Maya peoples
Encyclopedia
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico
and northern Central America
. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term embraces many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups, who each have their own particular traditions, cultures, and historical identity.
There are an estimated 7 million Maya living in this area at the start of the 21st century. Ethnic Maya of Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras have managed to maintain substantial remnants of their ancient cultural heritage. Some are quite integrated into the majority hispanicized Mestizo
cultures of the nations in which they reside, while others continue a more traditional culturally distinct life, often speaking one of the Maya languages as a primary language
.
The largest populations of contemporary Maya inhabit Guatemala
, Belize
, and the western portions of Honduras
and El Salvador
, as well as large segments of population within the Mexican states of Yucatán
, Campeche
, Quintana Roo
, Tabasco
, and Chiapas
.
. They commonly identify themselves simply as "Maya" with no further ethnic subdivision (unlike in the Highlands of Western Guatemala). They speak the language which anthropologists term "Yucatec Maya", but is identified by speakers and Yucatecos simply as "Maya". Among Maya speakers Spanish
is commonly spoken as a second or first language. There is a significant amount of confusion as to the correct terminology to use—Maya or Mayan—and the meaning of these words with reference to contemporary or precolumbian peoples, to Mayan peoples in different parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and to languages or peoples. Linguists refer to Maya (language) as Yucatec or Yucatec Maya to disambiguate any confusion with other Mayan languages. This norm has often been misinterpreted to mean that the people are also called Yucatec Maya, but that term only refers to the language and the correct name for the people is simply Maya (not Mayans). Maya is one language in the Mayan language family. Thus, to refer to Maya as Mayans would be similar to referring to Americans as Germanics because they speak a language belonging to the Germanic language family. Further, confusion of the term Maya/Mayan as ethnic label occurs because Maya women who use traditional dress autoidentify by the ethnic term mestiza and not Maya. As well, persons use a strategy of ethnic identitification that Juan Castillo Cocom refers to as "ethnoexodus" -- meaning that ethnic self identification as Maya is quite variable, situational, and articulated not to processes of producing group identity but of escaping from discriminatory processes of sociocultural marginalization (see http://i09.cgpublisher.com/proposals/330/index_html).
The Yucatán's indigenous population was first exposed to Europeans after a party of Spanish shipwreck survivors came ashore in 1511. One of the sailors, Gonzalo Guerrero
, is reported to have started a family and taken up a position of counsel among a local polity near present-day Chetumal
. Later Spanish expeditions to the region were led by Córdoba
in 1517, Grijalva
in 1518 and Cortés
in 1519. From 1528 to 1540, several attempts by Francisco Montejo to conquer the Yucatán failed. His son Francisco de Montejo the Younger fared almost as badly when he first took over: while desperately holding out at Chichen Itza, he lost 150 men in a single day. European diseases, massive recruitment of native warriors from Campeche and Champoton, and internal hatred between the Xiu Maya and the lords of Cocom eventually turned the tide for Montejo the Younger and consequently resulted in the fall of Chichen Itza
by 1570. In 1542, the western Yucatán peninsula also surrendered to him.
Historically, the population in the eastern half of the peninsula was less affected by and less integrated with Hispanic culture than that of the western half. Today in the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexican States of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo) between 750,000 and 1,200,000 people speak Mayan. However three times more than that do not speak their native language but are from Maya origins and hold ancient Maya last names, such as Ak, Can, Chan, Be, Cantun, Canche, Chi, Chuc, Coyoc, Dzib, Dzul, Ehuan, Hoil, Hau, May, Tamay, Ucan, Pool, Zapo, etc..
Matthew Restall
, in his book The Maya Conquistador
, mentions a series of letters sent to the King of Spain
in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The noble
Maya Families at that time signed documents to the Spanish Royal Family; surnames mentioned in those letters are Pech, Camal, Xiu, Ucan, Canul, Cocom, and Tun, among others.
A large 19th century revolt by the native Maya people of Yucatán (Mexico), known as the Caste War of Yucatán
, was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts; results included the temporary existence of the Maya state of Chan Santa Cruz
, recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire
.
Francisco Luna-Kan was elected governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982. Luna-Kan was born in Mérida, Yucatán
, and he was a Doctor of medicine, then a Professor of Medicine before his political offices, his first being overseer of the state's rural medical system. He was the first Governor of in the modern Yucatan Peninsula
, from a full Maya background. Currently there are dozens of politicians including Deputies, Majors and Senators from a full or mixed Maya heritage from the Yucatan Peninsula.
According to the National Institute of Geography and Informatics (Mexico’s INEGI) in Yucatan State there were 1.2 million of Mayan speakers in 2009, representing 59.5% of the inhabitants. Due to this, the cultural section of the government of Yucatan
began to give on-line classes for grammar and proper pronunciation of Maya.
Maya People from Yucatan Peninsula
living in the United States of America have been organizing Maya language lessons and Maya cooking classes since 2003 in California and other states: clubs of Yucatec Maya are registered in Dallas and Irving, Texas
; Salt Lake City in Utah
; Las Vegas, Nevada
; and California
, with groups in San Francisco, San Rafael, Chino, Pasadena, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Inglewood, Los Angeles
, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, San Fernando Valley and Whittier.
Chiapas
was for many years one of the regions of Mexico that were least touched by the reforms of the Mexican Revolution
. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation
, which launched a rebellion against the Mexican state in Chiapas in January 1994, declared itself to be an indigenous movement and drew its strongest and earliest support from Chiapan Maya, a number of whom still support it today. (see also the EZLN and the Chiapas conflict
)
Maya groups in Chiapas include the Tzotzil and Tzeltal, in the highlands of the state, the Tojolabal
is concentrated in the lowlands around Las Margaritas
, and the Ch'ol in the jungle. (see map)
The most traditional of Maya groups are the Lacandon
, a small population avoiding contact with outsiders until the late 20th century by living in small groups in the Lacandon Jungle
. These Lacandon
Maya came from the Campeche/Petén area (north-east of Chiapas
) and moved into the Lacandon rain-forest at the end of the 18th century, 1000 years after the ancient (Pre-Columbian
) Maya civilization
had disappeared (around 850 A.D).
In the course of the 20th century, and increasingly in the 1950s and 1960s, other people (mainly The Maya and subsistence peasants from the highlands), also entered into the Lacandon region; initially encouraged by the government. This immigration led to land-related conflicts and an increasing pressure on the rainforest
. To halt the migration the government decided in 1971 to declare a large part of the forest (614,000 hectares, or 6140 km2) a protected area: the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. They appointed only one small population group (the 66 Lacandon families) as tenants (thus creating the Lacandon Community), thereby displacing 2000 Tzeltal and Ch'ol families from 26 communities, and leaving non-Lacandon communities dependent on the government for granting their rights to land. In the decades that followed the government carried out numerous programs to keep the problems in the region under control, using land distribution as a political tool; as a way of ensuring loyalty from different campesino groups. This strategy of divide and rule
led to great disaffection and tensions among population groups in the region.
(see also the Chiapas conflict
and the Lacandon Jungle
).
is concentrated in the Cayo
, Toledo
and Orange Walk
districts, but they are scattered throughout the country. They are divided into the Yucatec, Kekchi
, and Mopan
.
In Guatemala
, the largest and most traditional Maya populations are in the western highlands. The departments of Baja Verapaz
, Quiché, Totonicapan, Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, and San Marcos are mostly Maya.
In Guatemala, the Spanish colonial pattern of keeping the native population legally separate and subservient continued well into the 20th century. This resulted in many traditional customs being retained, as the only other option than traditional Maya life open to most Maya was entering the Hispanic culture at the very bottom rung.
Considerable identification with local and linguistic affinities, often corresponding to pre-Columbian nation states, continues, and many people wear traditional clothing that displays their specific local identity. Clothing of women tends to be more traditional than that of the men.
The Maya people of the Guatemala highlands include the Achi
, Akatek
, Chuj
, Ixil
, Jakaltek
, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Mam
, Poqomam, Poqomchi'
, Q'anjob'al
, Q'eqchi'
, Tz'utujil and Uspantek.
The southeastern region of Guatemala (bordering with Honduras
) includes groups such as the Ch'orti'
. The northern lowland Petén region includes the Itza
, whose language is near extinction but whose agro-forestry practices, including use of dietary and medicinal plants may still tell us much about pre-colonial management of the Maya lowlands.
The Maya people are known for their brightly colored yarn-based textiles, which are woven into capes, shirts, blouses, huipiles and dresses. Each village has its own distinctive pattern, making it possible to distinguish a person's home town on sight. Women's clothing consists of a shirt and a long skirt.
Roman Catholicism combined with the indigenous Maya religion are the unique syncretic religion which prevailed throughout the country and still does in the rural regions. Beginning from negligible roots prior to 1960, however, Protestant Pentecostalism has grown to become the predominant religion of Guatemala City and other urban centers and down to mid-sized towns. The unique religion is reflected in the local saint, Maximón, who is associated with the subterranean force of masculine fertility and prostitution. Always depicted in black, he wears a black hat and sits on a chair, often with a cigar placed in his mouth and a gun in his hand, with offerings of tobacco, alcohol, and Coca-cola at his feet. The locals know him as San Simon of Guatemala.
The Popol Vuh
is the most significant work of Guatemalan literature in the Quiché language, and one of the most important of Pre-Columbian American literature. It is a compendium of Mayan stories and legends, aimed to preserve Maya traditions. The first known version of this text dates from the 16th century and is written in Quiché transcribed in Latin characters. It was translated into Spanish by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez in the beginning of the 18th century. Due to its combination of historical, mythical, and religious elements, it has been called the Maya Bible. It is a vital document for understanding the culture of pre-Columbian America. The Rabinal Achí is a dramatic work consisting of dance and text that is preserved as it was originally represented. It is thought to date from the 15th century and narrates the mythical and dynastic origins of the Kek'chi' people, and their relationships with neighboring people. The Rabinal Achí is performed during the Rabinal festival of January 25, the day of Saint Paul. It was declared a masterpiece of oral tradition of humanity by UNESCO in 2005. The 16th century saw the first native-born Guatemalan writers that wrote in Spanish.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and northern Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term embraces many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups, who each have their own particular traditions, cultures, and historical identity.
There are an estimated 7 million Maya living in this area at the start of the 21st century. Ethnic Maya of Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras have managed to maintain substantial remnants of their ancient cultural heritage. Some are quite integrated into the majority hispanicized Mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
cultures of the nations in which they reside, while others continue a more traditional culturally distinct life, often speaking one of the Maya languages as a primary language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
.
The largest populations of contemporary Maya inhabit Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
, and the western portions of Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
and El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, as well as large segments of population within the Mexican states of Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
, Campeche
Campeche
Campeche is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in Southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west...
, Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....
, Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
, and Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
.
Yucatán Peninsula
The largest group of modern Maya can be found on Mexico's Yucatán PeninsulaYucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
. They commonly identify themselves simply as "Maya" with no further ethnic subdivision (unlike in the Highlands of Western Guatemala). They speak the language which anthropologists term "Yucatec Maya", but is identified by speakers and Yucatecos simply as "Maya". Among Maya speakers Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is commonly spoken as a second or first language. There is a significant amount of confusion as to the correct terminology to use—Maya or Mayan—and the meaning of these words with reference to contemporary or precolumbian peoples, to Mayan peoples in different parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and to languages or peoples. Linguists refer to Maya (language) as Yucatec or Yucatec Maya to disambiguate any confusion with other Mayan languages. This norm has often been misinterpreted to mean that the people are also called Yucatec Maya, but that term only refers to the language and the correct name for the people is simply Maya (not Mayans). Maya is one language in the Mayan language family. Thus, to refer to Maya as Mayans would be similar to referring to Americans as Germanics because they speak a language belonging to the Germanic language family. Further, confusion of the term Maya/Mayan as ethnic label occurs because Maya women who use traditional dress autoidentify by the ethnic term mestiza and not Maya. As well, persons use a strategy of ethnic identitification that Juan Castillo Cocom refers to as "ethnoexodus" -- meaning that ethnic self identification as Maya is quite variable, situational, and articulated not to processes of producing group identity but of escaping from discriminatory processes of sociocultural marginalization (see http://i09.cgpublisher.com/proposals/330/index_html).
The Yucatán's indigenous population was first exposed to Europeans after a party of Spanish shipwreck survivors came ashore in 1511. One of the sailors, Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, in Spain who shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya Lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico...
, is reported to have started a family and taken up a position of counsel among a local polity near present-day Chetumal
Chetumal
Chetumal is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco...
. Later Spanish expeditions to the region were led by Córdoba
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (discoverer of Yucatán)
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba was a Spanish conquistador, known to history mainly for the ill-fated expedition he led in 1517, in the course of which the first European accounts of the Yucatán Peninsula were compiled.-1517 Expedition:...
in 1517, Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva was a Spanish conquistador. Some authors said he was from the same family as Diego Velázquez.He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511....
in 1518 and Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st 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 mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
in 1519. From 1528 to 1540, several attempts by Francisco Montejo to conquer the Yucatán failed. His son Francisco de Montejo the Younger fared almost as badly when he first took over: while desperately holding out at Chichen Itza, he lost 150 men in a single day. European diseases, massive recruitment of native warriors from Campeche and Champoton, and internal hatred between the Xiu Maya and the lords of Cocom eventually turned the tide for Montejo the Younger and consequently resulted in the fall of Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Municipality of Tinúm, Yucatán state, present-day Mexico....
by 1570. In 1542, the western Yucatán peninsula also surrendered to him.
Historically, the population in the eastern half of the peninsula was less affected by and less integrated with Hispanic culture than that of the western half. Today in the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexican States of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo) between 750,000 and 1,200,000 people speak Mayan. However three times more than that do not speak their native language but are from Maya origins and hold ancient Maya last names, such as Ak, Can, Chan, Be, Cantun, Canche, Chi, Chuc, Coyoc, Dzib, Dzul, Ehuan, Hoil, Hau, May, Tamay, Ucan, Pool, Zapo, etc..
Matthew Restall
Matthew Restall
Matthew Restall is an ethnohistorian and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Latin American History, Anthropology, and Women's Studies, Director of Latin American Studies, and Director of LiLACS at the Pennsylvania State University...
, in his book The Maya Conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
, mentions a series of letters sent to the King of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
Maya Families at that time signed documents to the Spanish Royal Family; surnames mentioned in those letters are Pech, Camal, Xiu, Ucan, Canul, Cocom, and Tun, among others.
A large 19th century revolt by the native Maya people of Yucatán (Mexico), known as the Caste War of Yucatán
Caste War of Yucatán
The Caste War of Yucatán began with the revolt of native Maya people of Yucatán, Mexico against the population of European descent, called Yucatecos, who held political and economic control of the region. A lengthy war ensued between the Yucateco forces in the north-west of the Yucatán and the...
, was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts; results included the temporary existence of the Maya state of Chan Santa Cruz
Chan Santa Cruz
Chan Santa Cruz or U Noh Kah Balam Nah Chan Santa Cruz is the Maya town now known as Felipe Carrillo Puerto in what is now the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. This name is often assigned to the Maya free state ruled from Chan Santa Cruz for much of the second half of the 19th century...
, recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
Francisco Luna-Kan was elected governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982. Luna-Kan was born in Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
, and he was a Doctor of medicine, then a Professor of Medicine before his political offices, his first being overseer of the state's rural medical system. He was the first Governor of in the modern Yucatan Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
, from a full Maya background. Currently there are dozens of politicians including Deputies, Majors and Senators from a full or mixed Maya heritage from the Yucatan Peninsula.
According to the National Institute of Geography and Informatics (Mexico’s INEGI) in Yucatan State there were 1.2 million of Mayan speakers in 2009, representing 59.5% of the inhabitants. Due to this, the cultural section of the government of Yucatan
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
began to give on-line classes for grammar and proper pronunciation of Maya.
Maya People from Yucatan Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
living in the United States of America have been organizing Maya language lessons and Maya cooking classes since 2003 in California and other states: clubs of Yucatec Maya are registered in Dallas and Irving, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
; Salt Lake City in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
; Las Vegas, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
; and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with groups in San Francisco, San Rafael, Chino, Pasadena, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Inglewood, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, San Fernando Valley and Whittier.
Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
was for many years one of the regions of Mexico that were least touched by the reforms of the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
, which launched a rebellion against the Mexican state in Chiapas in January 1994, declared itself to be an indigenous movement and drew its strongest and earliest support from Chiapan Maya, a number of whom still support it today. (see also the EZLN and the Chiapas conflict
Chiapas conflict
The Chiapas conflict generally refers to the Zapatista uprising and its aftermath, but has to be understood in relation to the history of marginalization of indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers in the state of Chiapas, Mexico....
)
Maya groups in Chiapas include the Tzotzil and Tzeltal, in the highlands of the state, the Tojolabal
Tojolabal
Tojolabal is an indigenous community in the southern part of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Tojolabales, which belongs to the Mayan group, consists of about 40,000 people concentrated near the city of Las Margaritas. They speak the Tojolabal language....
is concentrated in the lowlands around Las Margaritas
Las Margaritas, Chiapas
Las Margaritas is a city, and the surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The municipal seat is located some 25 km to the northeast of Comitán de Domínguez, while the municipality extends to the east as far as the border with Guatemala...
, and the Ch'ol in the jungle. (see map)
The most traditional of Maya groups are the Lacandon
Lacandon
The Lacandon are one of the Maya peoples who live in the jungles of the Mexican state of Chiapas, near the southern border with Guatemala. Their homeland, the Lacandon Jungle, lies along the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River and its tributaries. The Lacandon are one of the most isolated and...
, a small population avoiding contact with outsiders until the late 20th century by living in small groups in the Lacandon Jungle
Lacandon Jungle
The Lacandon Jungle is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico into Guatemala 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...
. These Lacandon
Lacandon
The Lacandon are one of the Maya peoples who live in the jungles of the Mexican state of Chiapas, near the southern border with Guatemala. Their homeland, the Lacandon Jungle, lies along the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River and its tributaries. The Lacandon are one of the most isolated and...
Maya came from the Campeche/Petén area (north-east of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
) and moved into the Lacandon rain-forest at the end of the 18th century, 1000 years after the ancient (Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
) Maya civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
had disappeared (around 850 A.D).
In the course of the 20th century, and increasingly in the 1950s and 1960s, other people (mainly The Maya and subsistence peasants from the highlands), also entered into the Lacandon region; initially encouraged by the government. This immigration led to land-related conflicts and an increasing pressure on the rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
. To halt the migration the government decided in 1971 to declare a large part of the forest (614,000 hectares, or 6140 km2) a protected area: the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. They appointed only one small population group (the 66 Lacandon families) as tenants (thus creating the Lacandon Community), thereby displacing 2000 Tzeltal and Ch'ol families from 26 communities, and leaving non-Lacandon communities dependent on the government for granting their rights to land. In the decades that followed the government carried out numerous programs to keep the problems in the region under control, using land distribution as a political tool; as a way of ensuring loyalty from different campesino groups. This strategy of divide and rule
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
led to great disaffection and tensions among population groups in the region.
(see also the Chiapas conflict
Chiapas conflict
The Chiapas conflict generally refers to the Zapatista uprising and its aftermath, but has to be understood in relation to the history of marginalization of indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers in the state of Chiapas, Mexico....
and the Lacandon Jungle
Lacandon Jungle
The Lacandon Jungle is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico into Guatemala 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...
).
Belize
The Maya population in BelizeBelize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
is concentrated in the Cayo
Cayo District
Cayo District is a district in the west of the nation of Belize. The District capital is the town of San Ignacio.- Geography :The Cayo District is the largest district in Belize. It is located on the western side of the country which borders Guatemala. The nation's capital, Belmopan, is...
, Toledo
Toledo District
Toledo District is the southernmost district in Belize, and Punta Gorda the District capital. Although the least developed region in the country, it features some of the most pristine rainforests, extensive cave networks, coastal lowland plains, and offshore cays...
and Orange Walk
Orange Walk District
Orange Walk District is a district in the northwest of the nation of Belize, with its district capital in Orange Walk Town.- Main settlements :...
districts, but they are scattered throughout the country. They are divided into the Yucatec, Kekchi
Q'eqchi' people
Q'eqchi are one of the Maya peoples in Guatemala and Belize, whose indigenous language is also called Q'eqchi'....
, and Mopan
Mopan people
Mopan are one of the Maya peoples in Belize and Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Mopan and is one of the Yucatec Maya languages....
.
Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, the largest and most traditional Maya populations are in the western highlands. The departments of Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz is a department in Guatemala. The capital is Salamá.Baja Verapaz houses the Mario Dary Biotope Preserve, preserving the native flora and fauna of the region, especially the endangered national bird of Guatemala, the Resplendent Quetzal....
, Quiché, Totonicapan, Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, and San Marcos are mostly Maya.
In Guatemala, the Spanish colonial pattern of keeping the native population legally separate and subservient continued well into the 20th century. This resulted in many traditional customs being retained, as the only other option than traditional Maya life open to most Maya was entering the Hispanic culture at the very bottom rung.
Considerable identification with local and linguistic affinities, often corresponding to pre-Columbian nation states, continues, and many people wear traditional clothing that displays their specific local identity. Clothing of women tends to be more traditional than that of the men.
The Maya people of the Guatemala highlands include the Achi
Achi people
The Achi are a Maya people in Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Achi and is closely related to K'iche'....
, Akatek
Akatek people
The Akatek are a Maya people in Guatemala. Their indigenous language, which is also called Akatek, belongs to the Q'anjobalan branch of Mayan languages. Most Akatek live in San Miguel Acatán and San Rafael La Independencia, in the department of Huehuetenango....
, Chuj
Chuj people
The Chuj are a Maya people in Guatemala and Mexico. Their indigenous language is also called Chuj and belongs to the Q'anjobalan–Chujean family of Mayan languages. In Guatemala, most Chuj live in the department of Huehuetenango in the municipalities of San Mateo Ixtatán and San Sebastián Coatán....
, Ixil
Ixil people
Ixil is the name of a Mayan people in Guatemala. The Ixil live in three municipalities in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the northern part of the department El Quiché...
, Jakaltek
Jakaltek people
The Jakaltek people are a Mayan people of Guatemala. They have lived in the foothills of the Cuchumatanes Mountains in the Department of Huehuetenango in northwestern Guatemala since pre-Columbian times, centered around the town of Jacaltenango...
, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Mam
Mam people
The Mam are a Native American people in the western highlands of Guatemala and in south-western Mexico.Most Mam live in Guatemala, in the departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Quetzaltenango...
, Poqomam, Poqomchi'
Poqomchi'
The Poqomchi are a Maya people in Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Poqomchi', and is related to the Quichean–Poqom branch. Poqomchí is spoken in Baja Verapaz and in Alta Verapaz: Santa Cruz Verapaz, San Cristóbal Verapaz, Tactic, Tamahú and Tucurú. It is also spoken in Chicamán ....
, Q'anjob'al
Q'anjob'al people
The Q'anjob'al are a Maya people in Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Q'anjob'al....
, Q'eqchi'
Q'eqchi' people
Q'eqchi are one of the Maya peoples in Guatemala and Belize, whose indigenous language is also called Q'eqchi'....
, Tz'utujil and Uspantek.
The southeastern region of Guatemala (bordering with Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
) includes groups such as the Ch'orti'
Ch'orti' people
The Ch'orti' people are one of the indigenous Maya peoples, who primarily reside in communities and towns of southeastern Guatemala, northwestern Honduras, and northern El Salvador. Their indigenous language, also known as Ch'orti', is a survival of Classic Choltian, the language of the...
. The northern lowland Petén region includes the Itza
Itza
The Itza are a Guatemalan ethnic group of Maya affiliation speaking the Itza' language. They inhabit the Petén department of Guatemala in and around the city of Flores on the Lake Petén Itzá.- Numbers of ethnic group members and Itza speakers :...
, whose language is near extinction but whose agro-forestry practices, including use of dietary and medicinal plants may still tell us much about pre-colonial management of the Maya lowlands.
Maya Heritage
Roman Catholicism combined with the indigenous Maya religion are the unique syncretic religion which prevailed throughout the country and still does in the rural regions. Beginning from negligible roots prior to 1960, however, Protestant Pentecostalism has grown to become the predominant religion of Guatemala City and other urban centers and down to mid-sized towns. The unique religion is reflected in the local saint, Maximón, who is associated with the subterranean force of masculine fertility and prostitution. Always depicted in black, he wears a black hat and sits on a chair, often with a cigar placed in his mouth and a gun in his hand, with offerings of tobacco, alcohol, and Coca-cola at his feet. The locals know him as San Simon of Guatemala.
Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
is the most significant work of Guatemalan literature in the Quiché language, and one of the most important of Pre-Columbian American literature. It is a compendium of Mayan stories and legends, aimed to preserve Maya traditions. The first known version of this text dates from the 16th century and is written in Quiché transcribed in Latin characters. It was translated into Spanish by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez in the beginning of the 18th century. Due to its combination of historical, mythical, and religious elements, it has been called the Maya Bible. It is a vital document for understanding the culture of pre-Columbian America. The Rabinal Achí is a dramatic work consisting of dance and text that is preserved as it was originally represented. It is thought to date from the 15th century and narrates the mythical and dynastic origins of the Kek'chi' people, and their relationships with neighboring people. The Rabinal Achí is performed during the Rabinal festival of January 25, the day of Saint Paul. It was declared a masterpiece of oral tradition of humanity by UNESCO in 2005. The 16th century saw the first native-born Guatemalan writers that wrote in Spanish.
List of leaders and notable Maya people
- Armando Manzanero CanchéArmando ManzaneroArmando Manzanero Canché is a Mexican musician and composer of Maya descent, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America....
- Jacinto CanekJacinto CanekJacinto Canek, or Jacinto Uc de los Santos was an 18th-century Maya revolutionary who fought against the Spanish in the Yucatán Peninsula of New Spain....
- Rigoberta MenchúRigoberta MenchúRigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
- Felipe Carrillo PuertoFelipe Carrillo PuertoFelipe Carrillo Puerto was a Governor of the Mexican state of Yucatán. He was born in the town of Motul, Yucatán, and was of partly indigenous Mayan background; he was rumored to be a descendant of the Nachi Cocom dynasty of Mayapan. He was a socialist who favored land reform, women's suffrage,...
- Francisco Luna KanFrancisco Luna KanDr. Francisco Epigmenio Luna Kan is a Mexican politician. Francisco Luna Kan was governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982....
- Comandante RamonaComandante RamonaComandante Ramona was the nom de guerre of an officer of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation , a revolutionary indigenous autonomist organization based in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. She was perhaps the most famous female Zapatista figure for her role early in the uprising...
- Hilario Chi CanulHilario Chi CanulHilario Chi Canul is a Mexican linguist of Maya ethnicity who worked as a translator and language coach in the production of the 2006 movie Apocalypto by Mel Gibson. In 2007 he won the first prize in the Mexican governments competition of indigenous language rhetorics. He is Professor of Maya at...
- Crescencio PootCrescencio Poot- Life as a rebel :He began raids on white-owned haciendas in 1864. In the next several years his troops would raid, but rarely occupy, various villages. This meant generally avoiding government troops, but he did achieve a major victory in the Yucatán. Later Bernardino Cen, the commander of the...
- Ah AhaualAh AhaualAh-Ahaual is the name of a 7th-century captive of noble lineage recorded in pre-Columbian Maya inscriptions. The particular Maya civilization polity or city-state he came from is presently unidentified. According to inscriptions at the Maya site of Yaxchilan, Ah-Ahaual was captured by the...
- Marcial MesMarcial MesMarcial Mes is a Belizean politician and a member of the People's United Party. He was elected to parliament in 1998, representing the Toledo West constituency....
- Gaspar Antonio ChiGaspar Antonio ChiGaspar Antonio Chi was a Maya noble of Mani. Gaspar Antonio was of the Chi chibal through his father Napuc Chi, and the Xiu chibal through his mother, Ix Kukil Xiu...
- Juan Jose PachoJuan Jose PachoJuan Jose Pacho, also known as Pacho Burgos , is a baseball player and manager. He is currently the manager of the Saraperos de Saltillo team in the Mexican professional baseball league.-Career:...
- Alexandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj
Quotes
- "We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism." — Rigoberta MenchúRigoberta MenchúRigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
, 1992.
See also
- The Forgotten DistrictThe Forgotten DistrictThe Forgotten District is a 2008 documentary film directed by Oliver Dickinson.Between the Caribbean Sea and the Maya Mountains lies Toledo, known as The Forgotten District of Belize, Central America. For the last 20 years, the Maya have been promoting their own ecotourism programme in order to...
, a documentary on Maya ecotourism in southern Belize, Central America
Further reading
External links
- Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya at the National Gallery of Art
- Learn more about Maya hieroglyphs and Maya numbering from the National Gallery of Art
- News, Articles, Videos, and Information on the Indigenous Maya
- Yax Te' Books homepage, publishing house in Philadelphia for Mayan literature.
- Cholsamaj Foundation homepage publishing house in Guatemala City for Mayan literature (note: many pages on the site not yet translated into English).
- Mystery of the Maya - Canadian Museum of Civilization
- A traditional Mayan horse race for the Todos Santos Holiday