Lakandon Ch'ol

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Map showing the territory inhabited by the Lakandon Ch'ols in the 17th century Contact Period lowland Guatemala.gif
Map showing the territory inhabited by the Lakandon Ch'ols in the 17th century

The Lakandon Ch'ol were a former Ch’ol-speaking Maya people inhabiting the Lacandon Jungle in what is now lowland Chiapas in Mexico and the bordering regions of northwestern Guatemala, [1] along the tributaries of the upper Usumacinta River and the foothills of the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes. [2]

Maya peoples People of southern Mexico and northern Central America

The Maya peoples are a large group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. They inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region that share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term embraces many distinct populations, societies and ethnic groups that each have their own particular traditions, cultures and historical identity.

Lacandon Jungle area of rainforest

The Lacandon Jungle is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico, into Honduras and into the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. The heart of this rainforest is located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas near the border with Guatemala in the Montañas del Oriente region of the state. Although most of the jungle outside the reserve has been partially or completely destroyed and damage continues inside the Reserve, the Lacandon is still the largest montane rainforest in North America and one of the last ones left large enough to support jaguars. It contains 1,500 tree species, 33% of all Mexican bird species, 25% of all Mexican animal species, 56% of all Mexican diurnal butterflies and 16% of all Mexico's fish species.

Contents

The Lakandon Ch'ol at contact with the Spanish

The Lakandon Ch'ol of the time of the Spanish conquest should not be confused with the modern Yucatec-speaking Lacandon people occupying the same region. [3] At the time of Spanish contact in the 16th century, the Lacandon Jungle was inhabited by Ch'ol people referred to as Lakam Tun. This name was hispanicised, first to El Acantun, then to Lacantun and finally to Lacandon. [4] The main Lakandon village was situated on an island in Lake Miramar, also referred to as Lakam Tun by the inhabitants. [5] The Lakandons, together with their equally unconquered Itza enemies to the northeast, had an especially warlike reputation among the Spanish. [6]

The Spanish conquest of Chiapas was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish conquistadores against the Late Postclassic Mesoamerican polities in the territory that is now incorporated into the modern Mexican state of Chiapas. The region is physically diverse, featuring a number of highland areas, including the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Montañas Centrales, a southern littoral plain known as Soconusco and a central depression formed by the drainage of the Grijalva River.

Yucatec Maya, called mayaʼ tʼàan by its speakers, is a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. To native speakers, the proper name is Maya and it is known only as Maya. The qualifier "Yucatec" is a tag linguists use to distinguish it from other Mayan languages. Thus the use of the term Yucatec Maya to refer to the language is scientific jargon or nomenclature.

Later history

Hernán Cortés first heard of the existence of the Lakandon when he was passing through Kejache territory in 1524, although he did not actually contact them. [7] During the 16th century, the Spanish colonial authorities in Verapaz, within the Captaincy General of Guatemala, complained that baptised Maya were fleeing colonial towns in order to find refuge among the independent Lakandon and their Manche Ch'ol neighbours. [8] The first Spanish expedition against the Lakandons was carried out in 1559, commanded by Pedro Ramírez de Quiñones. [9]

Hernán Cortés Spanish conquistador

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Kejache

The Kejache were a Maya people in the southern Yucatán Peninsula at the time of Spanish contact in the 17th century. The Kejache territory was located in the Petén Basin in a region that takes in parts of both Guatemala and Mexico. Linguistic evidence indicates that the Kejache shared a common origin with the neighbouring Itzas to their southeast and the Kejache may have occupied the general region since the Classic period. The Kejache were initially contacted by conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1525; they were later in prolonged contact with the Spanish as the latter opened a route southwards towards Lake Petén Itzá.

Verapaz or Vera Paz was a historical region in the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Guatemala.

At the end of the 16th century, under pressure from the advancing Spanish frontier, the Lakandon Ch'ol abandoned Lakam Tun and withdrew deeper into the forest to the southeast where they founded a new town, Sakb'ajlan, within a wide curve of the Lacantún River. [10] The name of the town translated as "white jaguar". The Lakandons had two other settlements further east, called Map and Peta. [11]

The Lacantún River is a river of Mexico.

During the course of the 17th century, the Lakandon Ch'ol raided the Guatemalan Highlands to such an extent that it was considered unsafe to travel in the region surrounding San Mateo Ixtatán and Santa Eulalia in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, [12] within the colonial Corregimiento de Totonicapán y Huehuetenango administrative division. [13] In response, the colonial authorities placed garrisons in both towns in order to protect the local inhabitants against Lakandon raids, with limited success. [12] The Lakandon Ch'ol traded with the colonial Maya towns of Cobán and Cahabón in Alta Verapaz, receiving quetzal feathers, copal, chile, cotton, salt and Spanish-produced iron tools in exchange for cacao and achiote. [14] From time to time the Spanish launched punitive military expeditions against the Lakandons to try to stabilise the northern frontier of the Guatemalan colony; the largest expeditions took place in 1685 and 1695. [15]

San Mateo Ixtatán Municipality in Huehuetenango, Guatemala

San Mateo Ixtatán is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango. It is situated at 2,540 metres (8,330 ft) above sea level in the Cuchumatanes mountain range and covers 560 square kilometres (220 sq mi) of terrain. It has a cold climate and is located in a cloud forest. The temperature fluctuates between 0.5 and 20 °C. The coldest months are from November to January and the warmest months are April and May. The town has a population of about 10,000, and is the municipal center for an additional 20,000 people living in the surrounding mountain villages. It has a weekly market on Thursday and Sunday. The annual town festival takes place from September 19 to September 21 honoring their patron Saint Matthew. The residents of San Mateo belong to the Chuj Maya ethnic group and speak the Mayan Chuj language, not to be confused with Chuj baths, or wood fired steam rooms that are common throughout the central and western highlands.

Santa Eulalia also known as Jolom Konob' is a municipality located in the north-east of the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Central America. This town is rich in culture and traditions. The majority of people here speak the Q'anjob'al language.

Cobán Place in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

Cobán, fully Santo Domingo de Cobán, is the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. It also serves as the administrative center for the surrounding Cobán municipality. It is located 219 km from Guatemala City.

Conversion and resettlement

Franciscan friars Antonio Margil and Melchor López were active among the Lakandon and Manche Ch'ol between 1692 and 1694; they eventually outstayed their welcome and were expelled by the Ch'ol. [16] Most of the Lakandon Ch'ol were forcibly relocated to the Huehuetenango area by the Spanish in the early 18th century. The resettled Lakandon Ch'ol were soon absorbed into the local Maya populations there and ceased to exist as a separate ethnicity. [17] The last known Lakandon Ch'ol were three Indians that were recorded as living in Santa Catarina Retalhuleu in 1769. [18]

Retalhuleu City in Guatemala

The city of Retalhuleu is in south-western Guatemala. It is the departmental seat of Retalhuleu Department as well as the municipal seat of Retalhuleu Municipality.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Thompson 1938, pp. 586-587.
  2. ↑ Jones 1998, p. 112.
  3. ↑ Pons Sáez 1997, p. v. Eroza Solana 2006, p. 7.
  4. ↑ Pugh 2009, p. 369.
  5. ↑ Pons Sáez 1997, p. xii.
  6. ↑ Houwald 1984, p. 257. Vos 1980, 1996, pp. 15-16.
  7. ↑ Pons Sáez 1997, p. xiii.
  8. ↑ Lovell 2000, p. 415.
  9. ↑ Lovell 2005, pp. 78, 243n19.
  10. ↑ Vos 1980, 1996, p.15. Jones 2000, p. 362.
  11. ↑ Vos 1980, 1996, p.15.
  12. 1 2 Lovell 2005, p. 82.
  13. ↑ Limón Aguirre p. 12.
  14. ↑ Caso Barrera and Aliphat 2007, pp. 49, 51.
  15. ↑ Lovell 2005, p. 181.
  16. ↑ Webre 2004, p. 11.
  17. ↑ Jones 2000, p. 365.
  18. ↑ Vos 1980, 1996, p. 17.

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References

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