 The onset of the Muisca Period is commonly set at 800 AD, following the Herrera Period, and the reign of the Muisca lasted until the arrival of the Spanish in 1537.On the fertile plains of the Andean high plateau the Muisca developed a rich economy consisting of agricultural technologies of drainage and irrigation, fine crafts of gold, "tumbaga" and ceramics and textiles and a religious and mythological society.The political organisation was rather loose; a set of different rulers who traded with each other in small communities.