Cochuah (also Kock Wah) (in the

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

: toponymic; ''K-'': our + ''Och'': food + ''Wah'': bread. "Our food of bread"?) is the name of one of the sixteen

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

provinces into which the central

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

was divided at the time of the arrival of the

Spanish 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, ...

in the sixteenth century. After the destruction of Mayapán (1441–1461), great rivalry between the Mayas started, and led to the formation of 16 independent jurisdictions called

kuchkabal A ''kuchkabal'' ( , ''kuchkabalo'ob'', 'province'), also known as an ''ah kuch-kab'' or ''ah cuch-cab'', was a system of social and political organisation common to Maya polities of the Maya Lowlands, in the Yucatán Peninsula, during the ...

(in Mayan: province or region). In each kuchkabal there was a halach uinik (in Mayan: "real man"; "man in control") who was the chief with the biggest military, judicial and political authority, and who lived in the main city, considered to be the capital of the jurisdiction.

Historical and territorial data

The cacicazgo bordered with

Cupul Cupul or Kupul, (Maya: ''Kupul'', 'toponímico; adjective') was the name of a Maya chiefdom at time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán. Cupul was one of the most extensive and densely populated Maya provinces on the Yucatán Peninsula. It was for ...

in the north, with

Sotuta Sotuta is a small town and municipality of the Mexican state of Yucatán, and also was the name of a Mayan chiefdom of the northern central Yucatán Peninsula, before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. See also * A ...

, Tutul Xiu and Chakán Putún in the west, and with

Ekab Ekab or Ecab was the name of a Mayan chiefdom of the northeastern Yucatán Peninsula, before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. In the fifteenth century most of Yucatán was controlled by the League of Mayapan. By 1 ...

and

Uaymil Uaymil is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located on the Gulf Coast of northern Campeche. The settlement of Uaymil occupies a small island approximately 2.5 kilometers from the coast and 25 km north of Jaina. The site has been arch ...

in the east, according to the map made by Ralph L. Roys. Some authors, like Héctor Pérez Martínez in his notes for the seventh edition (1938) of ''The Report of the Affairs of Yucatan'' by

Diego de Landa Diego de Landa Calderón, O.F.M. (12 November 1524 – 29 April 1579) was a Spanish Franciscan bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. Many historians criticize his campaign against idolatry. In particular, he burned almost a ...

says that the capital of Cochuah was Tixhotzuc, citing Juan Francisco Molina Solís. However, according to ''Yucatan at the Time'', Chunhuhub (today in the municipality of

Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo Felipe Carrillo Puerto is the municipal seat and largest city in Felipe Carrillo Puerto Municipality in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 25,744 persons, mostly of Maya descent.

) seems to have been the main city, much closer to the province of Uaymil. Other than that city, to the east and the south extended great forests with little population up to the Bay of Ascension, which some writers consider formed part of the jurisdiction of Cochuah. It appears that the halach uinik of the region was Nakahum Cochuah who, in 1579, resided in Tihosuco, a fact which reinforces the thesis that that town was the true capital. The leader and his council had solid relations with the provinces of Cupul and Sotuta, and the three were united against the Spanish conquistadors. Apart from Tihosuco and Chunhuhub, other important villages of the province were Tiholop, Tinum, Ichmul, and Chikindzonot. Recently, there has been archaeological work exploring Yo'okop, a site which appears to have had importance during the post-classical period and long after, in the 19th century as epicenter of the class war during which rebellious natives took refuge in this region of the Yucatán peninsula. This region is located in the present municipality of José María Morelos in the state of Quintana Roo.

References

Mayan chiefdoms of the Yucatán Peninsula {{Mexico-hist-stub