Dzuluinicob Explained

Conventional Long Name:	Province of Dzuluinicob
Common Name:	Dzuluinicob
Iso3166code:	omit
Era:	Postclassic to Spanish conquest
Status:	Empire
Status Text:	Dissolved
Government Type:	Confederation of towns with aristocratic features
Year Start:	11th cent.
Event End:	Spanish conquest
Year End:	1544
Date Event1:	13th cent.
Event2:	Fall of Mayapan
Date Event2:	1461
Event Pre:	Classic collapse
Date Pre:	10th cent.
P1:	Cahal Pech
P2:	Caracol
P3:	Lamanai
P4:	Xunantunich
S1:	Viceroyalty of New Spain
Flag S1:	Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg
Coa Size:	300px
Coat Alt:	The Caracol Glyph
Image Map Alt:	Map of the Yucatan Peninsula in 1822
Image Map Caption:	Capital and provincial settlements of Dzuluinicob towards the 16th cent.
Capital:	Tipu
Common Languages:	Yucatec Maya
Religion:	Maya polytheism
Today:	Belize
Footnotes:	a. Per, . b. Per, . c. See sec. 'Legacy' subsec. 'Scholarly' in this article for debate regarding inclusion or exclusion of various provincial settlements (eg Lamanai).

Dzuluinicob, or the Province of Dzuluinicob or Ts'ulwinikob, (; u kuchkabal Ts'ulwinikob|label=none; in Mayan languages pronounced as /u kutʃ.ka.ˈbal t͡sʼul.ˌwiː.niː.ˈkoɓ/) was a Postclassic Maya state in the Yucatán Peninsula of the Maya Lowlands.

Geography

Physical

Dzuluinicob encompassed, at least, most of the Belize River drainage basin. Some scholars further locate the drainage basins of the New, Sibun, and Sittee Rivers within the province.

Political

Dzuluinicob bordered the Chetumal and Waymil provinces to the north, the Mopan and Manche Ch'ol territories to the south, and the Itza, Kowoj, and Yalain polities to the west.

History

Pre-Columbian

With few notable exceptions, the ninth and tenth centuries of the Classic Maya collapse are thought to have been a period of gradual but marked political and demographic collapse in city-states within what would later become Dzuluinicob. Though scarce little is known of the province's pre-Columbian history, given the aforementioned population glut, it has been suggested that Dzuluinicob emerged after a significant wave of immigration into the region. It has been further noted that such demographic influx may have been similar coincident with that which gave rise to the Peten Itza Kingdom, i.e. settlement by northerly aristocratic mayors and their households upon the collapse of Mayapan and consequent disintegration of the regional council of provincial governors. The burgeoning province is thought to have grown closer to its western neighbours in Peten, given the observed similarity of their pre-Columbian material cultures, than to its northern neighbour, Chetumal, given the observed dissimilarity of their material cultures.

Columbian

Dzuluinicob is commonly thought to have been the last province conquered during the 1543–1544 Pachecos entrada.

Society

The province is thought to have been 'a major player in [southern Lowlands] cacao cultivation and trade.' It is further thought to have housed Muzul Maya residents, at least in the capital.

Legacy

Scholarly

None of Dzuluinicob's records are extant. Consequently, all scholarship on the province has relied on later Spanish records and modern archaeology. The province was first brought to attention by Grant D. Jones's 1989, based on 1982–1983 archival research at the General Archive of the Indies.Aspects of the province as originally delineated have since come into question. For instance, while Jones placed Lamanai within Dzuluinicob, recent literature has noted that pre-Columbian material recovered from Lamanai 'is without any doubt distinctive from that [recovered] at Tipu,' such that 'it is hard to see them [Lamanai and Tipu] as part of a single "provincial" unit.' Similarly, while Jones originally glossed ts’ul winiko’ob as ‘foreign people,’ in keeping with scholarly consensus then, recent literature has noted that the term might rather mean ‘gentlemen’ or ‘members of the Ts’ul lineage.’

Notes and references

Full citations

1. Book: anon.. A geography of Belize : the land and its people. 2008. Rev. 11th. Cubola. Benque Viejo, Belize. 530699621.
2. Book: Arnauld. M. Charlotte. Beekman. Christopher. Pereira. Grégory. Mobility and Migration in Ancient Mesoamerican Cities. 2021. University Press of Colorado. Boulder, Colorado. subscription. 1178868569.
3. Book: Barrera Vásquez. Alfredo. Diccionario maya Cordemex : maya-español, español-maya. 1980. Ediciones Cordemex. Mérida, Yucatán. 7550928.
4. Book: Bracamonte y Sosa. Pedro. La conquista inconclusa de Yucatán : los mayas de la montaña, 1560-1680. Colección Peninsular; Serie Estudios. 2001. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social : Miguel Angel Porrúa : Universidad de Quintana Roo. México, DF. 49519206. 9707011599.
5. Book: Chase. Arlen F.. Rice. Prudence M.. The Lowland Maya Postclassic. 1985. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas. limited. 10924247. 2027/txu.059173018481763. 9780292746435.
6. Book: Farris. Nancy M.. Maya Society under Colonial Rule The Collective Enterprise of Survival. 1992. First published 1984 by PUP. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey. subscription. 5th corrected reprint of 1st. 1273306087. 9780691235400.
7. MA . Gomburg. Emmalea. 2018. Investigating Possible Scurvy in the Postclassic Maya of Tipu. University of Southern Mississippi. Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
8. Book: Graham. Elizabeth A.. Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize. Maya studies. 2011. University Press of Florida. Gainesville, Florida. subscription. 751694131.
9. PhD . Harrison-Buck . Eleanor. 2007 . Materializing identity among the Terminal Classic Maya: Architecture and ceramics in the Sibun Valley, Belize . Boston University. Boston, Massachusetts. . subscription.
10. PhD . Harvey. Amanda R.. 2018 . An Analysis of Maya Foodways: Stable Isotopes and Oral Indicators of Diet in West Central Belize . University of Nevada, Reno. Reno, Nev.. . subscription.
11. Book: Hofling. Charles Andrew. Mopan Maya - Spanish - English dictionary : diccionario Maya Mopan - Español - Ingles. 2011. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City, Utah. subscription. 639161518.
12. Book: Jones. Grant D.. Maya resistance to Spanish rule : time and history on a colonial frontier. 1989. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 20012099. 2027/mdp.39015015491791. 9780826311610.
13. Book: Jones. Grant D.. The conquest of the last Maya kingdom. 1998. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. subscription. 38747674. 2027/heb.03515.
14. PhD . Meissner . Nathan J. . 2014 . Technological systems of small point weaponry of the Postclassic Lowland Maya (a.d. 1400 - 1697) . Southern Illinois University. Carbondale, Illinois. . subscription.
15. Messner. Nathan J.. 2020. The Porous Boundary: Comparing Late Postclassic–Early Colonial Maya Projectile Technologies Across Peten and Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica. 31. 3. 526–542. 10.1017/S0956536120000140.
16. PhD . Morandi . Steven J. . 2010 . Xibun Maya: The archaeology of an early Spanish colonial frontier in southeastern Yucatán . Boston University. Boston, Massachusetts. . subscription.

1. Book: Morris. John. Jones. Sherilyne. Awe. Jaime. Thompson. George. Badillo. Melissa. Archaeological investigations in the eastern Maya lowlands : papers of the 2009 Belize Archaeology Symposium. Research reports in Belizean archaeology. 7. 2010. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History. Belmopan, Belize. 714903259. 9789768197368.
2. Book: Okoshi. Tsubasa. Chase. Arlen F.. Nondédéo. Philippe. Arnauld. M. Charlotte. Maya Kingship: Rupture and Transformation from Classic to Postclassic Times. 2021. University Press of Florida. Gainesville, Florida. subscription. 1193557896.
3. Book: Orser. Charles E.. Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology. 2002. Routledge. London & New York. 47894546.
4. Book: Pugh. Timothy W.. Cecil. Leslie G.. Maya Worldviews at Conquest. Mesoamerican Worlds Series. 2004. University Press of Colorado. Boulder, Colorado. subscription. 558844310.
5. Book: Quezada . Sergio . Pueblos y caciques yucatecos, 1550-1580 . Maya lords and lordship : the formation of colonial society in Yucatán, 1350-1600 . 2014 . First published 1993 by Colegio de México . University of Oklahoma Press . Norman, Oklahoma . Revised translation of 1993 Spanish. 847529166 . Rugeley . Terry.
6. Book: Rice. Prudence M.. Maya Political Science: Time, Astrology, and the Cosmos. The Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies. 2004. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas. subscription. 60612439.
7. Book: Sabloff. Jeremy A.. Andrews V. E. Wyllys. Late Lowland Maya civilization : classic to postclassic. School of American Research advanced seminar series. 1986. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 12420464. 2027/txu.059173018481821. 9780826308368.
8. Book: Sharer. Robert J.. Traxler. Loa P.. The Ancient Maya. 2006. 6th. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 57577446. 2027/mdp.39015062626216. 9780804748179.
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10. PhD. Trask. Willa Rachel. 2018. Missionization and Shifting Mobility on the Southeastern Maya-Spanish Frontier: Identifying Immigration to the Maya Site of Tipu, Belize Through the Use of Strontium and Oxygen Isotopes. Texas A&M University. College Station, Texas. 1969.1/174168.
11. Book: Walker. Debra S.. Perspectives on the Ancient Maya of Chetumal Bay. 2016. University Press of Florida. Gainesville, Florida. subscription. 948670056.

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