GuatemalaGuatemala (ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɑːlə ; ɡwateˈmala), officially the Republic of Guatemala (República de Guatemala), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, to the southeast by El Salvador. It touched to the south by the Pacific Ocean and to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras. With an estimated population of around million, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America and the 11th most populous country in the Americas.
IximcheIximcheʼ (/iʃimˈtʃeʔ/) (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 abandonment in 1524. The architecture of the site included a number of pyramid-temples, palaces and two Mesoamerican ballcourts. Excavators uncovered the poorly preserved remains of painted murals on some of the buildings and ample evidence of human sacrifice.
Tzʼutujil peopleThe Tzʼutujil (Tzutujil, Tzutuhil, Sutujil) are a Native American people, one of the 22 Maya ethnic groups that dwell in Guatemala. Together with the Xinca, Garífunas (Black Caribs) and the Ladinos, they make up the 25 ethnic groups in this relatively small country. Approximately 100,000 Tzʼutujil live in the area around Lake Atitlán. Their pre-Columbian capital, near Santiago Atitlán, was Chuitinamit. In pre-Columbian times, the Tzʼutujil nation was a part of the ancient Maya civilization.
ChajomaThe Chajoma (/tʃäχoˈmä/) were a Kaqchikel-speaking Maya people of the Late Postclassic period, with a large kingdom in the highlands of Guatemala. According to the indigenous chronicles of the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel, there were three principal Postclassic highland kingdoms; the K'iche', the Kaqchikel and the Chajoma. In the Annals of the Cakchiquels the Chajoma of Jilotepeque were always referred to as the akajal vinak, in the Popul Vuh these can probably be identified with the akul vinak.
Kaqchikel peopleThe Kaqchikel (also called Kachiquel) are one of the indigenous Maya peoples of southern Mexico and the midwestern highlands of Guatemala. They constitute Guatemala's third largest Maya group. The name was formerly spelled in various other ways, including Cakchiquel, Kakchiquel, Caqchikel, and Cachiquel. The Kaqchikel language, one of the Mayan languages from the Quichean branch, is spoken today by 400,000 people. It is closely related to the Tzutujil language.
Kʼicheʼ peopleKʼicheʼ (pronounced kʼiˈtʃeʔ; previous Spanish spelling: Quiché) are indigenous peoples of the Americas and are one of the Maya peoples. The Kʼicheʼ language is a Mesoamerican language in the Mayan language family. The highland Kʼicheʼ states in the pre-Columbian era are associated with the ancient Maya civilization, and reached the peak of their power and influence during the Mayan Postclassic period (950–1539 AD). The meaning of the word Kʼicheʼ in the Kʼicheʼ language is "many trees".
Mayan languagesThe Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica, both in the south of Mexico and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million Maya people, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight within its territory. The Mayan language family is one of the best-documented and most studied in the Americas.
Maya peoplesThe Maya (ˈmaɪə) are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical region. Today they inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. "Maya" is a modern collective term for the peoples of the region; however, the term was not historically used by the indigenous populations themselves.
Indigenous languages of the AmericasOver a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large number of language isolates), as well as a number of extinct languages that are unclassified because of a lack of data. Many proposals have been made to relate some or all of these languages to each other, with varying degrees of success.
