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Chontal Maya AI simulator
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Chontal Maya AI simulator
(@Chontal Maya_simulator)
Chontal Maya
The Chontal Maya are a Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. "Chontal", from the Nahuatl word for chontalli, which means "foreigner", has been applied to various ethnic groups in Mexico. The Chontal refer to themselves as the Yokot'anob or the Yokot'an, meaning "the speakers of Yoko ochoco", but writers about them refer to them as the Chontal of Centla, the Tabasco Chontal, or in Spanish, Chontales. They consider themselves the descendants of the Olmecs, and are not related to the Oaxacan Chontal.
The term Putún is typically considered a synonym for the Chontal Maya.
The Yokot'an inhabit 21 towns in a large area known as "la Chontalpa" that extends across five municipalities of Tabasco: Centla, El Centro, Jonuta, Macuspana, and Nacajuca. In Nacajuca, they form a majority of the population. The terrain is highly varied — no single landform dominates — and it has many bodies of water. The land is traversed by seasonally-flooding rivers, and there are numerous lakes, lagoons, and wetlands. The climate is humid and tropical, and the fauna was typical of tropical regions until the environment was altered by human industrialization. The mangrove is the predominant form of vegetation.
The territory of the Yokot'an was the cradle of the Olmec civilization, which lived there from about 1400 BCE until about 400 BCE. The Maya civilization reached its height in about the year 300 of the Common Era. At this time, the Yokot'an were also at their cultural apex. They had already begun to decline by the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, and are mentioned in the narratives of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Hernán Cortés.
In the early 16th century, the Yokot'an were divided into six provinces: Acalan (immediately to the east of the Laguna de Términos, Copilco (the westernmost province, including Nacajuca), Ixtapa-Usumacinta (in southeastern Tabasco), Potonchán, Xicalango (Ciudad del Carmen and the mainland to the southwest as far as Jonuta), and Zahuatan-Chilapa (around Jalapa and Macuspana). The Yokot'an were known as merchants who travelled by canoe, and their homeland was a center of trade attracting merchants from throughout Mesoamerica, including larger mutually hostile powers who took advantage of its location in neutral ground. Potonchan and Jalapa were by far the most populous Yokot'an urban centers, with a population of about 13,000 each. With the exception of Acalan, the major economic product was cacao, especially in Copilco. Fish, fruit and maize were also plentiful. Nahuas also lived throughout the region, particularly in Xicalango, and often formed a significant portion of the ruling classes, though ultimately a minority in contrast to the areas to the west such as Coatzacoalcos.
In 1518, Juan de Grijalva arrived in Yokot'an lands, and was greeted with hostility. The next year, Cortés's expedition reached Tabasco, and he met with Tabscoob and other chiefs, who supplied him the translator who later became known as Doña Marina or La Malinche. According to Díaz,
"Before we left, Cortés won the chiefs by his many kind words, telling them how our master, the Emperor, had many grand lords who gave him obedience and that they should also obey him ; that whatever they might need we would give them. All the chiefs thanked him very much and declared themselves vassals of our great emperor, the first in New Spain to give obedience to His Majesty.
In 1614, the first church was built in Nacajuca, then considered the center of the Yokot'an world. Nacajuca was the only urban center to survive the colonial period, partly due to the introduction of animal husbandry, which limited the range of cultivation.
Chontal Maya
The Chontal Maya are a Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. "Chontal", from the Nahuatl word for chontalli, which means "foreigner", has been applied to various ethnic groups in Mexico. The Chontal refer to themselves as the Yokot'anob or the Yokot'an, meaning "the speakers of Yoko ochoco", but writers about them refer to them as the Chontal of Centla, the Tabasco Chontal, or in Spanish, Chontales. They consider themselves the descendants of the Olmecs, and are not related to the Oaxacan Chontal.
The term Putún is typically considered a synonym for the Chontal Maya.
The Yokot'an inhabit 21 towns in a large area known as "la Chontalpa" that extends across five municipalities of Tabasco: Centla, El Centro, Jonuta, Macuspana, and Nacajuca. In Nacajuca, they form a majority of the population. The terrain is highly varied — no single landform dominates — and it has many bodies of water. The land is traversed by seasonally-flooding rivers, and there are numerous lakes, lagoons, and wetlands. The climate is humid and tropical, and the fauna was typical of tropical regions until the environment was altered by human industrialization. The mangrove is the predominant form of vegetation.
The territory of the Yokot'an was the cradle of the Olmec civilization, which lived there from about 1400 BCE until about 400 BCE. The Maya civilization reached its height in about the year 300 of the Common Era. At this time, the Yokot'an were also at their cultural apex. They had already begun to decline by the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, and are mentioned in the narratives of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Hernán Cortés.
In the early 16th century, the Yokot'an were divided into six provinces: Acalan (immediately to the east of the Laguna de Términos, Copilco (the westernmost province, including Nacajuca), Ixtapa-Usumacinta (in southeastern Tabasco), Potonchán, Xicalango (Ciudad del Carmen and the mainland to the southwest as far as Jonuta), and Zahuatan-Chilapa (around Jalapa and Macuspana). The Yokot'an were known as merchants who travelled by canoe, and their homeland was a center of trade attracting merchants from throughout Mesoamerica, including larger mutually hostile powers who took advantage of its location in neutral ground. Potonchan and Jalapa were by far the most populous Yokot'an urban centers, with a population of about 13,000 each. With the exception of Acalan, the major economic product was cacao, especially in Copilco. Fish, fruit and maize were also plentiful. Nahuas also lived throughout the region, particularly in Xicalango, and often formed a significant portion of the ruling classes, though ultimately a minority in contrast to the areas to the west such as Coatzacoalcos.
In 1518, Juan de Grijalva arrived in Yokot'an lands, and was greeted with hostility. The next year, Cortés's expedition reached Tabasco, and he met with Tabscoob and other chiefs, who supplied him the translator who later became known as Doña Marina or La Malinche. According to Díaz,
"Before we left, Cortés won the chiefs by his many kind words, telling them how our master, the Emperor, had many grand lords who gave him obedience and that they should also obey him ; that whatever they might need we would give them. All the chiefs thanked him very much and declared themselves vassals of our great emperor, the first in New Spain to give obedience to His Majesty.
In 1614, the first church was built in Nacajuca, then considered the center of the Yokot'an world. Nacajuca was the only urban center to survive the colonial period, partly due to the introduction of animal husbandry, which limited the range of cultivation.