GUATEMALA VILLAGES OF THE 16TH CENTURY
Dan Stanislawski
Archive General de Indias, Seville. Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 128[64-6-1], 413 ff.
Tecayluca
su
Magt
En la ciudad de Sant Salvador de la
provincia de Guatemala
a veynte e ocho dias del mes de Novyenbre de myll e
quinientos y quarenta e ocho anos
por los señores presidente
e oidores del audiencia e chancilleria rreal de su
magestad
que en la dicha ciudad rreside
fue tasado el pueblo de tecoyluca
que es en los termynos de la dicha cibdad que esta
en cabeça de su
magestad mandose a los naturales del dicho pueblo
que hagan en
cada un año dos simenteras
de
mahiz una en ynvierno
e otra en verano y en la del ynvierno syembren doze
hanegas y en la del verano ocho hanegas y lo benefi
cien cojan y encierren en el dicho pueblo e sienbren
diez hanegas de algodon e delo que dello se cogie
re e se
les diere den cada año ciento e cinquenta
naguas e dozientos
toldillos blancos e cient
guypiles e seis mantas
grandes de pared pin
tadas del
tamaño y
manera que las acostumbran
dar e seis savanas blancas e que
sean como
las acostumbran dar e sesanta arrobas de
pescado
e veynte e cinco hanegas de sal e
quinze hanegas
de frisoles e quinze cargas de
agi
e seis arrobas
de cera linpia e diez cantaros de
myel e veynte
arrovas de vino e veynte de
vinagre no an de dar
otra cosa ny se les a de llevar a
los dichos Yndios
por ninguna via que sea ni
comuten ninguna cosa
de
un tribute en otro so la pena contenida
en las leyes e ordenanças por su magestad fechas
para la
buena govemacion de las yndias el
licendado Cerrato
el licenciado Pedro Rramirez el licenciado
rrogel
The Spanish
province of San Salvador in 1548
The
impression one gets in visiting twentieth century San Salvador is that
of businesslike order, confirming the remark that they are "The Swiss
of Central America". In the city of San Salvador--wonder of
wonders—buses run on schedule. One has the impression of efficiency in
going to a consular office of El Salvador in the United States, where
information is made available quickly, as are good maps.
The
editor and publisher of El Salvador News Gazette recently stated that
"those who have worked with Salvadorans whether it is here (i.e. in El
Salvador) or in the United States know that this is a country of
merchants, not peasants. The first thing Salvadorans do if they're able
to save a little extra money is to start a small business".
That
commercial bent of modern El Salvador has roots that run through
millenia of time and involve distant territories, particularly Mexico.
When
the conquering Spaniards arrived, in the early sixteenth century, long
lines of trade extended out of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital in
central Mexico. They were not the invention of Aztec traders. Origins
were remote: going back to the Toltecs in Tula, half a millenium
earlier who established connections between central Mexico, Nicaragua,
and Costa Rica (Diehl, Lornas, Wynn........'74;, p. 187); and
previously, a similar organization probably existed
to facilitate trade between Teotihuacan of central Mexico, before its
fall in the seventh century, and Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala (Diehl., '83,
p. 114). Even earlier, Mexicans of the plateau traded with Izapa near
the Pacific coast of Chiapas; and ultimately with the Olmec of the Gulf.
The Olmecs
These
people whose culture took form in the southern part of Vera Cruz and in
part of Tabasco, may have been the aboriginal ancestors of
Mexico/Central America trade. Some time after 1200 B.C., and continuing
for almost a millenium, their trade network reached northwest into
Oaxaca, Morelos, the plateau of Central Mexico (Coe, '86, p;. 72) and
beyond to the present state of Guerrero; and toward the southeast to
Chalchuapa in present El Salvador and beyond to Costa Rica (Sheets,
'84, p. 86; Morley, Brainerd and Sharer, '83, p. 64).
The
Olmec political organization and trade disappeared in the early fifth
century, B.C. as mysteriously (to us) as it had begun more than half a
millenium earlier (Coe, '86, p. 75), but the pattern of its trade
routes was remembered at the local centers that had been involved.
Exchanges were continued among them and to some degree with the more
distant markets that had been known by the Olmecs.
Izapa
One
such center, Izapa, whose inhabitants may have spoken the language of
the Olmecs (its art style was clearly derived from them) is now a zone
of remains in the low, hilly country about twenty miles from the
Pacific shore of present Chiapas near the Guatemala border. Early
settlement there may have been made at the beginning of the first
millenium B.C., but the full development took place between 300 B.C.
and A.D. 150. Its traders made contacts along the Pacific coast of
Guatemala and up into the highlands near present Guatemala City; and at
least one extension to the Vera Cruz coast (Coe, '86, pp. 55-5, Coe,
'87, p. 51).
Kaminaljuya
Another
important center was Kaminaljuyu, whose ruins lie at the edge of modern
Guatemala City. Its early trade contacts may have been with the Olmecs
who procured obsidian from Central America—probably from the site of El
Chayal, not far from Kaminaljuyu (Sharer, '84, pp. 64-5, 71).
A
simple settlement had been made at the location near the beginning of
the first millenium B. C.; and its craftsmen were making articles for
trade (Coe, '87, pp. 37, 40).
In
the two centuries before the beginning of the Christian era the simple
village of Kaminaljuyu had grown to become an important city with a
sophisticated culture including large-scale sculpture, and pyramids. At
least some of its citizens were literate. Its trade, and economic
influence probably spread over much of the Guatemalan highlands; and
its population numbers may have reached 50,000 (Borhegyi, '65, p. 64).
Decline
followed in secceeding centuries until by A.D. 250 it was a settlement
of negligible importance (Coe, '87, pp. 54-60), a condition that lasted
until a revivification came about through inter-regional trade
contacts, spurred by its connection with Teotihuacan on the Mexican
plateau after about A.D. 400. At that time its quiet village life was
changed by migrants from Mexico (Weaver, '72, pp. 148-49), a migration
that was primarily religious and commercial (Borheghi, '65, p. 39).
By
about A. D. 400, it again had become a great city, thriving on its
trade connections involving the greater city of Teotihuacan where—it
should be noted—one of the tutelary dieties was the God who later
served the Pochteca traders. Representatives of that God at Teotihuacan
suggest that institutionalized trade, which would have included it
trading partners, had already been established.
At that time
Kaminaljuyu's economic relations extended not only to the plateau of
Mexico, but to Tikal and other cities in the Peten region near the base
of the Yucatan peninsula (Coe, '87, pp. 64, 73-79). That
commerce was active until the early seventh century when
Teotihuacan—and apparently the network of exchange—was interrupted.
The
Chorotegans
Other
early Mexicans to enter Central America were the Chorotegans who
settled in Nicaragua. One fact bears directly upon the time of their
arrival in Central America: they had no cacao groves. "Not one tree"
wrote Oviedo (Bk 42, ch. 4, 1976, p. 362). That being the case, they
passed along the Pacific coast before the advent of the people who
probably brought cacao from the Gulf coast in the last half of the
first Christian millenium, the Cotzumalhuapans (Morley, Brainerd and
Sharer, '83, pp. 117, 177; Coe, '87, pp. 84-88; Parsons, BILBAO, Vol.
2, 1969, pp. 149-50, 157, 160-61).
Cotzumalhuapa
The
Cotzumalhuapans came from an undetermined part of Mexico at an unknown
time according to one author (Coe, '87, pp. 84-88), who added that
their art style and pottery indicated "latter Early Classic", which
would be after the middle of A.D. first millenium. They may have
originated in the state of Puebla or in western Mexico (Miles, '65, p.
284). Another author suggests that the date of their arrival in
Guatemala may have been A. D. 600-900 and that their culture, with its
distinctive sculptures is to be traced ultimately to Teotihuacan on the
plateau of Mexico (Thompson '48, p. 50). Others, agreeing with the
dates, suggest that there may be a relation with the expansion of the
Gulf Coast Chontal Maya (Morley et al, '83, pp. 117, 177).
Many
regions were tributary to Teotihuacan and they are shown to be sources
of characteristics exibited in Cotzumalhuapa sculpture, including a
cacao pod in "deified
anthropomorphized manner" (Parsons, 1969, pp. 149-50, 157, 160-61;
Coe, '87, p. 88). Deification suggests long previous association and
importance..
These
early Nahua migrations were primarily commercial and although the
migrants brought their religion with them, apparently they were not
insistent about it. If not pacific they at least preferred trade to
trouble. It is to be noted that the builders of El Baul (near
Cotzumalhuapa), like their Maya contemporaries, did not consider the
question of defense in choosing their settlement sites (Thompson '48,
p. 51), an indication that relations with their neighbors were amicable.
They
settled, in most cases, in or near the rich cotton-and cacao-bearing
areas which they managed to control, or even monopolize for trade
(Borhegi, '65, p. 39).
Another
author rejects a direct Teotihuiacan connection, and adds that "there
are surer connections with the Gulf Coast plain where there is a
similar concentration upon the ball game, death, human sacrifice, and
the cultivation of cacao" (Coe, '87, pp. 84-88).
Izalcos
Additional
Mexicans came into Central America and settled in the area of Los
Izalcos in the southwest of present El Salvador, which had become an
important producer of cacao by the time of the Spanish conquest. It had
not been part of the native province of Cuzcatlan (present western El
Salvador), and it did not become part of the Spanish province of San
Salvador (essentially the native province of Cuzcatlan (See Fowler,
'89, pp 155, 224-25). It was taken into the Spanish province of
Santiago de Guatemala. Judging by its language, the people had settled
the area before the advent of the Nicarao in Nicaragua
(Lehmann,
1920, Vol. 2, pp. 990-91), perhaps by an eastward expansion of
Cotzumalhuapa culture at about A.D. 900 (Fowler, '89, p. 40).
The
question is then raised as to when cacao, originally from South America
and presumably domesticated on the the Caribbean coast of Central
America, was brought to the Pacific coast. Was it introduced there by
the Cotzumalhuapans and taken farther by the Izalcoans?
The Nicarao
And
did the Nicarao, coming from Mexico toward the end of the first
Christian millenium, take it farther? Oviedo states unequivocably that
the Nicarao brought cacao to Nicaragua where they monopolized its
planting (Bk. 42, Ch. 4,1976, p. 362).
The
centuries of time separating their migrations explain the considerable
distinction between Mexican groups. Evidence of that fact can be seen
in the disparate structures of the Chorotegans and the Nicarao.
Chorotegan life was simpler, less rigorously controlled than that of
the Nicarao, whose society included an aristocracy: chiefs and nobles
living in elaborate enclaves (Stone, 1966, p. 215). To support such an
élite there was an efficient collection of tribute. Little like
it was
any part of Chorotegan life (Stanislawski, '83, pp. 53, 60, and tables).
By
the end of the first A.D. millenium, much of the Pacific coast area was
occupied by Nahua speakers (Morley et al '83, p. 177). In general they
held the best lands of the southern lowlands of Guatemala and of the
upper Motagua valley (Thomplkson, '48, p. 12). The same apparently
could be said with regard to the area of present western El Salvador,
which they recognized as desirable land.
The Pipiles
Many
different Mexican groups were called "Pipiles" by the Spanish
chroniclers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Borhegyi '65,
p, 38; Baron Castro, 1978, p. 99). This somewhat pejorative name
meaning "children" in Nahuatl was originally given to the Cuzcatleco
(Salvadoran) natives by the Mexicans who came with Pedro de Alvarado
because, although the Cuscatleco speech was comprehensible, it sounded
childish to them (Barón Castro, 1978, p. 38).
The
language sounded childish to those Mexicans who came with Alvarado in
the early sixteenth century, because it was a mixture, and partly
archaic. "The problem of the Pipiles", the so-called "enigmatic people"
(Coe '87, p. 84) may be resolved by recognizing that, although they
all spoke a Mexican tongue, they represented groups from different
Mexican areas who arrived at different times through almost a
millenium; each group with its own idiosyncracies of speech.
Probably
the Pokoman Maya and the Nahua Pipil populations were intermixed in El
Salvador and southeast Guatemala in pre-conquest times, and the Pokoman
maintained linguistic superiority in Guatemala, while the language of
the Pipil became dominant in El Salvador. However, each of the areas
included zones and settlements of the other's speech. Pokoman remnants
remained in towns of western El Salvador. Probably the middle Motagua
valley was bilingual with greater Mexican proportions being added by
auxiliaries of conquest times who had chosen to remain there. Mexican
traders were the basis of several settlements in southeastern
Guatemala, including Escuintla (Escuintepeque), where the population
still spoke their language in the seventeenth century (Vazquez de
Espinosa, par. 92, pp. 632-33).
The dominance of
the
Pipiles in the Spanish province of San Salvador--that is, the area west
of the Lempa River in present El Salvador—may have been a result of
friendly trade with the Xinca. Those natives, of the upper coastplain
and piedmont of present southeast Guatemla were among the most ancient
inhabitants of Central America, being there long before Mexicans
arrived (Termer, 1926, p. 38; Lehmann,.....p. 1021; Stone, 1948, p.
189; Thompson,
1948, p. 10); and their antiquity may be further indicated by the fact
that their language does not belong to any known linguistic group
(Mason, 1950, p. 174 ).
When
Alvarado and the Spaniards first came to Central America, the Xinca
were dominant in the area extending east of Escuintla to the Paz River,
the present border between Guatemala and El Salvador (Lehmann, Vol. 2,
p. 729).
Their
presence may have been important in the maintenance of the Pipiles in
the territory of present El Salvador. The two peoples had probably
lived and traded peacefully through centuries; and the Xinca were one
of the few groups in Central America that used poisoned weapons which
were a threat to the Mexicans and Mayas who did not (Lehmann, Vol 2, p.
278).
The wound
that eventuated in a shortening of Alvarado's leg (Mackie, p. 17) may
have been that of a poisoned arrow. Gomera reported poisoned weapons
for the region of Acajutla (Gomera, 1965, p. 319). It was there that
Alvarado received his wound. Poisoned weapons may have allowed the
Xinca (and perhaps the Lenca, farther east) to withstand to some
extent, and at least to mitigate, the effects of the Spanish conquest.
If
the Mexican traders, the so-called Pipiles, lived amicably with the
Xinca and Lenca, and such seems to have been the case, they were given
an important degree of protection in their province of Cuzcatlan.
The Pipil legacy
can
be seen in twentieth century El Salvador, west of the Lempa River.
Before the disruption of warfare of the 1980s, it was an efficiently
organized commercial unit, heir to the millenial traders/farmers out of
Mexico whose mercantile activities took them along the Pacific coast of
Central America, and whose agricultural inheritance gave them
cognizance of the land potential.
Towns
of the
1548 Report Considered in Alphabetical Order:
APOCOPA/#53/60
tributaries, Under Cristoval Ceron
Barón
Castro
(1978, p. 603), and Fowler ('89, pp. 153-54) equate Apocopa with
present Apopa, north of San Salvador.
Gálvez
in 1740 (1936, p. 30) referred to Santa.Catarina Apocopa, with 113
Indian tributaries and 56 mulatos or ladinos in a militia (formed
jointly with the town of Nejapa) to guard the coasts.
In
1532, it was one of few settlements reported to have pottery makers
(Marroquin, p. 221; and Fowler, loc. cit.) suggests that the activity
possibly goes back to the Late Postclassic period of time; but its
tributaries were not listed as paying pottery in 1548. Perhaps their
production was included in that paid by Tonacatapeque, not far away.
ARCATAO/
#72/200, under Miguel Diaz
A Lenca
settlement (Fowler, '89, p. 177) in North Cabañas, near the
Honduras
border, at 500 meters elevation.
In
1548 the town paid relatively large tributes, including 600 lbs of
cotton planted, 50 pairs of cutaras, and 80 of alpargatas; also it
furnished the services of four herders.
In
1532 Miguel Diaz held a share (150 tributaries) of the coastplain town
of Xalocinagua. Also he held a town which he called Xuzclan, with 280
tributaries, He
described it as being "in Chontal", and "at war" (Marroquin, 1968,pp.
214-15). By 1548 he had relinquished his portion of Xalocinagua and
held only Arcatao, which was in the area formerly "at war". Did the
town called "Xuzclan" in 1532 become "Arcatao" after peace was
established?
In 1740
Gálvez
described it as being in a rocky land, hot and unhealthy (p. 29).
There
may be some reason to believe that the location has been changed again.
In 1989 a travel writer visited it by going for eight hours from the
nearest town along a path through dense forests to the location four
miles from the Honduras border. His description of the territory does
not suggest an area that could pay the tributes listed in 1548.
ATEMPAMAÇAGU
A / #42/30, under Francisco Cabeças.
Present
Masahuat, on the upper Lempa River, southeast of Lake Güija.
Fowler
identifies it as being "a Late Postclassic Pipil site" , which would
date it in a period earlier than a.d. 1500 (1989, p. 252; also see
Morley, Brainerd, and Sharer, 1983, p. 150)).
ATEO/ #5/
?, under Juan de Molina (who also held Opico, #4, a smaller town)
#12/90, "
Antonio de Melara (his only holding).
The
two entries represent the division of the payments by one town. By the
Marroquin document (1968, pp. 222, 232 ) we are informed that Melara
and
Johan Diaz divided the payment of tribute equally. Also see
Barón
Castro, 78, p. 602; Fowler, '89, Table 10.3, p.166). In 1770
Cortés y
Larraz mentioned only one town of that name—Pipil-speaking—which had
several annex towns at some distance away that were separated from it
by mountains. (Vol I, pp. 95-99). ( Ponce mentioned another town,
nearby
named Atempan-Ateo which does not appear in other records-(Ponce, Vol
I, pp. 400-401.)
Payments in 1548
to
Melara were somewhat greater than those to Molina, perhaps because
Molina also received payments from Opico which made his totals
comparable to those of Melara.
Present
Ateo, on the Talnique River, a tributary of the Sucio and ultimately of
the Lempa, is located at an elevation of 475 meters (1558 feet).
ATEUPA/
#57/35, under Juan Davila.
One of the
coastplain towns that no longer exists.
CACALUTLA
(AND ÇAPOTLAN)/#31/60, under the minor son of Julian de la
Muela.
Cacalutla is
present San Julián, about 40 kms. west of San
Salvador (Barón Castro,
78, p. 606).
Çapotlan,
which is bracketed with Cacalutla, may be, as maintained by
Lardé y
Larín, present Santa Isabel Ixhuacan (pp. 430-31).
Gálvez,
in 1740,
places Santa Isabel Zapotán in approximately that location
(p.24); and
Cortés y Larraz, a generation later, mentions Zapotán as
being in the
curacy of Guaymoco (present Armenia), of the same general area.
Muela
held in his encomienda five small towns, all apparently in this same
area. All entries included payments of salt; two paid fish. Two entries
included instructions about cultivating a recently planted grove of
cacao trees. One included a payment of balsam: not surprising, for this
was the area of the "balsam coast".
CENÇONTEPEOUE/
#13/200, under Cristobal Salvago
Present
Sensuntepeque is located at 650 meters (2133 feet) elevation in the
department of Cabañas of northern El Salvador, about fifteen
kilometers
from the Honduras border. Fowler, ('89, p. 64) considers it to have
been a "Lenca penetration". Lardé y Larín agrees that it
was a Lenca
foundation, but adds that it later came under the influence of the
Mexican Pipiles (p. 460), who gave it its Nahuat name.
CHACALINGO/
#16/40. under Francisco Diaz and Lucas Gonçalez
Fowler
(p. 172, and see his figure #3) considers it to have been a "late
pre-prehistoric Pipil settlemen"t, westnorthwest of Chalatenango.
In
1532 it traded pitch pine, textiles, and maize. By 1548 the Spanish had
introduced grazing animals: the town furnished two herders in tribute.
It no longer
exists ( Barón Castro (p. 602).
CHALCHUAPA/
#40/ 70. under the minor son of Alonso Martín Granado.
This
may be the site of the earliest permanent human settlement in El
Salvador—as early as 1200 b.c. (Sheets, '84, p. 86). The Olmecs, early
traders, established a settlement there to function as a center for the
extraction and elaboration of local materials and as a distribution
center in their system of exchange (Willey, 1984, pp. 366-67). Remnant
flakes attest to lumps of obsidian being brought there from the
Ixtepeque volcano, 40 kilometers away, to be fashioned by local
workmen (Hammond, '82, p. 231). It was the southeasternmost trading
colony of the Olmecs (Sharer, '84, p. 73).
The
site was chosen for several pertinent reasons: it was near sources of
fresh water at both the Trapiche springs and Lake Cuscachapa. The broad
valley in the center of which it is settled is fertile, with moderate
temperatures and with about eighty inches of rainfall annually: all
excellent for crops. In addition to these qualities—and perhaps more
decisive—it is midway on a trade route between the coast and the
obsidian deposits at Ixtepeque (Sheets, 1984, p. 188).
A
striking feature representing this early period of Olmec settlement at
Chalchuapa is a twenty meter high (sixty-six feet) pyramid, modelled
after the one at La Venta, an Olmec site in western Tabasco. The
distance between Chalchuapa and La
Venta is about 850 kilometers, considerable but not surprising as the
Olmecs also traded with the great valley of present Mexico City and
beyond with places in the state of Guerrero (Sheets, loc.cit,
Soustelle, 1984, p. 84).
This
southern area lay along the principal routes between upland Mexico and
Central America, an area to become the prime zone of cacao cultivation.
Also the Olmecs took such local resources as jadeite and obsidian from
the nearby highlands.
After
several centuries of contact and dominance, Olmec influence at
Chalchuapa began to decline about 400 b.c. With that change came the
establishment of an indigenous Salvadoran area development that
continued through several centuries. It was there, in that period of
time, that the southern Maya civilization may have emerged.(Morley, et
al., '83, p. 63). These Mayas took control of both the long-distance
trade routes and the critical local resources. Because of such
advantages, southern Maya societies became the most prosperous of their
day, and established stable political institutions— hereditary
theocracies (Morley, et al, '83, pp. 87, 89). In subsequent centuries
migrants that were to have important consequences for the region, came
from Mexico: Nahuat-speakers (Mexicans) moved into the cotton and
cacao-bearing lands, which, some centuries later they managed to
control—or even monopolize (Borhegyi,
'65, p 39).
During
the early Classic period (a.d. 300-600) Nahua-speakers from Teotihuacan
(Esperanza phase) moved down the Pacific coast. During the next period
others, the "Cotzumalhuapa Pipil" from western Mexico or Puebla
followed. (Miles '65, p. 284). These were trading ventures and as
Pipiles may have controlled much of the cacao land perhaps as early as
that time (Miles, op.
cit., p. 282), they probably extended their trade into the cacao lands
of present El Salvador, including territory controlled by Chalchuapa.
By
about a.d. 500, Chalchuapa had become tributary to a Maya-Chorti
kingdom with its capital at Copan in present Guatemala. But ultimately
that kingdom lost strength and by about a.d. 900, another Maya group,
the Pokomam had become strong in the region (Willey, '84, pp. 366-67;
Henderson, '81, p. 71).
Fowler
believes that Pipiles (Mexicans) were in control of the Chalchuapa
valley in the period 900-1200 (p. 42), but that it was seized by the
Pokoman in late pre-conquest times (pp. 48, 55). But Mexican
connections continued, as evinced by the green obsidian from Pachuca
(north of the valley of Mexico City) that has been found in Early
Postclassic levels (Fowler, p. 189).
Subsequent
to — or perhaps coincident with — the Pokomam period of
dominance, were
further incursions of Nahuat-speakers, and much of the Pacific coast,
in post-classic times was occupied by Nahuat-speaking Pipiles (Morley,
et al, '83, p. 177).
In
1532 Juan de Arevalo, presumably the man whom Jorge de Alvarado (then
acting governor in place of his brother Pedro) sent to Honduras as a
"leader" (caudillo ) in that conquest, was the encomendero of
"Chilchuapa", with 300 tributaries (Marroquin, p. 230). His name does
not appear in the tribute list of 1548, and Chalchuapa, #40, is under
Martin Granado and credited with only 70 tributaries. The decrease in
the number of tributaries is abnormal. One may wonder if Indians had
been transferred by the Spanish from there to Ciguateguacan, which, in
1532 reported only 240, and in 1548, 540.
Arevalo
reported in 1532 that maize and cotton were abundant, and, in addition
to the tributes to him, the tributaries paid for the clothes and
subsistence of 100 slaves in the mines — which were elsewhere: he
testified that the village itself had no gold or mines.
Lardé
y Larín's statement (p. 128) that in 1548 the men of the town
spoke
Pipil whereas the women spoke Pokomam is not verified by a citation,
but
it might well be true, if Mexican traders had taken Pokomam wives.
Miles and others have pointed to the remnant groups of Mayas, including
those at Chalchuapa, among the Pipil settlements (Miles, '57, p. 752).
According
to the tribute list of 1548, the town paid 120 xiquipiles of cacao,
among its various tributes, an item that was not possible at the
elevation of the town (710 meters - 2329 feet). Perhaps it controlled
lower lands or the cacao was obtained through trade.
Father
Ponce, who passed through in 1586, referred to it as a large
settlement. He was struck with the many tree-gourds ("xiquiras ") which
they made into cups, vases, bowls and "some of which they decorated
curiously and from which they drink their chocolate and other things"
(Vol. I, p. 323).
Gálvez
in 1740 reported that the majority of inhabitants was Indian, but that
a large minority was made up of ladinos, mulatos y meztizos .
In
1780 Cortés y Larraz reported that although one half of the
inhabitants
were ladinos, there were not more because the Indians owned the land
and would not permit ladinos to build houses without permit — which,
apparently, they were chary of giving (Vol. I, pp. 231 ff) .
CHICONGUA with
Tepeçontle/ #457140,
under
Alonso Morcillo
Relatively high
tributes were paid, including cotton (400 lbs. planted) and fish (208
lbs).
Chicongua
is not now known; Tepeçontle might refer to either of the
present
Tepezontes (San Migual or San Juan), which are south of Lake Ilopango.
Being listed together implies contiguity; Chicongua and
Tepeçontle may
have merged.
CHICONGUEZA/ #81/56,
under Juan de Tovar.
Present
Nueva Concepcion in southern Chalatenango department, at about 300
meters (984 feet) elevation. At the time of the conquest it was a
Chorti settlement (Fowler, p. 64)
CHULTEUPAN/
#27/20. under Salvago
Present
Chiltiupan at 680 meters (2231 feet), on the southern slope in La
Libertad department. In 1548 it paid 1500 lbs. of salt, and 12
chickens. Gálvez, in 1740 (p.25) wrote that it produced a little
balsam, maize, chickens, cacao, and cotton.
CHINAMECA/
#58/240, under Bartolomé Garcia
Modern San
Francisco Chinameca, south of Lake Ilopango.
CICACALCO/
#76/140, under Manuel Hernandez.
Barón
Castro (p. 604) records it as extinct. Browning (p. 305) believes it to
represent present Caluco, east of Sonsonate. Its position and tributes
would not suggest any dispute with the latter conclusion.
CIGUATEOACAN/
#70/540, under Antonio Docampo