CHIBCHAN LANGUAGES

a group of South American Indian languages that were spoken before AD 1500 in the area now comprising Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and Ecuador. A now extinct Chibchan language sometimes known as Muisca was the language of a powerful Indian empire with its centre near Bogot. Important present-day Chibchan languages include Guaym and Move in Panama, Kuna and Pez in Colombia, and Cayapa (or Colorado) in Ecuador. Some scholars classify a number of minor languages of Central and South America together with Chibchan in a Macro-Chibchan stock.