the town to gain information about their strength. The Muisca, unfamiliar with horses and horseback riders, thought that the horse and the rider were one.