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Acalan (Chontal Maya: Tamactun, Nahuatl: Acallan) was a Chontal Maya region in what is now southern Campeche, Mexico. Its capital was Itzamkanac. The people of Acalan were called Mactun in the Chontal Maya language.
Unlike the rest of the Chontal Maya region, cacao (although present) was not produced in economically significant quantities in Acalan, though its merchants still played the role of middlemen in its distribution. More prominent products included gold, cotton, and honey. [1]
Much of the nobility had Nahuatl names, indicating either an ethnic Nahua presence or the use of Nahuatl as a trade language. Acalan was governed as a sort of merchant republic, where the most influential merchant became the ruler though his power was checked by councils of merchants representing the four wards of the capital. Acalan also maintained a trade post at Nito in Guatemala. [2]
Cuauhtemoc, ruler of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, was executed by Hernán Cortés while they were stopped in the Acalan capital of Itzamkanac (modern El Tigre on the right bank of the Candelaria River) in 1525. [3]
