But the Altiplano Cundiboyacense extends further north into Boyacá, where additional basins and valleys at comparable elevations were also centers of prehistoric occupation, and where the Muisca maintained territorial presence during their period of greatest political influence.

The Altiplano is unusual in the context of the Andes.

Unlike the narrow, steep valleys that characterize much of the Andean highland, the Bogotá basin and the adjacent Boyacá highlands offer relatively flat terrain, productive volcanic soils, and an agricultural climate suited to potato cultivation and, after its introduction, maize.

These characteristics made the Altiplano one of the most densely occupied highland regions in pre-Columbian South America, supporting population densities that exceeded those of many comparable highland environments elsewhere in the continent.

The geographic enclosure of the plateau — bounded by the mountains of the Eastern Cordillera on multiple sides, with relatively difficult access through the passes and slopes that connect the plateau to the lowlands below — created conditions favorable to both cultural distinctiveness and genetic isolation.