It includes languages spoken by communities from Costa Rica and Panama through Colombia and into Venezuela.

The geographic spread of Chibchan languages has long been recognized as evidence of a historically significant population expansion, but the genetic basis and direction of that expansion has been debated.

The 2025 Colombia study provides direct genetic evidence supporting a southward or southeastward movement of people carrying Central American-related ancestry into the Bogotá Altiplano by around 2,000 years before present.

The Herrera-period individuals showed genetic profiles consistent with an origin in or connection to the population complex of the Isthmus of Panama and adjacent lowland areas.