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Manche Chʼol
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Manche Chʼol
The Manche Chʼol (Ch'olti' menche) were a Maya people who constituted the former Manche Chʼol Territory, a Postclassic polity of the southern Maya Lowlands, within the extreme south of what is now Petén and the area around Lake Izabal (also known as the Golfo Dulce) in northern Guatemala, and southern Belize. The Manche Chʼol took the name Manche from the name of their main settlement. They were the last of a set of Ch'olan-speaking groups in the eastern Maya Lowlands to remain independent and ethnically distinct. It is likely that they were descended from the inhabitants of Classic period (c. 250-900 AD) Maya cities in the southeastern Maya Lowlands, such as Nim Li Punit, Copán and Quiriguá.
The first Spanish contact with the Manche Chʼol was in 1525, when an expedition led by Hernán Cortés crossed their territory. From the early 17th century onwards, Dominican friars attempted to concentrate the Manche into mission towns and convert them to Christianity. These attempts alarmed their warlike Itza neighbours to the northwest, who attacked the mission towns and fomented rebellion among the Manche. The Manche Chʼol in the mission towns were badly affected by disease, which also encouraged them to flee the towns.
In the late 17th century, Franciscan missionaries argued that further attempts at peaceful pacification of the Manche Chʼol were useless and argued for armed intervention against them and their Lakandon Chʼol neighbours. The Manche were forcibly relocated in the Guatemalan Highlands, where they did not prosper. By 1770, most of the Manche Chʼol were extinct. The few survivors were soon absorbed into the surrounding Qʼeqchiʼ Maya population.
The Manche Ch'ol Territory sat in a J-shaped crescent stretching from the Cancuén down to Dulce River, and from there up to the Sittee. As such, the southwestern half of the Territory was delimited by the Montes Mayas–Maya Mountains to the north, and the Sierras de Chamá, de Santa Cruz, and del Mico to the south, while the northeastern half was bounded by the Maya Mountains to the west, and the Bay of Honduras to the east. This area now lies within southern Petén, northeastern Alta Verapaz, northern Izabal, and Toledo and Stann Creek. It is characterised by heavy tropical rainforest coverage, criss-crossed by fast-flowing rivers, and pockmarked by small savannahs and extensive swamps.
The Territory's immediate neighbours were the Mopan to their north, Toquegua to their east, and Acala, Q'eqchi', Poqom, and Verapaz to their west. Neighbouring polities further afield included the Peten Itza, Dzuluinicob, Chetumal, and Bacalar to the north, and Lacandon, Palencano, and Chontal to the west. Such a situation positioned the Territory within the confluence of Ch'olan (Toquegua, Acala, Lacandon, Palencano, Chontal), Yucatecan (Mopan, Itza, Dzuluinicob, Chetumal), Quichean (Q'eqchi', Poqom), and Spanish (Verapaz, Bacalar) spheres of influence, and has thereby been described as frontier- or borderlands.
Small farming settlements dotted the Territory's river banks. In the west, these included Yol, Yaxha, Chocahau, and Manche on the Cancuén, and Tzalac on the Sarstoon. To the east, they included Nito on Rio Dulce, Pusilha on the Moho, Paliac on the Deep River, Campin on the Monkey River, and Tzoite on the Sittee. Of these, Nito, Yaxhal, Paliac, Campin, and Tzoite were set on the coast, while the rest were inland. The principal settlement was the eponymous Manche, which is thought to have housed some one hundred multi-generational households. Tzelac was the closest to Verapaz, set off just 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Cahabón.
Beginning in the mid-eighth century, the region that would soon house the Manche Ch'ol Territory experienced marked political and demographic disintegration, including the collapse of city-states and mass exodus from these to the country. As a result, by the tenth century, the burgeoning Territory was rather composed of small, hinterland communities. The Territory's residents are deemed probable descendants of the region's Classic period inhabitants, based on linguistic, ethnographic, and archaeological findings. These are thought to have been restricted to the contact period extent of the Manche Ch'ol Territory by a post-900 migration of Yucatecan speakers from the northern Lowlands.
Conquistador Hernán Cortés passed through Manche Chʼol Territory in 1525, and described it as sparsely populated. In the 16th century, the coastal towns of Campin and Tzoite were given in encomienda to Hernando Sánchez de Aguilar; they fell within the jurisdiction of colonial Bacalar, on the Yucatán coast near Chetumal. Although some Manche Chʼols visited the Dominican friars in Cobán, Verapaz, in 1564, the central Manche were not contacted by the Spanish again until 1603, when Dominican missionaries first attempted to evangelise them, and started to gather the scattered inhabitants into towns. In the second half of the 16th century, the still-independent Manche Chʼol became a refuge for Christianised Maya living under Spanish domination in Verapaz, who wished to escape and live as apostates among them and their Lakandon Chʼol neighbours. In 1596, Dominican friar Juan Esguerra reported seeing eleven Manche traders in Cahabón; he claimed that the Manche Chʼol were frequent visitors to the town. In 1600 the regular presence of Manche Chʼol traders in Cahabón was again reported, and they were said to arrive in greater numbers for the town's festivities in honour of its patron saint. Friar Esguerra complained in 1605 of the great number of Christianised Qʼeqchiʼ Maya of Cahabón that were fleeing the town to live as apostates among the Manche Chʼol.
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Manche Chʼol
The Manche Chʼol (Ch'olti' menche) were a Maya people who constituted the former Manche Chʼol Territory, a Postclassic polity of the southern Maya Lowlands, within the extreme south of what is now Petén and the area around Lake Izabal (also known as the Golfo Dulce) in northern Guatemala, and southern Belize. The Manche Chʼol took the name Manche from the name of their main settlement. They were the last of a set of Ch'olan-speaking groups in the eastern Maya Lowlands to remain independent and ethnically distinct. It is likely that they were descended from the inhabitants of Classic period (c. 250-900 AD) Maya cities in the southeastern Maya Lowlands, such as Nim Li Punit, Copán and Quiriguá.
The first Spanish contact with the Manche Chʼol was in 1525, when an expedition led by Hernán Cortés crossed their territory. From the early 17th century onwards, Dominican friars attempted to concentrate the Manche into mission towns and convert them to Christianity. These attempts alarmed their warlike Itza neighbours to the northwest, who attacked the mission towns and fomented rebellion among the Manche. The Manche Chʼol in the mission towns were badly affected by disease, which also encouraged them to flee the towns.
In the late 17th century, Franciscan missionaries argued that further attempts at peaceful pacification of the Manche Chʼol were useless and argued for armed intervention against them and their Lakandon Chʼol neighbours. The Manche were forcibly relocated in the Guatemalan Highlands, where they did not prosper. By 1770, most of the Manche Chʼol were extinct. The few survivors were soon absorbed into the surrounding Qʼeqchiʼ Maya population.
The Manche Ch'ol Territory sat in a J-shaped crescent stretching from the Cancuén down to Dulce River, and from there up to the Sittee. As such, the southwestern half of the Territory was delimited by the Montes Mayas–Maya Mountains to the north, and the Sierras de Chamá, de Santa Cruz, and del Mico to the south, while the northeastern half was bounded by the Maya Mountains to the west, and the Bay of Honduras to the east. This area now lies within southern Petén, northeastern Alta Verapaz, northern Izabal, and Toledo and Stann Creek. It is characterised by heavy tropical rainforest coverage, criss-crossed by fast-flowing rivers, and pockmarked by small savannahs and extensive swamps.
The Territory's immediate neighbours were the Mopan to their north, Toquegua to their east, and Acala, Q'eqchi', Poqom, and Verapaz to their west. Neighbouring polities further afield included the Peten Itza, Dzuluinicob, Chetumal, and Bacalar to the north, and Lacandon, Palencano, and Chontal to the west. Such a situation positioned the Territory within the confluence of Ch'olan (Toquegua, Acala, Lacandon, Palencano, Chontal), Yucatecan (Mopan, Itza, Dzuluinicob, Chetumal), Quichean (Q'eqchi', Poqom), and Spanish (Verapaz, Bacalar) spheres of influence, and has thereby been described as frontier- or borderlands.
Small farming settlements dotted the Territory's river banks. In the west, these included Yol, Yaxha, Chocahau, and Manche on the Cancuén, and Tzalac on the Sarstoon. To the east, they included Nito on Rio Dulce, Pusilha on the Moho, Paliac on the Deep River, Campin on the Monkey River, and Tzoite on the Sittee. Of these, Nito, Yaxhal, Paliac, Campin, and Tzoite were set on the coast, while the rest were inland. The principal settlement was the eponymous Manche, which is thought to have housed some one hundred multi-generational households. Tzelac was the closest to Verapaz, set off just 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Cahabón.
Beginning in the mid-eighth century, the region that would soon house the Manche Ch'ol Territory experienced marked political and demographic disintegration, including the collapse of city-states and mass exodus from these to the country. As a result, by the tenth century, the burgeoning Territory was rather composed of small, hinterland communities. The Territory's residents are deemed probable descendants of the region's Classic period inhabitants, based on linguistic, ethnographic, and archaeological findings. These are thought to have been restricted to the contact period extent of the Manche Ch'ol Territory by a post-900 migration of Yucatecan speakers from the northern Lowlands.
Conquistador Hernán Cortés passed through Manche Chʼol Territory in 1525, and described it as sparsely populated. In the 16th century, the coastal towns of Campin and Tzoite were given in encomienda to Hernando Sánchez de Aguilar; they fell within the jurisdiction of colonial Bacalar, on the Yucatán coast near Chetumal. Although some Manche Chʼols visited the Dominican friars in Cobán, Verapaz, in 1564, the central Manche were not contacted by the Spanish again until 1603, when Dominican missionaries first attempted to evangelise them, and started to gather the scattered inhabitants into towns. In the second half of the 16th century, the still-independent Manche Chʼol became a refuge for Christianised Maya living under Spanish domination in Verapaz, who wished to escape and live as apostates among them and their Lakandon Chʼol neighbours. In 1596, Dominican friar Juan Esguerra reported seeing eleven Manche traders in Cahabón; he claimed that the Manche Chʼol were frequent visitors to the town. In 1600 the regular presence of Manche Chʼol traders in Cahabón was again reported, and they were said to arrive in greater numbers for the town's festivities in honour of its patron saint. Friar Esguerra complained in 1605 of the great number of Christianised Qʼeqchiʼ Maya of Cahabón that were fleeing the town to live as apostates among the Manche Chʼol.
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