K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj
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The K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj was a state in the highlands of modern day Guatemala which was founded by the K'iche' (Quiché) Maya in the thirteenth century, and which expanded through the fifteenth century until it was conquered by Spanish/Nahua forces led by Pedro de Alvarado in 1524.
The K'iche' kingdom reached its height under the king K'iq'ab who ruled from the fortified town of Q'umarkaj (also called by its Nahuatl name Utatlán) near the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. During his rule the K'iche' ruled large areas of highland Guatemala and even into Mexico - and they subdued other Maya peoples such as the Tz'utujil, Kaqchikel and Mam and the Nahuan Pipil people.
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[edit] Historical sources
The history of the Quiché Kingdom is described in a number of documents written in postcolonial times both in Spanish and in indigenous languages such as Classical Quiché and Kaqchikel. Important sources include the Popol Vuh which, apart from the well-known mythology, also contains a history and genealogy of the Kaweq lineage such as the Título de Totonicapan. Information from these can be crosschecked with the Annals of the Cakchiquels recounting the history of the Kaqchikel vassals and later enemies of the K'iche'. A number of other títulos such as those of Sacapulas, the C'oyoi, Nijaib and Tamub titles each recount K'iche' history from the viewpoint of a specific K'iche' lineage. Other sources include those written by conquistadors and ecclesiastics, and administrative documents of the colonial administration.
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The Mayan K'iche' people had lived in the highlands of Guatemala since 600 BCE but the documented history of the K'iche' kingdom began when foreigners from the Mexican Gulf coast entered the highlands via the Río Pasión around 1200 CE. These invaders are known as the "k'iche' forefathers" in the documental sources, because they founded what would be the three ruling lineages of the K'iche' kingdom. The invading peoples were composed of seven tribes: the three K'iche' lineages (the Nima K'iche', the Tamub and the Ilok'ab), the forefathers of the Kaqchikel, Rabinal, Tz'utujil peoples, and a seventh tribe called the Tepew Yaqui. Not much is known about the ethnicity of the invaders: the ethnohistoric sources state that they were unable to communicate with the indigenous K'iche' when they arrived, and that they were yaquies, meaning that they spoke Nahuatl. J.E.S. Thompson identified them as Mexicanized Putún merchants. But Carmack (1968) is of the opinion that they were probably bilingual Nahuatl and Chontal Maya speakers who were influenced by Toltec culture and arrived as conquerors rather than merchants. It is well documented that Nahuan influence in the K'iche' language already occurs in this period, and the names of the "forefathers" are better understandable as coming from Chontal and Nahuatl than from K'iche'.[1] The K'iche' forefathers brought with them their tribal Gods: the Patron God of the K'iche' tribe was the sky god Tohil.
[edit] Foundation (ca. 1225 – 1400)
| Ahpop of Q'umarkaj |
| (ruling periods approximated by generations) |
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B'alam Kitze (~1225–~1250) |
The "forefathers" conquered the indigenous highland peoples and founded a capital at Jakawitz in the Chujuyup valley. During this period the Kaqchikel, Rabinal and Tzjutujil tribes were allies of the K'iche' and subordinate to K'iche' rulership. In these days the languages of the four peoples were largely similar but as contact between the groups waned, and finally became enmity, the languages diverged becoming the distinct modern languages.[2]
The K'iche' people itself was also composed of three separate lineages, the K'iche', the Tamub' and the Ilok'ab'. Each lineage served a different function, the Nima K'iche' were the ruling class, the Tamub were probably traders and the Ilok'ab warriors. Each lineage was further divided into sublineages which also each had their specific functions: The K'iche' sublineages were Ajaw K'iche', Kaweq, Nijaib and Sakiq. The Tamub sublineages were Ekoamak' and Kakoj. The Ilok'ab sublineages were the Siq'a and Wanija.
After conquering and settling Jakawitz under Balam Kitze, the K'iche' now ruled by Tz'ikin expanded into Rabinal territory and subdued the Poqomam with the help of the Kaqchikel. Then they went southwest to found Pismachi where a large ritual center was built. At Pismachi, both K'oqaib and K'onache ruled, but soon internal conflicts between the lineages erupted, and finally the Ilok'abs left Pismachi and settled in a nearby town called Mukwitz Chilok'ab. During the ruler of the ahpop ("man of the mat" - the title of the K'iche ruler), K'otuja the Ilok'abs revolted against the leadership of the Nima K'iche' lineage but were soundly defeated. K'otuja expanded the influence of the K'iche's and tightened the political control over the Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil peoples by marrying his family members into their ruling lineages.
[edit] Quq'kumatz and K'iq'ab (ca. 1400 – 1475)
Under K'otujas' son Quq'kumatz the Nima K'iche lineage also left Pismachi and settled nearby at Q'umarkaj, "place of the rotten cane". Quq'kumatz became known as the greatest "Nagual" lord of the K'iche' and is told have been able to magically transform himself into snakes, eagles, jaguars and even blood. He could fly into the sky or visit the underworld, Xibalba. With the help of the Kaqchikel he expanded K'iche' territory northwards fighting a people called the Q'oja. After having won the battle and subdued the Q'oja Quq'kumatz married his daughter to the lord of the Q'oja. But he killed her and Quq'kumatz vowed to destroy his son-in-law with an army of only 400 warriors. Quq'kumatz was killed in the battle and his son K'iq'ab became king. His first action was to revenge his father. His army razed the Q'oja town, killed their lord and and captured his son. And Q'ikab recovered his fathers bones for proper burial. During this first campaign K'iq'ab conquered the people around Sacapulas and the Mam of Zaculeu - and later all the way to the valley of Antigua and the Pacific coast in the area of Escuintla and where they encroached on Pipil territory.
In ca. 1470 a major revolt against the lordship of K'iq'ab was instigated by his own warriors, who were dismayed with their lack of privileges. It took place during a major festival held in Q'umarkaj and although many lords and officials were killed the revolt failed to kill K'iq'ab, who was nonetheless forced to bestow new privieges onto the warrior class and share the wealth with his sons. The revolt also caused the final break between the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel who left to fortify their capital Iximché against the K'iche'.
[edit] Decline and conquest
In the period after the death of K'iq'ab the weakened K'iche' continuously struggled against the Kaqchikel, the Tz'utujil, the Rabinal, and the Pipil. Under the leadership of Tepepul the K'iche tried to launch a sneak attack on Iximché, whose inhabitants were weakened because of a famine, but the Kaqchikel got word of the attack and defeated the K'iche army. Constant warfare ensued until 1522 when a peace accord was made between the two peoples. Although the K'iche also experienced some military successes in this period, for example in the subordinations of the Rabinal and the peoples on the Pacific coast of Chiapas (Soconusco), the K'iche' didn't achieve the same level of hegemony as they had experienced in earlier times. From around 1495 the Aztec empire which was then at its height in central Mexico began asserting influence on the Pacific coast and into the Guatemalan highlands. Under the Aztec Tlatoani Ahuitzotl the Soconusco province which was then paying tribute to the K'iche' was conquered by the Aztecs, and when Aztec pochteca long distance traders later arrived at Q'umarkaj the K'iche' ruler 7 Noj was so embittered that he ordered them to leave his kingdom, not to return. However in 1510 when Aztec emissaries from Moctezuma II arrived in Q'umarkaj to request tribute from the K'iche they saw themselves forced to accept vassalage to the Aztecs. From 1510 to 1521 Aztec influence at Q'umarkaj increased and the K'iche lord 7 Noj also married two daughters of the Aztec ruler, further cementing the Aztec lordship, by becoming his son in-law. During this period Q'umarkaj also became known as Utatlán, the Nahuatl translation of the placename. When the Aztecs were defeated by the Spanish in 1521 they sent messengers to the K'iche' ruler that he should prepare for battle.
Before the arrival of the Spanish led army the K'iche' were struck by the diseases the Europeans had brought to the Americas. The Kaqchikels surrendered to the Spaniards in 1520, before they even arrived in Guatemala, and they also told of their enemies the K'iche and asked for assistance against them. Cortés sent messengers to Q'umarkaj and requested their peaceful submission to Spanish rule and a cessation of hostilities towards the Kaqchikel. The K'iche denied and made ready for battle.
In 1524 conquistador Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala with 135 horsmen, 120 footsoldiers and 400 Aztec, Tlaxcaltecs and Cholultec allies.[3] They were quickly promised military assistance by the Kaqchikels. The K'iche knew all about the movements of the Spanish forces through their network of spies. When the army arrived at the K'iche' town of Xelaju Noj (Quetzaltenango) the K'iche' steward of the town sent word to Q'umarkaj. The K'iche' chose Tekum Uman, a lord from Totonicapan, as their commander against the Spanish, and he was ritually prepared for the battle. He and his 8,400 warriors met the Spanish/Aztec/Kaqchikel army outside of Pinal south of Quetzalteango and were defeated. After several more defeats the K'iche' offered the Spanish vassalage and invited them to Q'umarkaj. By way of deceit Alvarado then seized the lords of Q'umarkaj and burned them alive. He instated two lower K'iche leaders as his puppet rulers and continued to subdue the other K'iche' communities in the area. Q'umarkaj was razed and levelled to hinder the K'iche' in reestablishing themselves at the well fortified site, and the community relocated to the nearby town of Santa Cruz del Quiché.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Akkeren, Ruud van (2003). "Authors of the Popol Vuh". Ancient Mesoamerica 14: pp.237–256. ISSN 0956-5361.
- Carmack, Robert M. (1981). The Quiché Mayas of Utatlán. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1546-7.
- Carmack, Robert M. (1973). Quichéan Civilization:The Ethnohistoric, Ethnographic and Archaeological sources. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01963-6.
- Edmonson, Munro S. (ed.) (1971). The Book of Counsel: The Popol-Vuh of the Quiche Maya of Guatemala, Publ. no. 35. New Orleans: Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University. OCLC 658606.
- Tedlock, Dennis (trans.) (1985). Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-45241-X. OCLC 11467786.
