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Mexico Travel :: State of Chiapas

Among the earliest signs of man in Chiapas are projectiles and stone implements, dated 5000 BC, found in a cave near Ocozocauda. Early Chiapans probably spoke a form of the Maya language; their settlements included Chiapa de Corzo and Izapa on the Guatemala border, where Olmec influences starting in 1000 BC have been found. Southeastern Chiapas and the neighboring area of Guatemala saw the rise of the culture of Izapa around 600 BC. Throughout this area archeologists have traced the evolution of Olmec gods and religious forms to the Maya civilization, concluding that Izapa was the crucial link between the two cultures. Beginning around AD 150, the rapid expansion of Maya culture in the Peten jungle of northwestern Guatemala led to the founding of Maya centers along the Usumacinta River (the border between Guatemala and Mexico). Important city-states here included Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Bonampak and Palenque, 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the west. In the fifth century, this region was conquered by and paid tribute to Teotihuacan.

After Teotihuacan began to collapse in the next century, the Maya city-states leaped into a period of incredible growth and cultural richness. Ornate polychrome vases, stelas with finely carved reliefs, steep pyramids containing elaborate tombs and, most importantly, a highly developed written language all give evidence of one of the greatest Mesoamerican cultures. Thanks to recent breakthroughs, we can now translate the hieroglyphs and read the history of the Maya kings. The site of Palenque, which lies in the hills at the western boundary of the Usumacinta floodplain, reached its apogee after AD 600. In 615, Lord Pacal took the throne at the age of 12 and ruled for 68 years. He built the Temple of the Inscriptions, and when he died he was buried deep inside, in one of the most elaborate tombs ever found. His son Chan-Bahlum then took power, and the Temples of the Sun, the Cross and the Foliated Cross were lined with reliefs celebrating that event.

Construction stopped and Palenque was mysteriously abandoned around AD 800. In 1946, a group of Lacandon Mayas showed a photographer a stupendous series of murals inside a temple in the ruins of Bonampak. Dated AD 790, they glorify Bonam-pak's rulers and the accession of a baby to the throne through scenes of battle, torture of captives and ritual dances; the city was abandoned before the murals could be completed. From 900 onwards, the center of Maya life in Chiapas moved to the highlands. Here more modest city-states, like the Tzeltales in Yaxbite and the Tzotziles in Zinacantan, maintained the traditions of the Classic Maya. When the Spanish arrived, the Mayas were so torn by ritual warfare between the nine tribes that they could not defend themselves effectively.

The first Spaniard to enter Chiapas was Gonzalo de Sandoval in 1522. In 1524, Luis Marin, still smarting from his defeat in Oaxaca, led his troops to the highlands and de¬feated the Tzotziles in a fierce battle at Zinacantan. The Spanish did not have the resources to sustain their victory and soon withdrew. In 1527, they attacked the highlands again under Diego de Mazariego. At the battle of Tepetchia, the Indians threw themselves into the Canon del Sumidero rather than surrender. Mazariego founded the Spanish settlements known today as San Cristobal de las Casas (it has had ten name changes since 1528) and Chiapa de Corzo. The Spanish treatment of the Chiapan Indians was notoriously bad. Between 1524 and 1549, thousands were sold as slaves to Veracruz and Nicaragua, and many more died of epidemics and overwork on the encomiendas.

The Indians eventually found a protector in San Cristobal's bishop, Bartolome de las Casas, whose passionate petitions to the royal administration led to better treatment of the Indians. Nevertheless, there were violent rebellions by the Tzeltales in 1712 and in 1868, when the Chamulas killed their curate and teacher and fought several bloody battles with the Mexican army. From 1744 until 1821, Chiapas was under the administrative control of the province of Guatemala. Today, poverty is endemic, particularly in the highlands, and sporadic violence continues due to tension between Indian peasants, landlords, the Catholic church and Protestant evangelists-religion, land and politics are inseparable in the area. Chiapas' natural marvels, like the Lacandon rain forest, are threatened by loggers and oil exploration.

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