The Chinamitas or Tulumkis (

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 ...

''chinamitl'', Mopan ''tulumki'') were likely a Mopan Maya people who constituted the former Chinamita Territory, an early Columbian polity of the

Maya Lowlands The Maya Lowlands are the largest cultural and geographic, first order subdivision of the Maya Region, located in eastern Mesoamerica. Extent The Maya Lowlands are restricted by the Gulf of Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the eas ...

, likely in present-day

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It 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 b ...

. In the early 17th century, the Territory probably lay along the

Mopan River The Mopan River is a river in Central America spanning the Petén Department of Guatemala and the Cayo District of Belize. It merges with the Macal River at Branch Mouth, Belize, forming the Belize River, which ultimately discharges into the Car ...

in the eastern

Petén Basin The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of the Maya Lowlands, primarily located in northern Guatemala within the Department of El Petén, and into the state of Campeche in southeastern Mexico. During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods ...

and neighbouring portions of western Belize, being thereby situated east of the Itza of

Nojpetén Nojpetén (also spelled Noh Petén, and also known as Tayasal) was the capital city of the Itza people, Itza Maya civilization, Maya kingdom of Peten Itza kingdom, Petén Itzá. It was located on an island in Lake Petén Itzá in the modern depa ...

, south of the Yaxhá and Sacnab lakes, and west of Tipuj.

Etymology

The term ''Chinamita'' is derived from the

, meaning "cane hedge". This was equivalent to the Mopan term , meaning "wall of

agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...

", which was the name of the Chinamita capital. Spanish chronicler Juan de Villagutierre Soto-Mayor described the Chinamitas and Tulunquies as two distinct peoples; however, is merely the Nahuatl translation of the Mayan .

Territory

The Territory is most commonly thought to have been situated along the Mopan River in northeastern Guatemala and southwestern Belize, wedged between Nojpeten and Tipu, and to have thereby been subordinate to or formed part of the Mopan Territory. However, some scholars have proposed that the Territory rather lay in north Guatemala. The Chinamitas' principal settlement was a town called Tulumki, and the Chinamita people were also referred to as Tulumkis or Tulunquies. Tulumki was said to have a population of 8,000 in the early 17th century; the population was said to include both male and female Spaniards who had been captured by the Chinamitas. The town was described as being defended by a moat and a maguey hedge, and was accessed via a narrow entranceway.

Relations with the Itza

Itza–Chinamita relations were quite strained, as the former "waged incessant wars against" the latter, while the Chinamitas were reciprocally hostile towards their Itza neighbours and their allies. In 1618, Itza warriors informed the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

missionaries Bartolomé de Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita that they always travelled armed when visiting their allies in Tipuj, for fear of encountering their fierce Chinamita enemies. According to Fuensalida, the Chinamitas had a reputation for being cannibals. When Franciscan friar Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola visited the Itza in 1696, he understood the ''Tuluncies'' formed a part of the Itza kingdom.

Legacy

As of 2009, the Territory and its residents remained "virtually unknown materially and geopolitically except for documentary references or linguistic reconstructions." Along with residents of the former Mopan Territory, the Chinamitas are presumed ancestors of the modern Mopan Maya people of Belize and Guatemala.

Notes and references

Explanatory footnotes

Short citations

Full citations

* * * * * * * * * {{coord, 16.712, -89.236, type:country_region:GT, display=title Maya peoples Indigenous peoples in Belize History of Petén Former Indigenous peoples in Guatemala Maya Postclassic Period Maya Contact Period Former countries in North America Mayan chiefdoms of the Yucatán Peninsula History of Belize 17th century in the Maya civilization