| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 13,917 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Belize | 10,557 [1] |
 Guatemala | 3,360 [2] |
| Languages | |
| Mopan, English, Kriol, Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Catholic, Evangelicalism, Maya religion | |
The Mopan people are an indigenous, sub-ethnic group of the Maya peoples. They are native to regions of Belize and Guatemala.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British forced the Mopan out of Belize and into Guatemala. [3] There, they endured forced labour and high taxation. [3] They migrated from Petén, Guatemala to avoid this forced labor and taxation. The Mopan originally settled near modern Pueblo Viaja, but Guatemalan officials claimed that they were still within bounds of Guatemala, so they moved further east around 1889 and founded San Antonio in Belize. [4]
In the 2010 Census, 10,557 Belizeans reported their ethnicity as Mopan Maya. This constituted approximately 3% of the population. [1]
The Mopan Maya people practice a spirituality that relates to the Maya Catholic Faith. The prominent factor that has caused the decline of these traditional practices is the influence of Protestant evangelical missionaries. [5]
There is an absence of written traditions of the Mopan Maya people, so the preservation of their culture relies on oral transmission. [6]
The language of the Mopan people is Mopan language. It is a member of the Yucatec Maya language branch of the Mayan languages. [7] Several thousand Mopan people, located in Belize and Guatemala, speak the Mopan language. [6]
The Cacao tree has played a significant role in the religious life of the Mopan Maya people. The Cacao tree is known as ceremonial tree in the Mopan Community. The tree is locally known as cucu. Both the tree itself and its beans that it produces are said to contain spirits.
The traditional religion of the Mopan people is Maya-Catholic. In this religion, the Mopan Maya people consume Cacao beverages at religious celebrations. However, since the 1970s, numerous Mopan villagers have left the Maya Catholic faith and joined Protestant groups. As a result, they reject beliefs related to spiritual aspects of the natural world. [4]
The economy of the Mopan Community is based on agriculture. The Mopan people have a long history of being small holder, independent farmers. The members of the Mopan community have extensive knowledge in the local flora and fauna. [4]
The Mopan people cultivate maize, beans, and plant rice. These crops serve as cash crops. The cacao tree, and the cultivation of Cacao, has been financially beneficial for the Mopan people. They have been able to establish relationships with companies interested in the purchasing of Cacao, including the Hummingbird Highway Hershey Company and Green and Blacks. [4]
Belize is a Caribbean country located on the northeastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, to the east by the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by Guatemala. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 419,199 (2020). Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It has the lowest population and population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Its capital is Belmopan, and its largest city is Belize City.
Theobroma cacao, also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae, native to the deep tropical regions of Mesoamerica. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest producer of cocoa beans in 2018 was Ivory Coast, with 37% of the world total.
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Belize, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Toledo District is the southernmost district in Belize, and Punta Gorda is the District capital. It is the least developed region in the country, and it features some of the most pristine rainforests, extensive cave networks, coastal lowland plains, and offshore cays. Toledo is home to a wide range of cultures: Mopan and Kekchi Maya, Creole, the Garifuna, East Indians, Mennonites, Mestizos, and descendants of US Confederate settlers.
The Maya peoples are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical civilization. Today they inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. "Maya" is a modern collective term for the peoples of the region, however, the term was not historically used by the indigenous populations themselves. There was no common sense of identity or political unity among the distinct populations, societies and ethnic groups because they each had their own particular traditions, cultures and historical identity.
The Itza are a Mayan ethnic group native to the Péten region of northern Guatemala and parts of Belize. The majority of Itza are inhabitants of the city of Flores on Lake Petén Itzá, and nearby portions of Belize where they form an ethnic minority.
Itzaʼ is a endangered Mayan language spoken by the Itza people near Lake Peten Itza in north-central Guatemala and neighboring Belize. The language has about 1,000 fluent speakers, all older adults.
Mopan is a language that belongs to the Yucatecan branch of the Mayan languages. It is spoken by the Mopan people who live in the Petén Department of Guatemala and in the Maya Mountains region of Belize. There are between three and four thousand Mopan speakers in Guatemala and six to eight thousand in Belize.
Ancient Maya cuisine was varied and extensive. Many different types of resources were consumed, including maritime, flora, and faunal material, and food was obtained or produced through strategies such as hunting, foraging, and large-scale agricultural production. Plant domestication concentrated upon several core foods, the most important of which was maize.
Zacpeten is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It is notable as one of the few Maya communities that maintained their independence through the early phases of Spanish control over Mesoamerica.
The Kowoj [koʔwox] was a Maya group and polity, from the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. The Kowoj claimed to have migrated from Mayapan sometime after the city's collapse in 1441 AD. Indigenous documents also describe Kowoj in Mayapan and linguistic data indicate migrations between the Yucatán Peninsula and the Petén region.
Qʼeqchiʼ are a Maya people of Guatemala and Belize. Their indigenous language is the Qʼeqchiʼ language.
The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its logosyllabic script—the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. “Maya" is a modern term used to refer collectively to the various peoples that inhabited this area. They did not call themselves “Maya,” and did not have a sense of common identity or political unity. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.
The Pre-Columbian Belize history is the period from initial indigenous presence, across millennia, to the first contacts with Europeans - the Pre-Columbian or before Columbus period - that occurred on the region of the Yucatán Peninsula that is present day Belize.
The History of Belize dates back thousands of years. The Maya civilization spread into the area of Belize between 1500 BC to 1200 BC and flourished until about 1000 AD. Several Maya ruin sites, including Cahal Pech, Caracol, Lamanai, Lubaantun, Altun Ha, and Xunantunich reflect the advanced civilization and much denser population of that period. The first recorded European incursions in the region were made by Spanish conquistadors and missionaries in the 16th century, secondly there was a demand. great cabinestmakers like sheraton shipbuild industry was beginning to use mahogany.
Belizeans are people associated with the country of Belize through citizenship or descent. Belize is a multiethnic country with residents of African, Amerindian, European and Asian descent or any combination of those groups.
Latin American Belizeans or Belizean mestizos are Belizeans of Latin American and mestizo descent. Currently, they comprise around 52.9% of Belize's population.
The Manche Chʼol were a former Chʼol-speaking Maya people inhabiting the extreme south of what is now the Petén Department of modern Guatemala, the area around Lake Izabal, and southern Belize. The Manche Chʼol took the name Manche from the name of their main settlement. They were the last group of eastern Cholan-speakers to remain independent and ethnically distinct. It is likely that they were descended from the inhabitants of Classic period Maya cities in the southeastern Maya region, such as Nim Li Punit, Copán and Quiriguá.
The Chinamita or Tulumkis were a Mopan Maya people who occupied a territory in the eastern Petén Basin and western Belize between the Itza of Nojpetén, within the borders of modern Guatemala, and their allies at Tipuj, now in Belize. In the early 17th century, the Chinamita probably occupied a territory along the Mopan River south of the Yaxhá and Sacnab lakes in Petén, and in neighbouring portions of Belize. In 1698, after the fall of Nojpetén to the Spanish, the Itza told the Spanish that the Chinamita had territory nine days to the east of the Itza capital.
The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic periods; these were preceded by the Archaic Period, which saw the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of chronology of the Maya civilization, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decadence. Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author. The Preclassic lasted from approximately 3000 BC to approximately 700 AD; this was followed by the Classic, from 700 AD to roughly 950 AD, then by the Postclassic, from 950 AD to the middle of the 16th century. Each period is further subdivided:
| Indigenous | |
|---|---|
| Non-Indigenous | |
| Guatemalan Indians (Maya and others) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Former and extinct | ||
| Guatemalan mestizo | ||
| Descendants of Europeans (whites or Criollo) | ||
| Descendants of Asians | ||
| Afro-Descendants | ||
| Americas | ||
