Muzul Territory Explained

Conventional Long Name:Territory of the Muzul Maya
Common Name:Muzul Territory
Iso3166code:omit
Status:Empire
Status Text:Dissolved
Government Type:Confederacy of settlements with aristocratic and theocratic features
Year Start:ca 15th cent
Year End:1756
Image Map Size:300
Image Map Alt:Map of the Muzul Territory in central Belize, covering the non-coastal portions of the drainage basins of the Sibun, Bar, Sittee Rivers and North Stann Creek; approximate locations of principal settlements marked; waterways shown.
Image Map Caption:Map of the Muzul Territory in the late 16th century
Capital:Zaui
Religion:Maya polytheism
Leader1:Juan Muzul
Year Leader1:ca 1677
Title Leader:Leader

The Musul or Muzul Territory is thought to have been a Postclassic polity of the former Maya Lowlands, in present-day Belize. Little is currently known of the Territory, though it is presumed to have been subordinate to or formed part of the Dzuluinicob Province or the Mopan Territory.

Geography

The Territory is thought to have stretched east of Tipu, south of the Belize River, and north of South Stann Creek, thereby encompassing the drainage basins of Sibun River, North Stann Creek, and Sittee River. This would situate the Territory south and east of Dzuluinicob, northeast of Mopan Territory, and north of Manche Chol Territory.

History

Pre-Columbian

It has been suggested that Tipu and its environs formed part of the Territory until Columbian times, when the Spanish conquest of Yucatan is thought to have driven troves of northern, Yucatec Mayan speaking refugees to the area, an event which would have relegated native residents to minority status.

Columbian

The Territory is thought to have been under the close political, cultural, or spiritual influence of the Peten Itza Kingdom.

At least some of the Territory came under Spanish control in 1695 when an embassy to Merida, Yucatan, offered the Spanish governor submission to Church and Crown. Another part of the Territory was subjected to forced relocation during Spanish Spanish; Castilian: reducciones in 1754–1756.

Society

The Territory's residents, the Muzul Maya, are thought to have been members of a single ch'ibal|lit=patronymic lineage,|label=none that is, 'a highly localised group named after their dominant political family.' Inhabitants are believed to have been some of the Spanish; Castilian: indios del monte|lit=wild Indians,|label=none often referred to in Spanish colonial records, ie pagan natives residing south of Belize River with a mother tongue other than Yucatec Mayan.

Legacy

Little is presently known of the Territory or its inhabitants. Along with residents of the former Mopan Territory, they are thought to be ancestors of the modern Mopan Maya people of Belize and Guatemala.

Notes and references

Full citations

  1. Book: Jones GD . 1977 . Anthropology and History in Yucatán . The Texas Pan American Series . Austin, Tex. and London . University of Texas Press . 0292703147 . 18272858W.
  2. Book: Jones GD . 1989 . Maya Resistance to Spanish Rule: Time and History on a Colonial Frontier . Albuquerque, New Mex. . University of New Mexico Press . 082631161X . 2213175M.
  3. Book: Jones GD . 1998 . The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom . Stanford, Calif. . Stanford University Press . 0804733171 .
  4. Book: Schwartz NB . 1990 . Forest Society: A Social History of Petén, Guatemala . The Ethnohistory Series . Philadelphia, Penn. . University of Pennsylvania Press . stable/j.ctv4s7k6r .
  5. Tanaka-McFarlane Y . August 2018 . Documenting Belizean Mopan: An Exploration on the Role of Language Documentation and Renewal from Language Ideological, Affective, Ethnographic, and Discourse Perspectives . PhD thesis . Carbondale, Ill. . Southern Illinois University . 1077076621 . ProQuest 10827467.
  6. Book: Thompson JE . 1988 . first published 1972 by Benex Press . reprint of 1st . The Maya of Belize: Historical Chapters Since Columbus . Benque Viejo, Belize . Cubola Productions . 9686233032 . 1792198M.
  7. von Houwald G . 1984 . Mapa y Descripción de la Montaña del Petén e Ytzá: Interpretación de un documento de los años poco después de la conquista de Tayasal . Indiana . 9 . 255–278 . 10.18441/ind.v9i0.255-271.
  8. Wilk R, Chapin M . September 1988 . Ethnic Minorities in Belize: Mopan, Kekchi, and Garifuna . US Agency for International Development . Washington, DC . Doc ID PN-ABI-653 .

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