Atlácatl (

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

''Ātlācatl'': ''ātl'' "water", ''tlācatl'' "human being"; died 1528) is reputed to have been the name of the last ruler of an Indigenous state based around the city of

Cuzcatlan Cuzcatlan (; ) was a pre-Columbian Nahua state confederation of the Mesoamerican postclassical period that extended from the Paz river to the Lempa river (covering most of western El Salvador); this was the nation that ...

, in the southeastern periphery of

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

(present-day

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

), at the time of the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

. Atlácatl appears to have been a myth, however, as no contemporary chronicler mentions him. The only mentions of him are in the

annals of the Cakchiquels The ''Annals of the Cakchiquels'' (, also known by the alternative Spanish titles, ''Anales de los Xahil'', ''Memorial de Tecpán-Atitlán'' or ''Memorial de Sololá'') is a manuscript written in Kaqchikel by Francisco Hernández Arana Xajilá i ...

where the Pipil coastal people were called ''Pan Atacat'' (water men); this might have been an elite personage or a title for a chief in Pipil culture. The myth is still believed locally. The name "Atlácatl" was adopted by one of El Salvador's elite army battalions: the Atlácatl Battalion. Cuzcatlan was a powerful state that had incorporated several Nawat Pipil regions in the western and central territory of today's El Salvador. With a standing army and lucrative cacao and Indigo exports, this wealthy state had resisted several Mayan Calakmul ally invasions and was one of the strongest in the region. It was the only

polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

in the region to maintain a standing army. The myth of Atlácatl appears to have originated in a historian's misreading of Spanish chronicles. It was later developed as a nation-building myth in modern Salvadoran nationalist discourse, symbolising Cuzcatlan's courageous resistance against the invading Spanish forces. According to another account, when

Pedro de Alvarado Pedro de Alvarado (; 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, ''conquistador'', ''adelantado,'' governor and Captaincy General of Guatemala, captain general of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the c ...

and his forces arrived at Atehuan (Ateos) he received a message sent to him by Atlacatl in which Atlácatl acquiesced to Alvarado's demand for Cuzcatlan's surrender. Alvarado's own account records that when he entered the city of Cuzcatlan he found it partly abandoned, the men all having fled to the mountainous region nearby. Alvarado sent a demand to them for their surrender, but instead received the answer: "If you want our arms you must come to get them from the mountains". In the myth, it was Atlácatl who sent this message. Alvarado's forces launched a furious attack on their mountain positions in which many horses, Spaniards and their native auxiliaries were killed. Alvarado retreated from Cuzcatlan on 4 July 1524. Two years after this battle, Alvarado's kinsman

Gonzalo de Alvarado Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras was a Spanish conquistador and brother of Pedro de Alvarado who participated in campaigns in Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador (co-founding its present capital, San Salvador). Gonzalo de Alvarado was a native of ...

had founded a Spanish base at

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

(August 1526), from where the Spanish forces continued to raze the surrounding districts and combat the remaining Pipil resistance. Finally, in 1528, Diego de Alvarado and his

Indian auxiliaries Indian auxiliaries, also known in the sources as ''Indios amigos'' (), were those indigenous peoples of the Americas who allied with Spain and fought alongside the conquistadors during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. These auxiliari ...

set out on another attack on Cuzcatlan, during the defense of which the Nawat Pipil forces were defeated. One embellishment of the Atlácatl myth is that he jumped into a volcano to remain an unconquered legend.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlacatl Pipil people People from the Audencia of Guatemala 1528 deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas Salvadoran people of Indigenous peoples descent

See also

References