The area of modern Bogotá was first populated by groups of indigenous people who migrated from Mesoamerica.[citation needed]Among these groups were the Muiscas, who settled mainly in the regions that we know today as the Departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. With the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, the area became a major settlement, founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and later capital of the Spanish provinces and the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.[12] With independence, Bogotá became capital of the Gran Colombia and later the capital of the Republic of Colombia.