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Nawat (academically Pipil , also known as Nahuat ) is a Nahuan language native to Central America . It is the southernmost extant member of the Uto-Aztecan family. Before Spanish colonization it was spoken in several parts of present-day Central America, most notably El Salvador and Nicaragua , but now is mostly confined to western El Salvador. It has been on the verge of extinction in El Salvador, and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America. In 2012, a large number of new Nawat speakers started to appear. As of today, the language is currently going through a revitalization.

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122-594: In El Salvador, Nawat (Nahuat) was the language of several groups: Nonualcos , Cuscatlecos , Izalcos and is known to be the Nahua variety of migrating Toltec . The name Pipil for this language is mostly used by the international scholarly community to differentiate it more clearly from Nahuatl . In Nicaragua it was spoken by the Nicarao people who split from the Pipil around 1200 CE when they migrated south. Nawat became

244-703: A Catholic church dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen . This new capital was founded on 2 January 1776. On 15 September 1821, Gabino Gainza Fernandez de Medrano and the Captaincy General of Guatemala , an administrative region of the Spanish Empire consisting of Chiapas , Guatemala, El Salvador , Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras, officially proclaimed its independence from Spain at a public meeting in Guatemala City. Independence from Spain

366-593: A Toltec Empire between the 10th and 12th century AD. The Aztecs referred to several Mexican city states as Tollan, "Place of Reeds", such as "Tollan Cholollan ". Archaeologist Laurette Séjourné , followed by the historian Enrique Florescano, have argued that the "original" Tollan was probably Teotihuacán . Florescano adds that the Mayan sources refer to Chichén Itzá when talking about the mythical place Zuyua (Tollan). Many historicists such as H. B. Nicholson (2001 (1957)) and Nigel Davies (1977) were fully aware that

488-577: A 2009 report in El Diario de Hoy , Nawat had started to make a comeback as a result of the preservation and revitalization efforts of various non-profit organizations in conjunction with several universities, combined with a post-civil war resurgence of Pipil identity in El Salvador. In the 1980s, Nawat had about 200 speakers. By 2009, 3,000 people were participating in Nawat language learning programs,

610-565: A Pipil-speaking area. Nahuat was also formerly spoken in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, though it is now extinct in all of these countries. Kaufman (1970:66) lists Escuintla and Comapa as former Pipil-speaking areas of Guatemala , and San Agustín Acasaguastlán as a former "Mejicano"-speaking town. The genetic position of San Agustín Acasaguastlán Mejicano is still uncertain ( see Alagüilac language ). In Honduras, ethnic Nahua populations are present in small numbers in

732-402: A bomb exploded near his carriage. It has been suggested that the extreme despotic characteristics of Estrada did not emerge until after an attempt on his life in 1907. Guatemala City was badly damaged in the 1917 Guatemala earthquake . Estrada Cabrera continued in power until forced to resign after new revolts in 1920. By that time his power had declined drastically and he was reliant upon

854-505: A consensus in regards to the degree or direction of influence between these two sites. While the exact origins of the culture are unclear, it likely developed from a mixture of the Nonoalca people from the southern Gulf Coast and a group of sedentary Chichimeca from northern Mesoamerica. The former of these is believed to have composed the majority of the new culture and were influenced by the Mayan culture. During Teotihuacan's apogee in

976-541: A dangerous jungle infested with jaguars to meet his former friend. Zavala not only did not capture him, he agreed to serve under his orders, thus sending a strong message to both liberal and conservatives in Guatemala City that they would have to negotiate with Carrera or battle on two fronts – Quetzaltenango and Jalapa. Carrera went back to the Quetzaltenango area, while Zavala remained in Suchitepéquez as

1098-763: A few lexical forms derive etymologically from older postpositional forms, e.g. apan 'river' < *'in/on the water', kujtan 'uncultivated land, forest' < *'under the trees'; these are synchronically unanalyzable in modern Nawat. sej-selek 'tender, fresh (pl.)' Nawat has developed two widely used articles , definite ne and indefinite se . The demonstrative pronouns/determiners ini 'this, these' and uni 'that, those' are also distinctively Nawat in form. The obligatory marking of number extends in Nawat to almost all plural noun phrases (regardless of animacy ), which will contain at least one plural form, most commonly marked by reduplication . Many nouns are invariable for state , since -ti (cf. Classical -tli ,

1220-478: A few men left, he managed to escape, badly wounded, to Sanarate . After recovering somewhat, he attacked a detachment in Jutiapa and got a small amount of booty which he gave to the volunteers who accompanied him. He then prepared to attack Petapa near Guatemala City, where he was victorious, although with heavy casualties. In September of that year, Carrera attempted an assault on the capital of Guatemala, but

1342-509: A friend: "Now he is the king of the Indians, indeed!" Guzmán then left for Jalapa, where he struck a deal with the rebels, while Luis Batres Juarros convinced President Paredes to deal with Carrera. Back in Guatemala City within a few months, Carrera was commander-in-chief, backed by military and political support of the Indian communities from the densely populated western highlands. During

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1464-650: A handful of other verbs, e.g. ki-tajtani 'he asks him' → ki-tajtan 'he asked him'. Nawat has a perfect in -tuk (synchronically unanalyzable), plural -tiwit . Another tense suffix, -tuya , functions both as a pluperfect ( k-itz-tuya ne takat 'he had seen the man') and as an imperfect of stative verbs ( inte weli-tuya 'he couldn't'), in the latter case having supplanted the -ya imperfect found in Mexican dialects. Nawat has two conditional tenses, one in -skia expressing possible conditions and possible results, and one in -tuskia for impossible ones, although

1586-450: A huge column of Quetzaltenango and Totonicapán indigenous people came down from the mountains to vote for him. Reyna was elected president. José María Reina Barrios was president between 1892 and 1898. During Barrios's first term in office, the power of the landowners over the rural peasantry increased. He oversaw the rebuilding of parts of Guatemala City on a grander scale, with wide, Parisian-style avenues. He oversaw Guatemala hosting

1708-440: A kingdom. While Tula does have the urban complexity expected of an imperial capital, its influence and dominance were not very far reaching. Evidence for Tula's participation in extensive trade networks has been uncovered; for example, the remains of a large obsidian workshop. At its height, Tula Grande had an estimated population of as many as 60,000 and covered 16 square kilometers of hills, plains, valleys, and marsh. Some of

1830-469: A member of the Liberal Party , he sought to encourage development of the nation's infrastructure of highways , railroads , and sea ports for the sake of expanding the export economy. By the time Estrada Cabrera assumed the presidency there had been repeated efforts to construct a railroad from the major port of Puerto Barrios to the capital, Guatemala City. Owing to lack of funding exacerbated by

1952-730: A military commander and later the first president of Guatemala. The liberal forces impaled Alvarez's head on a pike as a warning to followers of the Guatemalan caudillo . Carrera and his wife Petrona – who had come to confront Morazán as soon as they learned of the invasion and were in Mataquescuintla – swore they would never forgive Morazán even in his grave; they felt it impossible to respect anyone who would not avenge family members. After sending several envoys, whom Carrera would not receive – and especially not Barrundia whom Carrera did not want to murder in cold blood – Morazán began

2074-533: A native revolt, much like that of 1840; their only request from Carrera was to keep the natives under control. The altenses did not comply, and led by Guzmán and his forces, they started chasing Carrera; the caudillo hid, helped by his native allies and remained under their protection when the forces of Miguel Garcia Granados arrived from Guatemala City looking for him. On learning that officer José Víctor Zavala had been appointed as Corregidor in Suchitepéquez, Carrera and his hundred jacalteco bodyguards crossed

2196-582: A peasant. With Salazar gone, Carrera reinstated Rivera Paz as head of state. Between 1838 and 1840 a secessionist movement in the city of Quetzaltenango founded the breakaway state of Los Altos and sought independence from Guatemala. The most important members of the Liberal Party of Guatemala and liberal enemies of the conservative régime moved to Los Altos, leaving their exile in El Salvador. The liberals in Los Altos began severely criticizing

2318-464: A scorched-earth offensive, destroying villages in his path and stripping them of assets. The Carrera forces had to hide in the mountains. Believing Carrera totally defeated, Morazán and Barrundia marched to Guatemala City , and were welcomed as saviors by state governor Pedro Valenzuela and members of the conservative Aycinena clan  [ es ] , who proposed to sponsor one of the liberal battalions, while Valenzuela and Barrundia gave Morazán all

2440-458: A similar end. To that point, imported goods at Tula Grande shows that the Toltecs indeed interacted commercially with sites throughout Mesoamerica; shared ceramic and ritual figurine styles between Tula and regions such as Socunusco supplement this idea. Additionally, surveys of Tula Grande have suggested the existence of an "extensive and highly specialized workshop-based obsidian industry," at

2562-619: A symbolically powerful building for the Toltec due to its reference in architecture to the historic and mythic homes of the people's ancestors. The physical layout of the broader plaza also partakes in referencing a shared past; its sunken colonnaded hall units are incredibly similar to those at cities of Tula's ancestral peoples. Importantly, these halls are known to have served as places to engage with both regional and long-distance trade networks and were possibly also used for diplomatic relations, suggesting that Tula Grande used these structures for

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2684-481: A tactical maneuver. Carrera received a visit from a cabinet member of Paredes and told him that he had control of the native population and that he assured Paredes that he would keep them appeased. When the emissary returned to Guatemala City, he told the president everything Carrera said, and added that the native forces were formidable. Guzmán went to Antigua to meet with another group of Paredes emissaries; they agreed that Los Altos would rejoin Guatemala, and that

2806-413: Is a grassroots association currently engaged in several activities including an ongoing language documentation project, and has also produced a range of printed materials. Thus, as the number of native speakers continues to dwindle, there is growing interest in some quarters in keeping the language alive, but as of 2002, the national government had not joined these efforts (cf. Various, 2002). As of 2010,

2928-467: Is also taken as evidence for a Toltec horizon. The nature of interaction between Tula and Chichén Itzá has been especially controversial, with scholars arguing for either military conquest of Chichén Itzá by the Toltec, Chichén Itzá establishing Tula as a colony, or only loose connections between the two. Whether the Mixteca-Puebla art style has any meaning is also disputed. A contrary viewpoint

3050-575: Is also underway, in collaboration with the Living Tongues Institute , focusing on "Pipil culture, such as natural medicines, traditions, traditional games, agricultural practices, and childhood songs," which is intended for language learners. The varieties of Nawat in Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , and Costa Rica are now extinct . It was still spoken in Guatemala by almost nine thousand people in 1772. In El Salvador, Nawat

3172-569: Is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunter-gatherers . Maize cultivation had been developed by the people by 3500 BC. Sites dating to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, and Sipacate and Escuintla on the central Pacific coast. Archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period (3000 BC to 250 AD),

3294-544: Is argued in a 2003 study by Michael E. Smith and Lisa Montiel, who compare the archaeological record related to Tula Hidalgo to those of the polities centered in Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan . They conclude that relative to the influence exerted in Mesoamerica by Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan, Tula's influence on other cultures was negligible and was probably not deserving of being defined as an empire , but more of

3416-569: Is bordered to the north and west by Mexico , to the northeast by Belize , to the east by Honduras , and to the southeast by El Salvador . It is hydrologically bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean and to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras . The territory of modern Guatemala hosted the core of the Maya civilization , which extended across Mesoamerica ; in the 16th century, most of this

3538-618: Is endangered: it is spoken mostly by a few elderly speakers in the Salvadoran departments of Sonsonate , San Salvador , and Ahuachapán . The towns of Cuisnahuat and Santo Domingo de Guzmán have the highest concentration of speakers. Campbell's 1985 estimate (based on fieldwork conducted 1970–1976) was 200 speakers. Gordon (2005) reports only 20 speakers were left in 1987. Official Mexican reports have recorded as many as 2000 speakers. The exact number of speakers has been difficult to determine because persecution of Nawat speakers throughout

3660-494: Is more archaic than the Classical Nahuatl reflex, where the direction change has been /t/ > /ʔ/ saltillo . One other characteristic phonological feature is the merger in Nawat of original geminate /ll/ with single /l/ . Nawat lacks some grammatical features present in Classical Nahuatl, such as the past prefix o- in verbs. It distributes others differently: for example, 'subtractive' past formation, which

3782-596: Is represented by regional kingdoms, such as the Itza , Kowoj , Yalain and Kejache in Petén, and the Mam , Ki'che' , Kackchiquel , Chajoma , Tz'utujil , Poqomchi' , Q'eqchi' and Ch'orti' peoples in the highlands. Their cities preserved many aspects of Maya culture. The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized

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3904-672: Is the most populous country in Central America, the 4th most populous country in North America and the 11th most populous country in the Americas . Its capital and largest city, Guatemala City , is the most populous city in Central America. The name "Guatemala" comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān , or "place of many trees", a derivative of the K'iche' Mayan word for "many trees" or, perhaps more specifically, for

4026-427: Is uncontroversially divided into eight branches, including Nahuan. Research continues into verifying higher level groupings. However, the grouping adopted by Campbell of the four southernmost branches is not yet universally accepted. As of 2012, extensive online resources for learning Nawat are available at the website of linguist Alan R. King, including video lessons and a Facebook group. A video documentation project

4148-516: Is very common in the classical language, exists in Nawat but is much rarer. On the other hand, reduplication to form plural nouns, of more limited distribution in the language of the Aztecs, is greatly generalised in Nawat. Still other grammatical features that were productive in Classical Nahuatl have left only fossilised traces in Nawat: for example, synchronically Nawat has no postpositions , although

4270-498: Is worse for older speakers.) A few small-scale projects to revitalize Nawat in El Salvador have been attempted since 1990. The Asociación Coordinadora de Comunidades Indígenas de El Salvador ( ACCIES Archived 2 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine ) and Universidad Don Bosco of San Salvador have both produced some teaching materials. Monica Ward has developed an on-line language course. The Nawat Language Recovery Initiative

4392-565: The Aztec , the Kʼicheʼ and the Itza' Mayas. While the skeptical school of thought does not deny that cultural traits of a seemingly central Mexican origin have diffused into a larger area of Mesoamerica, it tends to ascribe this to the dominance of Teotihuacán in the Classic period and the general diffusion of cultural traits within the region. Recent scholarship, then, does not see Tula, Hidalgo as

4514-566: The Central American Federation in San Salvador a little later, forcing Morazán to return to El Salvador to fight for his federal mandate. Along the way, Morazán increased repression in eastern Guatemala, as punishment for helping Carrera. Knowing that Morazán had gone to El Salvador, Carrera tried to take Salamá with the small force that remained, but was defeated, and lost his brother Laureano in combat. With just

4636-495: The K'iche' (Quiché) nation . Alvarado later turned against the Kaqchikel, and eventually brought the entire region under Spanish domination. During the colonial period, Guatemala was an audiencia , a captaincy-general ( Capitanía General de Guatemala ) of Spain, and a part of New Spain (Mexico). The first capital, Villa de Santiago de Guatemala (now known as Tecpan Guatemala ), was founded on 25 July 1524 near Iximché ,

4758-540: The Mesoamerican Postclassic period . The Nahuatl word for 'Toltec', for example, can mean 'master artisan' as well as 'inhabitant of Tula, Hidalgo', and the word Tollan (known as Tula in modern times) can refer specifically to Tula, Hidalgo, or more generally to all great cities through meaning 'place of the reeds'. Much of the questioning of these Aztec narratives is due to the lack of archaeological evidence to support them. Aztec accounts tell that

4880-674: The New World , the Spanish started several expeditions to Guatemala, beginning in 1519. Before long, Spanish contact resulted in an epidemic that devastated native populations. Hernán Cortés , who had led the Spanish conquest of Mexico , granted a permit to Captains Gonzalo de Alvarado and his brother, Pedro de Alvarado , to conquer this land. Alvarado at first allied himself with the Kaqchikel nation to fight against their traditional rivals

5002-629: The Olancho Department , in the municipalities of Catacamas , Gualaco , Guata , Jano and Esquipulas del Norte . The conquest-era Papayeca population, who lived in the environs of the present-day city of Trujillo , have also been speculated to have been Nahuat speakers. In Nicaragua, the Nicaraos are present in the Rivas and Jinotega departments, and in Sébaco . Bagaces , Costa Rica

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5124-542: The United Provinces of Central America . In 1840, Belgium began to act as an external source of support for Carrera's independence movement, in an effort to exert influence in Central America. The Compagnie belge de colonisation (Belgian Colonization Company), commissioned by Belgian King Leopold I , became the administrator of Santo Tomas de Castilla replacing the failed British Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company . Even though

5246-454: The historicity of the Aztec mythical accounts based on the original approach of Brinton. This approach applies a different understanding of the word Toltec to the interpretation of the Aztec sources, interpreting it as largely a mythical and philosophical construct by either the Aztecs or Mesoamericans generally that served to symbolize the might and sophistication of several civilizations during

5368-494: The lingua franca there during the 16th century. A hybrid form of Nahuat-Spanish was spoken by many Nicaraguans up until the 19th century. The Nawat language was also spoken in Chiapas by Toltec settlers who inhabited the region for hundreds of years before migrating further into Central America. Localities where Nawat/Pipil was reported by Campbell as spoken in the 1970s include the following: Gordon (2009) lists Dolores as

5490-433: The 20th century (massacres after suppression of the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising , laws that made speaking Nawat illegal) made them conceal their use of the language. (About 30,000 people were killed during the uprising over the course of a few weeks, and those who spoke Nawat outside their homes against the new rules "provoked shame and fear." A young Nawat language activist, Carlos Cortez, explained in 2010 that this fear

5612-464: The 20th century, represented in the works of scholars such as David Carrasco , Miguel León-Portilla , Nigel Davies and H. B. Nicholson , which all held the Toltecs to have been an actual ethnic group. This school of thought connected the "Toltecs" to the archaeological site of Tula , which was taken to be the Tollan of Aztec myth. This tradition assumes that much of central Mexico was dominated by

5734-525: The Army Marshall rank, even though that rank did not exist and it does not exist in the Guatemalan military. The Marshall called himself President of the Republic, but in reality he was the foreman of oppressed and savaged people, cowardly enough that they had not dared to tell the dictator to leave threatening him with a revolution. The State and Church were a single unit, and the conservative régime

5856-466: The Atlantic side. In 1906 Estrada faced serious revolts against his rule; the rebels were supported by the governments of some of the other Central American nations, but Estrada succeeded in putting them down. Elections were held by the people against the will of Estrada Cabrera and thus he had the president-elect murdered in retaliation. In 1907 Estrada narrowly survived an assassination attempt when

5978-514: The Aztec chronicles were a mixture of mythical and historical accounts; this led them to try to separate the two by applying a comparative approach to the varying Aztec narratives. For example, they seek to discern between the deity Quetzalcoatl and a Toltec ruler often referred to as Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl . Since the 1990s, the historicist position has fallen out of favor for a more critical and interpretive approach to

6100-669: The Classic period (250 to 900 AD), and the Postclassic period (900 to 1500 AD). Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded by researchers as a formative period, in which the peoples typically lived in huts in small villages of farmers, with few permanent buildings. This notion has been challenged since the late 20th century by discoveries of monumental architecture from that period, such as the Mirador Basin cities of Nakbé , Xulnal, El Tintal , Wakná and El Mirador . The Classic period of Mesoamerican civilization corresponds to

6222-495: The Conservative government of Rivera Paz. Los Altos was the region with the main production and economic activity of the former state of Guatemala. Without Los Altos, conservatives lost many of the resources that had given Guatemala hegemony in Central America. The government of Guatemala tried to reach a peaceful solution, but two years of bloody conflict followed. On 17 April 1839, Guatemala declared itself independent from

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6344-554: The Cuate/Cuatli tree Eysenhardtia . This name was originally used by the Mexica to refer to the Kaqchikel city of Iximche , but was extended to refer to the whole country during the Spanish colonial period. The first evidence of human habitation in Guatemala dates to 12,000 BC. Archaeological evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in various parts of the country, suggests a human presence as early as 18,000 BC. There

6466-607: The Early Classic period, these people were tightly integrated into the political and economic systems of the state and formed large settlements in the Tula region, most notably Villagran and Chingu. Beginning around 650 CE, the majority of these settlements were abandoned as a result of Teotihuacan's decline. The Coyotlatelco rose as the dominant culture in the region. It is with the Coyotlatelco that Tula, as it relates to

6588-597: The Empire shortly after their independence. This region was formally a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain throughout the colonial period, but as a practical matter had been administered separately. It was not until 1825 that Guatemala created its own flag. In 1838 the liberal forces of Honduran leader Francisco Morazán and Guatemalan José Francisco Barrundia invaded Guatemala and reached San Sur, where they executed Chúa Alvarez, father-in-law of Rafael Carrera , then

6710-417: The Guatemalan government in several different ways. José Francisco Barrundia established a liberal newspaper for that specific purpose. Vasconcelos supported a rebel faction named "La Montaña" in eastern Guatemala, providing and distributing money and weapons. By late 1850, Vasconcelos was getting impatient at the slow progress of the war with Guatemala and decided to plan an open attack. Under that circumstance,

6832-594: The Guatemalan military. The United Nations negotiated a peace accord, resulting in economic growth and successive democratic elections. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes many endemic species and contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot . Although rich in export goods, around a quarter of the population (4.6 million) face food insecurity . Other extant major issues include poverty, crime, corruption, drug trafficking, and civil instability. With an estimated population of around 17.6 million, Guatemala

6954-553: The Guatemalan resources needed to solve any financial problem he had. The criollos of both parties celebrated until dawn that they finally had a criollo caudillo like Morazán, who was able to crush the peasant rebellion. Morazán used the proceeds to support Los Altos and then replaced Valenzuela with Mariano Rivera Paz , a member of the Aycinena clan, although he did not return to that clan any property confiscated in 1829. In revenge, Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol voted to dissolve

7076-680: The Guatemalans suffered a severe defeat , which was followed by a truce. Honduras joined with El Salvador, and Nicaragua and Costa Rica with Guatemala. The contest was finally settled in favor of Carrera, who besieged and occupied San Salvador , and dominated Honduras and Nicaragua. He continued to act in concert with the Clerical Party, and tried to maintain friendly relations with European governments. Before he died, Carrera nominated his friend and loyal soldier, Army Marshall Vicente Cerna y Cerna , as his successor. Vicente Cerna y Cerna

7198-621: The Kaqchikel capital city. The capital was moved to Ciudad Vieja on 22 November 1527, as a result of a Kaqchikel attack on Villa de Santiago de Guatemala. Owing to its strategic location on the American Pacific Coast, Guatemala became a supplementary node to the Transpacific Manila Galleon trade connecting Latin America to Asia via the Spanish owned Philippines. On 11 September 1541, the new capital

7320-581: The Salvadorean head of state started a campaign against the conservative Guatemalan regime, inviting Honduras and Nicaragua to participate in the alliance; only the Honduran government led by Juan Lindo accepted. In 1851 Guatemala defeated an Allied army from Honduras and El Salvador at the Battle of La Arada . In 1854 Carrera was declared "supreme and perpetual leader of the nation" for life, with

7442-486: The Toltec discovered medicine, designed the calendar system, created the Nahuatl language. More broadly, the Aztec traced most of their own societal achievements to the Toltec and their city Tollan, which was idolized as the epitome of state civilization with an enormous influence in the surrounding region. However, Tula—the site attributed with this Tollan—lacks much of the splendor that the Aztecs describe. For example, Tula

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7564-429: The Toltec to be their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tōllān [ˈtoːlːãːn̥] ( Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization. In the Nahuatl language the word Tōltēkatl [toːɬˈteːkat͡ɬ] (singular) or Tōltēkah [toːɬˈteːkaḁ] (plural) came to take on the meaning " artisan ". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described

7686-450: The Toltec, was founded along with a number of hilltop communities. Tula Chico, as the settlement is referred to during this phase, grew into a small regional state out of the consolidation of the surrounding Coyotlatelco sites. The settlement was roughly three to six square kilometers in size with a gridded urban plan and a relatively large population. The complexity of the main plaza was especially distinct from other Coyotlatelco sites in

7808-705: The Toltecs were disciples of the "High Priest Topiltzin." Topiltzin and his disciples were said to have preached and performed miracles. "Astonished, the people called these men Toltecs," which Duran says, "means Masters, or Men Wise in Some Craft." Duran speculated that this Topilzin may have been the Thomas the Apostle sent to preach the Christian Gospel among the "Indians", although he provides nothing more than circumstantial evidence of any contact between

7930-584: The absolute suffix after consonants) is rarely added to polysyllabic noun stems, while the Classical postconsonantal construct suffix, -wi , is altogether unknown in Nawat: thus sin-ti 'maize' : nu-sin 'my maize', uj-ti 'way' : nu-uj 'my way', mistun 'cat' : nu-mistun 'my cat'. An important number of nouns lack absolute forms and occur only inalienably possessed, e.g. nu-mey 'my hand' (but not * mey or * mey-ti ), nu-nan 'my mother' (but not * nan or * nan-ti ), thus further reducing

8052-552: The area, as it had multiple ball courts and pyramids . The Toltec culture, as it is understood during its peak, can be tied directly to Tula Chico; after the site was burned and abandoned at the end of the Epiclassic period, Tula Grande was soon constructed bearing strong similarities 1.5 kilometers to the south. It is during the Early Postclassic period that Tula Grande and its associated Toltec culture would become

8174-498: The arrival of Aztec ceramics, suggest that the Aztecs' reverence of the Toltec might have been mostly propagandistic, intentionally overexaggerating the previous culture to use it as a steppingstone for their own. Scholars such as Michel Graulich (2002) and Susan D. Gillespie (1989) maintained that the difficulties in salvaging historic data from the Aztec accounts of Toltec history are too great to overcome. For example, there are two supposed Toltec rulers identified with Quetzalcoatl:

8296-550: The capital of the Toltecs of the Aztec accounts. Rather, it takes Toltec to mean simply an inhabitant of Tula during its apogee. Separating the term Toltec from those of the Aztec accounts, it attempts to find archaeological clues to the ethnicity, history and social organization of the inhabitants of Tula. Guatemala Guatemala , officially the Republic of Guatemala , is a country in Central America . It

8418-434: The cities of the central lowlands or were killed by a drought-induced famine . The cause of the collapse is debated, but the drought theory is gaining currency, supported by evidence such as lakebeds, ancient pollen, and others. A series of prolonged droughts in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya, who relied on regular rainfall to support their dense population. The Post-Classic period

8540-402: The city after Corregidor general Mariano Paredes was called to Guatemala City to take over the presidential office. They declared on 26 August 1848 that Los Altos was an independent state once again. The new state had the support of Doroteo Vasconcelos ' régime in El Salvador and the rebel guerrilla army of Vicente and Serapio Cruz, who were sworn enemies of Carrera. The interim government

8662-406: The collapse of the internal coffee trade, the railway fell 100 kilometres (60 mi) short of its goal. Estrada Cabrera decided, without consulting the legislature or judiciary, that striking a deal with the UFCO was the only way to finish the railway. Cabrera signed a contract with UFCO's Minor Cooper Keith in 1904 that gave the company tax exemptions, land grants, and control of all railroads on

8784-399: The colony eventually crumbled, Belgium continued to support Carrera in the mid-19th century, although Britain continued to be the main business and political partner to Carrera. Rafael Carrera was elected Guatemalan Governor in 1844. On 21 March 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic and Carrera became its first president. During the first term as president, Carrera brought

8906-495: The country back from extreme conservatism to a traditional moderation; in 1848, the liberals were able to drive him from office, after the country had been in turmoil for several months. Carrera resigned of his own free will and left for México. The new liberal regime allied itself with the Aycinena family and swiftly passed a law ordering Carrera's execution if he returned to Guatemalan soil. The liberal criollos from Quetzaltenango were led by general Agustín Guzmán who occupied

9028-544: The country to war in an unsuccessful attempt to attain it, losing his life on the battlefield in 1885 against forces in El Salvador. Manuel Barillas was president from 16 March 1886 to 15 March 1892. Manuel Barillas was unique among liberal presidents of Guatemala between 1871 and 1944: he handed over power to his successor peacefully. When election time approached, he sent for the three Liberal candidates to ask them what their government plan would be. Happy with what he heard from general Reyna Barrios , Barillas made sure that

9150-581: The distinction is sometimes blurred in practice. A future tense in -s (plural -sket ) is attested but rarely used, a periphrastic future being preferred, e.g. yawi witz (or yu-witz ) 'he will come'. In serial constructions, the present tense (really the unmarked tense) is generally found except in the first verb, regardless of the tense of the latter, e.g. kineki / kinekik / kinekiskia kikwa 'he wants / wanted / would like to eat it'. There are also some differences regarding how prefixes are attached to verb-initial stems; principally, that in Nawat

9272-637: The dominant force in the broader region. Some archaeologists, such as Richard Diehl , argue for the existence of a Toltec archaeological horizon characterized by certain stylistic traits associated with Tula, Hidalgo and extending to other cultures and polities in Mesoamerica. Traits associated with this horizon are include the Mixtec-Puebla style of iconography, Tohil plumbate ceramic ware, and Silho or X-Fine Orange Ware ceramics. The presence of stylistic traits associated with Tula in Chichén Itzá

9394-518: The economics of the time, and therefore land management. From 1839 to 1871, the Consulado held a consistent monopolistic position in the regime. Guatemala's "Liberal Revolution" came in 1871 under the leadership of Justo Rufino Barrios , who worked to modernize the country, improve trade, and introduce new crops and manufacturing. During this era coffee became an important crop for Guatemala. Barrios had ambitions of reuniting Central America and took

9516-423: The final vowel of the present stem), e.g. ki-neki 'he wants it' : ki-neki-k 'he wanted it', ki-mati 'he knows it' : ki-mat-ki 'he knew it'. The mechanism of simply removing the present stem vowel to form past stems, so common in Classical Nahuatl, is limited in Nawat to polysyllabic verb stems such as ki-talia 'he puts it' → ki-tali(j) 'he put it', mu-talua 'he runs' → mu-talu(j) 'he ran', and

9638-418: The first " Exposición Centroamericana " ("Central American Fair") in 1897. During his second term, Barrios printed bonds to fund his ambitious plans, fueling monetary inflation and the rise of popular opposition to his regime. His administration also worked on improving the roads, installing national and international telegraphs and introducing electricity to Guatemala City. Completing a transoceanic railway

9760-537: The first presidency, from 1844 to 1848, he brought the country back from excessive conservatism to a moderate regime, and – with the advice of Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol and Pedro de Aycinena – restored relations with the Church in Rome with a Concordat ratified in 1854. After Carrera returned from exile in 1849 the president of El Salvador, Doroteo Vasconcelos , granted asylum to the Guatemalan liberals, who harassed

9882-429: The first ruler and founder of the Toltec dynasty and the last ruler, who saw the end of the Toltec glory and was forced into humiliation and exile. The first is described as a valiant triumphant warrior, but the last as a feeble and self-doubting old man. This caused Graulich and Gillespie to suggest that the general Aztec cyclical view of time, in which events repeated themselves at the end and beginning of cycles or eras

10004-417: The fortifications of the Guatemalan capital, in place since the battle of Villa Nueva. Taking advantage of Salazar's good faith and Ferrera's weapons, Carrera took Guatemala City by surprise on 13 April 1839; Salazar, Mariano Gálvez and Barrundia fled before the arrival of Carrera's militiamen. Salazar, in his nightshirt, vaulted roofs of neighboring houses and sought refuge, reaching the border disguised as

10126-481: The generals fought under his command, and waited—for a long time—until Carrera's death before beginning their revolt against the tamer Cerna. During Cerna's presidency, liberal party members were prosecuted and sent into exile; among them, those who started the Liberal Revolution of 1871. In 1871, the merchants guild, Consulado de Comercio, lost their exclusive court privilege. They had major effects on

10248-511: The height of the Maya civilization . It is represented by countless sites throughout Guatemala, although the largest concentration is in Petén . This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states, and contact with other Mesoamerican cultures. This lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed . The Maya abandoned many of

10370-413: The hemispheres. The later debate about the nature of the Toltec culture goes back to the late 19th century. Mesoamericanist scholars such as Mariano Veytia, Manuel Orozco y Berra , Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg , and Francisco Clavigero all read the Aztec chronicles and believed them to be realistic historic descriptions of a pan-Mesoamerican empire based at Tula, Hidalgo. This historicist view

10492-480: The history of the Toltec Empire , giving lists of rulers and their exploits. Modern scholars debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events. While all scholars acknowledge that there is a large mythological part of the narrative, some maintain that, by using a critical comparative method, some level of historicity can be salvaged from

10614-497: The latter would help Guzmán defeat his enemy and also build a port on the Pacific Ocean. Guzmán was sure of victory this time, but his plan evaporated when in his absence Carrera and his native allies occupied Quetzaltenango; Carrera appointed Ignacio Yrigoyen as Corregidor and convinced him that he should work with the K'iche', Q'anjobal and Mam leaders to keep the region under control. On his way out, Yrigoyen murmured to

10736-647: The leadership of Kukulcan. Following Charnay the term Toltec has since been associated with the influx of certain Central Mexican cultural traits into the Maya sphere of dominance that took place in the late Classic and early Postclassic periods; the Postclassic Mayan civilizations of Chichén Itzá , Mayapán and the Guatemalan highlands have been referred to as "Toltecized" or "Mexicanized" Mayas. The historicist school of thought persisted well into

10858-511: The legislature convened for the election of President Estrada Cabrera, who triumphed thanks to the large number of soldiers and policemen who went to vote in civilian clothes and to the large number of illiterate family that they brought with them to the polls. One of Estrada Cabrera's most famous and most bitter legacies was allowing the entry of the United Fruit Company (UFCO) into the Guatemalan economic and political arena. As

10980-431: The liberal general Carlos Salazar Castro defeated him in the fields of Villa Nueva and Carrera had to retreat. After unsuccessfully trying to take Quetzaltenango , Carrera found himself both surrounded and wounded. He had to capitulate to Mexican General Agustín Guzmán , who had been in Quetzaltenango since Vicente Filísola 's arrival in 1823. Morazán had the opportunity to shoot Carrera, but did not, because he needed

11102-462: The loyalty of a few generals. While the United States threatened intervention if he was removed through revolution, a bipartisan coalition came together to remove him from the presidency. He was removed from office after the national assembly charged that he was mentally incompetent, and appointed Carlos Herrera in his place on 8 April 1920. Guatemala joined with El Salvador and Honduras in

11224-459: The most prominent examples of the Toltec material culture at the site include pyramids, ball-courts, and the Atlantean warrior sculptures on top of Pyramid B. Various civic buildings surrounding a central plaza are especially distinctive, as excavations show the use of columns inside these buildings and in surrounding colonnades. One of these buildings, known as Building 3, is argued to have been

11346-424: The myth of the struggle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca . Désiré Charnay , the first archaeologist to work at Tula, Hidalgo, defended the historicist views based on his impression of the Toltec capital, and was the first to note similarities in architectural styles between Tula and Chichén Itza . This led him to posit the theory that Chichén Itzá had been violently taken over by a Toltec military force under

11468-458: The number of absolute-construct oppositions and the incidence of absolute -ti in comparison to Classical Nahuatl. Postpositions have been eliminated from the Pipil grammatical system, and some monosyllabic prepositions originating from relationals have become grammaticalized . ni-kuch-ki 'I slept' kielkawa 'he forgets it' To form the past tense , most Nawat verbs add -k (after vowels) or -ki (after consonants, following loss of

11590-480: The only possibly historical data in the Aztec chronicles are the names of some rulers and possibly some of the conquests ascribed to them. Furthermore, among the Nahuan peoples the word Tolteca was synonymous with artist, artisan or wise man, and Toltecayotl , literally 'Toltecness', meant art, culture, civilization, and urbanism and was seen as the opposite of Chichimecayotl ('Chichimecness'), which symbolized

11712-429: The power to choose his successor. He held that position until he died on 14 April 1865. While he pursued some measures to set up a foundation for economic prosperity to please the conservative landowners, military challenges at home and a three-year war with Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua dominated his presidency. His rivalry with Gerardo Barrios, President of El Salvador, resulted in open war in 1863. At Coatepeque

11834-544: The prefixes ni- , ti- , shi- and ki- when word-initial retain their i in most cases, e.g. ni-ajsi 'I arrive', ki-elkawa 'he forgets it'. Toltec The Toltec culture ( / ˈ t ɒ l t ɛ k / ) was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula , Hidalgo , Mexico , during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology , reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. The later Aztec culture considered

11956-616: The presidency. There are two different descriptions of how Cabrera was able to become president. The first states that Cabrera entered the cabinet meeting "with pistol drawn" to assert his entitlement to the presidency, while the second states that he showed up unarmed to the meeting and demanded the presidency by virtue of being the designated successor. The first civilian Guatemalan head of state in over 50 years, Estrada Cabrera overcame resistance to his regime by August 1898 and called for elections in September, which he won handily. In 1898

12078-484: The region, Chichén Itzá, as the vast majority of obsidian at both sites comes from the same two geological sources. One of the earliest historical mentions of Toltecs was in the 16th century by the Dominican friar Diego Durán , who was best known for being one of the first westerners to study the history of Mesoamerica. Durán's work remains relevant to Mesoamerican societies, and based on his findings Durán claims that

12200-539: The region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy , and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected from Honduras , Belize , Guatemala, and Northern El Salvador to as far north as central Mexico, more than 1,000 km (620 mi) from the Maya area . Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to have resulted from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest. After they arrived in

12322-482: The savage, nomadic state of peoples who had not yet become urbanized. This interpretation argues that any large urban center in Mesoamerica could be referred to as Tollan and its inhabitants as Toltecs – and that it was a common practice among ruling lineages in Postclassic Mesoamerica to strengthen claims to power by asserting Toltec ancestry. Mesoamerican migration accounts often state that Tollan

12444-717: The segregated native communities started developing a new Indian identity under Carrera's leadership. In the meantime, in the eastern part of Guatemala, the Jalapa region became increasingly dangerous; former president Mariano Rivera Paz and rebel leader Vicente Cruz were both murdered there after trying to take over the Corregidor office in 1849. When Carrera arrived to Chiantla in Huehuetenango , he received two altenses emissaries who told him that their soldiers were not going to fight his forces because that would lead to

12566-429: The site that could have been one of the sources of the city's economic and political power, taking on Teotihuacan's previous role as the region's distributor. A survey done by Healan et al. recovered roughly 16,000 pieces of obsidian from the site's urban zone and over 25,000 from its surrounding residential areas. Tula's involvement in obsidian trade is also evidence for the city's interaction with another powerful city in

12688-454: The sources. Others maintain that continued analysis of the narratives as sources of factual history is futile and hinders access to learning about the culture of Tula . Other controversies relating to the Toltec include the question of how best to understand the reasons behind the perceived similarities in architecture and iconography between the archaeological site of Tula and the Maya site of Chichén Itzá . Researchers are yet to reach

12810-531: The south of Mexico, that like Pipil have reduced the earlier /t͡ɬ/ consonant (a lateral affricate ) to a /t/. Those Mexican lects share more similarities with Nawat than do the other Nahuatl varieties. Nawat specialists ( Campbell , Fidias Jiménez, Geoffroy Rivas , King , Lemus , and Schultze, inter alia ) generally treat Pipil/Nawat as a separate language, at least in practice. Lastra de Suárez (1986) and Canger (1988) classify Pipil among "Eastern Periphery" dialects of Nahuatl. (Campbell 1985) Uto-Aztecan

12932-678: The support of the Guatemalan peasants to counter the attacks of Francisco Ferrera in El Salvador . Instead, Morazán left Carrera in charge of a small fort in Mita, without any weapons. Knowing that Morazán was going to attack El Salvador, Francisco Ferrera gave arms and ammunition to Carrera and convinced him to attack Guatemala City. Meanwhile, despite insistent advice to definitively crush Carrera and his forces, Salazar tried to negotiate with him diplomatically; he even went as far as to show that he neither feared nor distrusted Carrera by removing

13054-510: The town of Santo Domingo de Guzmán had a language nest , “Xuchikisa nawat” ("the house where Nawat blooms"), where children three to five years of age learned Nawat, run in cooperation with Don Bosco University . In 2010, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes awarded the National Culture Prize (Premio Nacional de Cultura 2010) to linguist Dr. Jorge Ernesto Lemus of Don Bosco University for his work with Nawat. According to

13176-403: The two Classical Nahuatl sounds /t/ and /t͡ɬ/ but also a word final saltillo or glottal stop /ʔ/ in nominal plural suffixes (e.g. Nawat -met  : Classical -meh ) and verbal plural endings (Nawat -t present plural, -ket past plural, etc.). This fact has been claimed by Campbell to be diagnostic for the position of Nawat in a genetic classification, on the assumption that this /t/

13298-435: The vast majority being young people, giving rise to hopes that the language might be pulled back from the brink of extinction. Two salient features of Nawat are found in several Mexican dialects: the change of [t͡ɬ] to [t] and [u] rather than [o] as the predominant allophone of a single basic rounded vowel phoneme. These features are thus characteristic but not diagnostic. However, Nawat /t/ corresponds to not only

13420-586: Was conquered by the Spanish and claimed as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain . Guatemala attained independence from Spain and Mexico in 1821. From 1823 to 1841, it was part of the Federal Republic of Central America . For the latter half of the 19th century, Guatemala suffered instability and civil strife. From the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United States . In 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico

13542-499: Was president of Guatemala from 24 May 1865 to 29 June 1871. Liberal author Alfonso Enrique Barrientos  [ es ] , described Marshall Cerna's government in the following manner: A conservative and archaic government, badly organized and with worse intentions, was in charge of the country, centralizing all powers in Vicente Cerna, ambitious military man, who not happy with the general rank, had promoted himself to

13664-464: Was a main objective of his government, with a goal to attract international investors at a time when the Panama Canal was not yet built. After the assassination of general José María Reina Barrios on 8 February 1898, the Guatemalan cabinet called an emergency meeting to appoint a new successor, but declined to invite Estrada Cabrera to the meeting, even though he was the designated successor to

13786-474: Was being inscribed into the historical record by the Aztecs, making it futile to attempt to distinguish between a historical Topiltzin Ce Acatl and a Quetzalcoatl deity. Graulich argued that the Toltec era is best considered the fourth of the five Aztec mythical "Suns" or ages, the one immediately preceding the fifth Sun of the Aztec people, presided over by Quetzalcoatl. This caused Graulich to consider that

13908-401: Was first challenged by Daniel Garrison Brinton who argued that the "Toltecs" as described in the Aztec sources were merely one of several Nahuatl-speaking city-states in the Postclassic period, and not a particularly influential one at that. He attributed the Aztec view of the Toltecs to the "tendency of the human mind to glorify the good old days" and the confounding of the place of Tollan with

14030-597: Was flooded when the lagoon in the crater of the Agua Volcano collapsed due to heavy rains and earthquakes; the capital was then moved 6 km (4 mi) to Antigua in the Panchoy Valley, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site . This city was destroyed by several earthquakes in 1773–1774. The King of Spain authorized moving the capital to its current location in the Ermita Valley, which is named after

14152-688: Was gained, and the Captaincy General of Guatemala joined the First Mexican Empire under Agustín de Iturbide . Under the First Empire, Mexico reached its greatest territorial extent, stretching from northern California to the provinces of Central America (excluding Panama, which was then part of Colombia), which had not initially approved becoming part of the Mexican Empire but joined

14274-534: Was home to a Nahua population during the 16th century. An extinct variation of Nahuatl spoken on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas is speculated to have been closely related to Nahuat. Most authors refer to this language by the names Nawat , Nahuat , Pipil , or Nicarao . However, Nawat (along with the synonymous Eastern Nahuatl ) has also been used to refer to Nahuatl language varieties in southern Veracruz , Tabasco , and Chiapas , states in

14396-426: Was led by Guzmán himself and had Florencio Molina and the priest Fernando Davila as his Cabinet members. On 5 September 1848, the criollos altenses chose a formal government led by Fernando Antonio Martínez. In the meantime, Carrera decided to return to Guatemala and did so, entering at Huehuetenango , where he met with native leaders and told them that they must remain united to prevail; the leaders agreed and slowly

14518-399: Was mainly built out of the relatively soft and unimpressive adobe brick, and while Tula certainly was a major regional city in its time, it was minuscule both in population and in influence in comparison to both its predecessor, Teotihuacan, and its Aztec descendant, Tenochtitlan. Additional material remains at Tula, such as the destruction of Toltec buildings and monumental art coinciding with

14640-474: Was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to social and economic reforms. In 1954, a US-backed military coup ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship. From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by

14762-493: Was ruled by Quetzalcoatl (or Kukulkan in Yucatec and Q'uq'umatz in Kʼicheʼ ), a godlike mythical figure who was later sent into exile from Tollan and went on to found a new city elsewhere in Mesoamerica. According to Patricia Anawalt, a professor of anthropology at UCLA , assertions of Toltec ancestry and claims that their elite ruling dynasties were founded by Quetzalcoatl have been made by such diverse civilizations as

14884-566: Was strongly allied to the power of regular clergy of the Catholic Church , who were then among the largest landowners in Guatemala. The tight relationship between church and state had been ratified by the Concordat of 1852 , which was the law until Cerna was deposed in 1871. Even liberal generals like Serapio Cruz  [ es ] realized that Rafael Carrera's political and military presence made him practically invincible. Thus

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