conquistador who left Santa Marta on April 6, 1536 with 800 soldiers heading towards the interior of current Colombia. The expedition divided into two groups, one under De Quesada's command to move on land and the other commanded by Diego de Urbino would ascend the Magdalena River in four brigantine ships to meet De Quesada's troops at a site named Tora de las Barrancas Bermejas, present-day Barrancabermeja. When they arrived, they heard news about indigenous people inhabiting the south and making large salt cakes used to trade for cotton and fish. De Quesada decided to abandon the route to Peru and cross the Andes in search of "salt villages". They saw crops, trails, white salt cakes and then huts where they found farm fields (called tá in the Chibcha language) with maize, yuca and beans. From Tora the expedition went up the Opón River where the Spanish found indigenous tribes covered with very fine painted cotton mantles. When they arrived on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, of the expedition leaving Santa Marta only 70 men were left. Along their journey they took a large amount of gold and emeralds. In Hunza the Spanish submitted zaque Quemuenchatocha and headed towards Sogamoso, where they raided and accidentally set the Sun Temple on fire. On March 22, 1537 the Spanish arrived from the north crossing the salt mine villages Nemocón and Zipaquirá to a place they named Valle de los Alcázarea (Valley of the Fortress). Already in Muisca territory they found good roads and moved southwest. In a few days only they crossed several villages, among them Lenguazaque and Suesca. They continued through Cajicá, Chía and Suba, the start of the southern Muisca zipazgo of Bacatá, where they found an abandoned Bacatá . The zipa of Bacatá, Tisquesusa had fled the capital of his kingdom to the north (Cajicá), where he would be killed by a Spanish soldier. Spanish colonization Foundation of Bogotá Following conquerors motto to found and to populate, De Quesada decided to build an urban settlement to live in good order and under stable government. To the east on the foothills they found an Indian village named Teusaquillo near the residence of the zipa, supplied with water, wood and planting land and protected from winds by the mountains of Monserrate and Guadalupe. Although no document recording the exact date of city foundation has been found, August 7, 1538 is accepted as the