The Chuj or Chuh are a Maya people, whose homeland is in Guatemala and Mexico. Population estimates vary between 30,000 and over 60,000. Their indigenous language is also called Chuj and belongs to the Q'anjobalan branch of Mayan languages. Most Chuj live in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango, in the municipalities of San Mateo Ixtatán and San Sebastián Coatán, with small numbers also residing in the neighboring border areas of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Los Angeles is believed to have a relatively large population of undocumented Chuj immigrants.
The Chuj, and their ancestors, are believed to have lived in the same area for 4,000 years. They first came into contact with Spanish conquistadores in the 1530s; however, they were not finally subdued by the Spanish colonial authorities until the 1680s. In the post-Colonial era, the Chuj lost much of their communal land, reducing them to extreme poverty. This resulted in a history of violent resistance to authority culminating in guerrilla activity against Guatemala's military junta in the 1980s.
Ethnonym
The name Chuj is an exonym first used by the Spanish. According to folk tradition, the term was coined by Tzeltal conscripts of the Spanish, for whom it meant the loose wool overgarment traditionally worn by Chuj men. The Chuj themselves use an autonym based on their town of origin, i.e. ajSan Matéyo (from San Mateo Ixtatán), ajSan Sabastyán (from San Sebastián Coatán), or ajNenton (from Nentón).
Overview and demographics
The Chuj are a small grouping of Mayan people who live in Guatemala and Mexico. Following emigration to the United States in the 1980s, large numbers of the Chuj also live in Los Angeles.
Most of the Chuj live in Guatemala, in the highlands of the department of Huehuetenango. Their main centres of settlement in Huehuetenango are the towns of San Mateo Ixtatán and San Sebastián Coatán with some living in parts of the town of Nentón. Additionally, small numbers also live in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Estimates of total numbers vary from 30,000 to over 60,000. The populations of San Mateo Ixtatán and San Sebastián Coatán, both of which are almost wholly Chuj, are about 16,000 and 9,000 respectively. There are nearly 4,000 Chuj-speakers in Nentón constituting about a third of the town. Because of the irregular immigrant status of the Chuj in the U.S., it is not known how many Chuj live in Los Angeles, but one estimate is that it equals the population of San Sebastián Coatán.
In Guatemala, the Chuj have a reputation for rebelliousness and antagonism to authority, the historic causes of which arise out of poverty and grievances over land distribution.
History
Pre-Columbian era
The Chuj live in an area believed to have been the Proto-Mayan language homeland and they and their ancestors are thought to have lived there continuously since Proto-Maya began splitting into the modern Maya languages about 4,000 years ago. There is, on the outskirts of the modern town of San Mateo Ixtatán, archaeological evidence of a Chuj urban settlement, Wajxaklajun, also known as Ystapalapán, which includes mounds and plazas and dates from between 600 and 900 A.D.
Like other Maya, the Chuj were a settled farming people who cultivated maize and beans. As far as the Chuj's political history is concerned, it is known that they were subject to K'iche' domination in the 15th century but freed themselves from K'iche' control in the early 16th century.
Spanish conquest
The Spanish conquest of the Maya territories of the Guatemalan highlands began in 1524 when the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado led his army into the region. In 1529 the Chuj city of San Mateo Ixtatán (that is, Wajxaklajun) was given in encomienda to Gonzalo de Ovalle (es), a companion of Pedro de Alvarado, together with Santa Eulalia and Jacaltenango. In the 1530s, the Chuj submitted to the Spanish conquest and, in 1549, the first Chuj reduccion was established at San Mateo Ixtatán, overseen by Dominican missionaries. The Chuj of San Mateo Ixtatán remained rebellious and resisted Spanish control for longer than their highland neighbours; their resistance was so determined that the Chuj remained pacified only while the immediate effects of the Spanish expeditions lasted. But the longer-term effect was that disease and warfare substantially reduced Chuj numbers in the 16th century.