![Mixco Viejo 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Mixco_Viejo_2.jpg)
The Chajoma () were a
Kaqchikel-speaking Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...
people of the
Late Postclassic period, with a large kingdom in the
highlands
Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau.
Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to:
Places Albania
* Dukagjin Highlands
Armenia
* Armenian Highlands
Australia
*Sou ...
of
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
. According to the indigenous chronicles of the
K'iche' K'iche', K'ichee', or Quiché may refer to:
*K'iche' people of Guatemala, a subgroup of the Maya
*K'iche' language, a Maya language spoken by the K'iche' people
**Classical K'iche' language, the 16th century form of the K'iche' language
*Kʼicheʼ ...
and the
Kaqchikel, there were three principal Postclassic highland kingdoms; the K'iche', the Kaqchikel and the Chajoma.
[Hill 1998, p.233.] In the
Annals of the Cakchiquels
The ''Annals of the Cakchiquels'' (in es, Anales de los Cakchiqueles, also known by the alternative Spanish titles, ''Anales de los Xahil'', ''Memorial de Tecpán-Atitlán'' or ''Memorial de Sololá'') is a manuscript written in Kaqchikel by Fra ...
the Chajoma of
Jilotepeque were always referred to as the ''akajal vinak'', in the
Popul Vuh
''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and ...
these can probably be identified with the ''akul vinak''. Both ''akajal vinak'' and ''akul vinak'' mean "the bee people" or "the hive people".
''Chajoma'' means "people of
ocote
Ocote is a common name for various species of pine trees in the genus ''Pinus'' that occur in the Spanish speaking Americas—Latin America.
They include:
*''Pinus apulcensis''
*''Pinus ayacahuite''
*''Pinus cooperi''
*''Pinus devoniana''
*''Pi ...
" (a type of
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
).
[Carmack 2001, p.151.] In colonial times this was rendered into
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
as ''sacatepēc'' "Grass mountain" which led to its current Hispanicized name ''Sacatepéquez''.
Early records, for example, record the placename
as San Juan Chajoma.
The Chajoma separated into six divisions, equivalent to the various colonial villages bearing Sacatepéquez in the name.
Extent and population
The political geography of the Chajoma is described in some detail in a small group of early colonial documents composed by the Chajoma leadership. At its greatest extent, the Chajoma kingdom covered an area of 900–1000 km². It was bounded on the north by the
Motagua River
The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the ...
, on the east with the
Las Vacas River
The Las Vacas River is a river in Guatemala. It begins in the mountains in the eastern outskirts of Guatemala City and runs in a north-easterly direction to join the Motagua River where the departmental borders of El Progreso, Baja Verapaz and Guat ...
, by
in the southeast, the River Chalcayá on the southwest and the River Quisayá to the west. Their neighbour to the south was the
Poqomam kingdom, with its capital at
Chinautla Viejo (Old Chinautla, identified as the Mixco Viejo of Colonial period records). To the west they were bordered by the Kaqchikel kingdom based at
Iximche
Iximcheʼ () (or Iximché using Spanish orthography) is a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the western highlands of Guatemala. Iximche was the capital of the Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470 until its abandon ...
.
[Maxwell & Hill 2006, p.6.] This territory includes the northern third of the
department of Guatemala and includes both the cooler highland area to the south and the hotter lowlands of the Motagua Valley to the north. The latter is a challenging area for agriculture, with the poor soil of the steep-sided lowland river valleys consisting of semi-weathered
metamorphic
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...
schistose
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...
. The best land for agriculture lies in the southern highland portion of the Chajoma territory, with settlement concentrating there from the Classic Period onwards.
The Chajoma had their capital at the archaeological site currently known as
Mixco Viejo
Mixco Viejo () ("Old Mixco"), occasionally spelt Mixcu Viejo, is an archaeological site in the north east of the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala, some to the north of Guatemala City and from the junction of the rivers Pixcaya and Mo ...
(Old Mixco),
apparently known to the Chajoma by a variety of names, including ''Chuapec Kekacajol Nima Abaj'', ''Zakicajol'' and ''Nimcakajpec''. Apart from Mixco Viejo, the principal archaeological sites associated with the Late Postclassic Chajoma kingdom are El Horno, Las Vegas, El Ciprés, Pueblo Viejo Jilotepeque, Chuisac, La Merced, Chuabaj, Chiboló and possibly Sacul. Of these, only El Horno, El Ciprés, Las Vegas and Sacul can be considered major settlements. Other sites, such as Pistun, La Canoa and Cerrito de las Minas, appear to have been remote outposts in strategically important locations or lookout points monitoring access routes.
[Hill 1996, p.70.]
Population estimates based on the number of archaeological sites put the Postclassic population of the Chajoma kingdom at 15-20,000 people divided between 15-20 clans. Evidence from Colonial documents suggest that 14 clans (or ''chinamit'' in Kaqchikel) survived into post-Conquest times, with 10 divided between San Pedro Sacatepéquez and San Juan Sacatepéquez and 4 in San Martín Jilotepeque. However, these were probably the most important ''chinamit'' clans, with survivors of smaller subservient ''chinamit'' groups being absorbed into the larger clans. An estimate based on archaeological sites with monumental architecture place 1 ''chinamit'' each at El Ciprés and Sacul, 4 at Las Vegas, 2–3 at El Horno and 5 at the archaeological site of Mixco Viejo; plus a possible 2 at Cucul and 1 at Pachalum on the north back of the Motagua, if these were Chajoma sites. This would give a total of 13–16 clans, which is roughly equivalent to the number comprising the other two major highland kingdoms, the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel.
Known rulers
''All dates are approximate.''
History
Origins
Indigenous documents describe how the ancestors of the Chajoma, Kaqchikel and K'iche' arrived at a mythical place called Tulan, and then left after a time and wandered until they eventually settled in the
Guatemalan highlands
The Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north.
Description
The highlands are made up of a series of high valleys enclosed by mou ...
.
Recent archaeological research suggests that the ancestors of the Chajoma and other K'iche'an peoples, including also the K'iche', the Kaqchikel and the
Tz'utujil, were already occupying the Guatemalan highlands in the
Classic Period
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nbs ...
.
A brief history of Chajoma movements and their rulers is contained in an early Colonial document entitled the ''Título de los de San Martín Jilotepeque'', written in 1555. This same document has been used to prove that the
Mixco Viejo
Mixco Viejo () ("Old Mixco"), occasionally spelt Mixcu Viejo, is an archaeological site in the north east of the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala, some to the north of Guatemala City and from the junction of the rivers Pixcaya and Mo ...
archaeological site was actually the Chajoma capital and not that of the Poqomam, as previously believed.
The Postclassic Period
The Chajoma claimed not to have been settled long in the lands where the
Conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
found them in 1524, rather they had originated in the area around
Zacualpa
Zacualpa () is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. The family of Nobel Peace Prize winner is originally from this municipality.
Etymology
Many place names in Guatemala, including the name of the country, are Na ...
and
Joyabaj
Joyabaj () is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. It is located about 50 kilometers from Santa Cruz del Quiché, in the Sierra de Chuacús mountains.
Joyabaj was an important part of the royal route to Mexico d ...
, north of the Motagua River. From Zacualpa they began a movement towards the south, southeast and southwest around AD 1400.
Investigations at the Zacualpa archaeological site have shown that it was occupied from the Classic through to the Early Postclassic but was abandoned by the Late Postclassic. The Chajoma migration appears to have been well organised and rapid, and they quickly established sites to defend the borders of their new territory, being placed in defensible locations that had previously been identified after extensive scouting over a large area.
The Chajoma apparently intermarried with the Xpantzay clan of the main branch of the
Kaqchikel when these occupied the site of Ochal, identified with the archaeological site of Chuisac, located 2 km west of
San Martín Jilotepeque
San Martín Jilotepeque is a town, with a population of 10,812 (2018 census), and a municipality in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala. It was the site of a bus accident in 2013.
History
Doctrine of Order of Preachers
After the ...
. According to the ''Testamento de los Xpantzay'', the Chajoma supplied the Xpantzay with wives from their aristocratic class, an arrangement that appears to have been established as far back as the Early Postclassic.
[Hill 1996, p.67.]
By around 1410, according to the ''Anales de los Cakchiqueles'', Ochal had become a Chajoma town. It appears that, provoked by the aggressive expansion of the
K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj K'iche', K'ichee', or Quiché may refer to:
*K'iche' people of Guatemala, a subgroup of the Maya
*K'iche' language, a Maya language spoken by the K'iche' people
**Classical K'iche' language, the 16th century form of the K'iche' language
*Kʼicheʼ ...
, the Chajoma abandoned their old capital of Zacualpa when Ochal was vacated by the Xpantzay, who claimed to have left Ochal in order to serve the K'iche' king Q'uq'umatz together with other Kaqchikel groups. In the 15th century Ochal (known to the Chajoma as ''Och'al Kab'awil Siwan'') became the new Chajoma capital. Around 1425, the K'iche' of Q'umarkaj seized the largely abandoned former Chajoma capital at Zacualpa.
Rule of Lajuj No'j
A powerful 15th century Chajoma lord was known by the name Ichalkan Chi Kumkwat in Nahuatl and Lajuj No'j in Kaqchikel. Around 1450, with Kaqchikel help, he put down a rebellion by vassals along the
Motagua
The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the ...
river. As a result of the rebellion, this lord left his capital at ''Och'al Kab'awil Siwan'' (Pan Och'al in San Martín Jilotepeque) and moved it to ''Saqik'ajol Kaqapek'' (Jilotepeque Viejo, the archaeological site known as Mixco Viejo). The Chajoma alliance with the Kaqchikel became more powerful until the Kaqchikels turned on Lajuj No'j and his Chajoma and completely defeated them.
The Chajoma were involved in wars with their neighbours the K'iche', the Kaqchiquel and the Poqomam. In the late 15th century when Lajuj No'j was the Chajoma king, the Kaqchikel conquered several Chajoma villages on behalf of their K'iche' overlords, pushing the border between the two kingdoms eastwards. Lajuj No'j was murdered with much of his entourage at Iximche, the Kaqchikel capital, around 1480.
In the ''Annals of the Cakchiquels'', the Kaqchikel record that they attacked the ''Akajal'' (Chajoma) settlements of Panah and Chiholom, conquering the former. After these battles and prior to the Spanish Conquest the Chajoma probably made tribute payments to the Kaqchiquel of Iximche but were not completely subject to them.
Even after the Conquest, the western boundary between the Chajoma and the Kaqchikel of Iximché remained a source of dispute, even down to modern times.
In 1493 the lords of Iximche judged in favour of the Chajoma in a land dispute between these and the Tukuche clan of the Kaqchikels, this caused the Tukuche to rebel against their rulers and resulted in their expulsion from Iximche.
Shortly before the Spanish Conquest, the Chajoma under their lord Achi Q'alel rebelled against the Kaqchikels of Iximche.
Just before the Conquest, the Chajoma occupied the area of the modern
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of San Martín Jilotepeque,
, San Pedro Sacatepéquez, San Juan Sacatepéquez,
San Raimundo
San Raymundo is a town, with a population of 15,447 (2018 census), and a municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in ...
,
Chuarrancho
Chuarrancho is a municipality in the Guatemala department
Guatemala Department is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital is Guatemala City, which also serves as the national capital. The department consists of Guatemala City and ...
,
and the northern portion of
Chinautla
Chinautla () is a city and municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala. The city has a population of 104,972 (2018 census) making it the fourteenth largest city in the country and the seventh largest in the Guatemala Department.
Admini ...
, an area that coincides with the Eastern Kaqchikel dialect area.
Spanish Conquest
There are no direct sources describing the
conquest
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
of the Chajoma by the Spanish but it appears to have been a drawn-out campaign rather than a rapid victory.
[Hill 1998, pp.253.] The only description of the conquest of the Chajoma is a secondary account appearing in the work of
Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán
Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán (1643–1700) was a Guatemalan '' criollo'' historian and poet. His only surviving work is the '' Recordación Florida''.
Biography
Fuentes y Guzmán was born to a wealthy family in Santiago de los Caballer ...
in the 17th century, long after the event.
[Hill 1996, p.85.] After the Conquest, the inhabitants of the eastern part of the kingdom were relocated by the conquerors to
San Pedro Sacatepéquez, including some of the inhabitants of the site now known as Mixco Viejo. The rest of the population of Mixco Viejo, together with the inhabitants of the western part of the kingdom, were moved to San Martín Jilotepeque.
The Chajoma rebelled against the Spanish in 1526, fighting a battle at Ukub'il, an unidentified site somewhere near the modern towns of San Juan Sacatepéquez and
San Pedro Sacatepéquez.
[The rebellion and the Spanish response, led by Pedro de Portocarrero, is described in Part One Book 13 Chapter IV of the ''Recordación Florida''.]
In the colonial period, most of the surviving Chajoma were forcibly settled in the towns of San Juan Sacatepéquez, San Pedro Sacatepéquez and San Martín Jilotepeque as a result of the Spanish policy of ''
congregaciones'', with the people being moved to whichever of these three towns was closest to their pre-Conquest land holdings. Some Iximche Kaqchikels seem also to have been relocated to the same towns with them. After their relocation to the new towns, some of the Chajoma drifted back to their pre-Conquest centres, creating informal settlements and provoking hostilities with the Poqomam of Mixco and Chinautla along the former border between the pre-Columbian kingdoms. Some of these settlements eventually received official recognition, such as San Raimundo near Sacul.
Archaeological sites
La Canoa
La Canoa lies to the east of San Pedro Ayampuc, a short distance from the road to
Petaca. It consists of a small hill that has been artificially flattened and that once probably supported a small number of houses built from perishable materials. The site has been severely damaged.
Cerrito de las Minas
Cerrito de las Minas was a small outpost situated in the northeastern extremity of the Chajoma kingdom, apparently to control the route to and from
Baja Verapaz
Baja Verapaz () is a department in Guatemala. The capital is Salamá.
Baja Verapaz contains the Mario Dary Biotope Preserve, preserving the native flora and fauna of the region, especially the endangered national bird of Guatemala, the Resplen ...
to the north. A modern road follows the course of a colonial road that was probably also an important route in the Late Preclassic. The site consists of a single small pyramid measuring sat on top of a steep sided cone of
volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...
, with some small house terraces extending some of the way down the side. A dozen house platforms are situated on a promontory immediately to the north but the group has not been investigated and it is likely that it is the remains of a post-Conquest settlement due to its open layout and absence of pyramids or a ballcourt.
Chuabaj
Chuabaj is located north of San Martín Jilotepeque. It was a large site although the architecture has been destroyed.
[Hill 1996, p.82.]
Chuisac (Ochal)
Group D at Chuisac appears to have had a Late Postclassic occupation, which probably corresponds to the temporary occupation of the site by the Chajoma before they moved their capital to the archaeological site of Mixco Viejo.
El Ciprés
El Ciprés was first reported in 1941 by
Edwin M. Shook, who named it Cimientos. The location of the site was lost by the 1970s and rediscovered in 1991. The site possesses a well-preserved I-shaped ballcourt. In common with other Postclassic sites, it is defensively situated on a plateau surrounded by deep ravines. Most of the structures of the site are small but possess fine flagstone masonry. The two larger structures are the ballcourt and a long structure on the east side of the site.
[Hill 1996, pp.70-71.]
El Horno
El Horno is a major site in the eastern Chajoma region. It is situated near the eastern border of San Pedro Ayampuc with
San José del Golfo. The structures of the site are divided into three easily defended groups, although they lie below the ridgelines of the surrounding hills, on promontories half way up a ravine near the village of
Petaca, above the bottom of the ravine.
[Hill 1996, p.71.]
Group I is the largest group at the site. It contains an unfinished and heavily looted I-shaped ballcourt.
[Hill 1996, p.73.]
Group II is linked to Group I by a narrow neck of land. The group is dominated by two badly damaged and looted pyramids built of flagstone and also possesses a number of house platforms.
Group III is situated on a separate promontory to Groups I and II, some to the west. Like Group II it possesses two pyramids with flagstone masonry, and has 5 or more house platforms. Ceramic fragments recovered from Group III are of a type typical of the Late Postclassic and especially common at the Mixco Viejo archaeological site.
Pistun
Pistun is a small site that has in the past been considered larger than is actually the case due to natural hillocks being mistaken for the remains of artificial structures. Only two structures have been confirmed; a small altar platform with flagstone masonry and a long narrow structure. The site is situated defensively on a hill on the east side of Cerro El Apazote overlooking the Aguacate River. Projectile points were found scattered near the eastern entrance to the site and suggest that a battle took place there, which may have resulted in its abandonment.
[Hill 1996, pp.79, 81.]
Pueblo Viejo
Pueblo Viejo is located about northwest of San Martín Jilotepeque. Only one structure is currently known at the site, located defensively on a promontory surrounded by deep ravines and may have served as an outpost.
Sacul
This site was discovered by Earle who reported Classic Period surface ceramic finds. However, it is defensively situated on an plateau bordered by a stream, typical of Postclassic sites. By the mid-1990s, Sacul had neither been investigated archaeologically nor looted. On the other side of the ravine to the northwest of Sacul are the sites of El Tesoro and Chirioj, both dating to the Late Classic.
Las Vegas
This site was first reported in 1988 by Duncan M Earle and named Chillani after a nearby modern settlement. It lies within the municipality of Chinautla, near the village of
San Antonio de las Flores. The site has since been renamed to Las Vegas, after the name of the estate on which it lies. Archaeologist Robert M. Hill II carried out a preliminary exploration of the site in 1991. The site consists of 26 structures divided into four groups, labelled groups I through to IV, built on top of an easily defensible ridge between the ravines Quebrada Quezada and Quebrada San Pedro. Each of the four groups contains at least one
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
and a number of house platforms. All the structures are poorly preserved although Hill reported that only one had been looted in 1996. Surviving masonry consists of cut blocks of
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
or
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
, and of
flagstone
Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other con ...
. A violent end to occupation at the site is suggested by the presence of large quantities of burnt mud daub, and may be linked to the Spanish Conquest.
Las Vegas was located only a few kilometers north of the Poqomam capital at Chinautla Viejo.
Group I Evidence of violence was found in this group in the form of burnt mud daub, although not to the same extent as in Group III.
Group II has an unusual structure to the north, which is probably all that survives of the badly eroded remains of a
ballcourt
A Mesoamerican ballcourt ( nah, tlachtli) is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame. More than 1,300 ballcourts have been i ...
. As with Group I, evidence of violence was found in Group II in the form of burnt mud daub, again to a lesser extent than in Group III.
Group III Large amounts of burnt mud daub were found among the most eastern structures of this group and may be linked to the Spanish Conquest.
Group IV Earle reported a wide variety of Late Postclassic ceramic sherds from Group IV. The westernmost structure in this group has been looted.
Footnotes
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chajoma
Mesoamerican cultures
Maya civilization
History of Guatemala
Maya peoples of Guatemala
Kaqchikel
Former indigenous peoples in Guatemala
Maya Postclassic Period