View source for Acala Chʼol

[[File:Contact Period lowland Guatemala.gif|thumb|right|350px|Map showing the territory inhabited by the Acala in the 16th century]]
The '''Acala Chʼol''' were a former [[Chʼol language|Chʼol]]-speaking [[Maya peoples|Maya people]] who occupied a territory to the west of the [[Manche Chʼol]] and east of the [[Chixoy River]] in what is now the [[Alta Verapaz Department]] of [[Guatemala]].{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1938|1p=586|2a1=ITMB|2y=1998}} The Acala should not be confused with the people of the former Maya territory of [[Acalan]], near the [[Laguna de Terminos]] in [[Mexico]].{{sfnm|Thompson|1938|p=586}}

By the 17th century the Acala had two principal towns; Cagbalam had 300 multiple-family houses and Culhuacan had over 140. The towns were divided into four sections, each governed by their own ruler. The combined population of these two towns has been estimated at 7,000.{{sfn|Thompson|1966|p=30}} The Acala were allies of the [[Lakandon Chʼol]], their immediate neighbours to the west, and the two peoples sometimes cooperated militarily. {{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1938|1pp=586&ndash;587|2a1=Vos|2y=1980, 1996|2p=75}} The Acala are known to have cultivated [[cocoa bean|cacao]] and [[achiote]].{{sfn|Caso Barrera|Aliphat|2007|p=53}}

In 1555 the Spanish carried out a military expedition against the Acala in retaliation for their killing of [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar [[Domingo de Vico]] and his companion Andrés López.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1966|1p=29|2a1=Vos|2y=1980, 1996|2p=75|3a1=Caso Barrera|3a2=Aliphat|3y=2007|3p=53}} The Spanish and their Christianised [[Qʼeqchiʼ people|Qʼeqchiʼ]] Maya allies captured 260 Acalas, and hanged 80 of these; the rest were sold as slaves.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1966|1p=29|2a1=Caso Barrera|2a2=Aliphat|2y=2007|2p=53}} Many Acala were rounded up by the Qʼeqchʼi and forcibly moved to settle the San Marcos and San Juan Acala districts of [[Cobán]], capital of colonial Verapaz. Acala from the [[Chama (Maya site)|Chama]] region were settled in the San Marcos district; the San Juan Acala district received the former inhabitants of the [[Chisec]] region.{{sfn|Caso Barrera|Aliphat|2007|p=53}} By 1720 the Acala had been completely extinguished, such that there was not even memory of them.{{sfn|Thompson|1966|p=30}} Some of the Lakandon and Acala Chʼols fled their forcible resettlement in Cobán and returned to former Acala territory along the course of the [[Xoy River]], where they became known as the Ah Xoy.{{sfn|Caso Barrera|Aliphat|2007|p=53}}

==Notes==
{{Maya civilization}}
{{reflist|25em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. -->
*{{cite journal
 |ref={{sfnref|Caso Barrera|Aliphat|2007}} 
 |author=Caso Barrera, Laura 
 |author2=Mario Aliphat 
 |year=2007 
 |title=Relaciones de Verapaz y las Tierras Bajas Mayas Centrales en el siglo XVII 
 |journal=XX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2006 
 |editor=J.P. Laporte 
 |editor2=B. Arroyo 
 |editor3=H. Mejía 
 |pages=48–58 
 |publisher=[[Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología]] 
 |location=Guatemala City, Guatemala 
 |url=http://asociaciontikal.com/pdf/04_-_Caso.06_-_www.pdf 
 |access-date=2012-01-22 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017041731/http://asociaciontikal.com/pdf/04_-_Caso.06_-_www.pdf 
 |archive-date=2013-10-17 
 |language= es
}}
*{{cite map |ref={{sfnref|ITMB|1998}}
|publisher=ITMB Publishing Ltd |title=Guatemala |edition=3rd |year=1998 |scale=1:500000 |series=International Travel Maps |isbn=0-921463-64-2 |oclc=421536238 }}
*{{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Thompson|1938}}
|title=Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Reports on the Chol Mayas |author-link=J. Eric S. Thompson | author=Thompson, J. Eric S. |journal=American Anthropologist |date=October–December 1938 |volume=40 |issue=4 (Part 1) |series=New Series |doi=10.1525/aa.1938.40.4.02a00040 |doi-access=|pages=584–604 |jstor=661615}}
*{{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Thompson|1966}}
|author=Thompson, J. Eric S. |year=1966 |title=The Maya Central Area at the Spanish Conquest and Later: A Problem in Demography |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=1966 |pages=23–37 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |jstor=3031712|doi=10.2307/3031712 }}
*{{cite book |ref={{sfnref|Vos|1980, 1996}}
|author=Vos, Jan de |orig-year=1980 |year=1996 |title=La paz de Dios y del Rey: La conquista de la Selva Lacandona (1525–1821) |publisher=Secretaría de Educación y Cultura de Chiapas/Fondo de Cultura Económica |location=Mexico City, Mexico |isbn=968-16-3049-1 |oclc=20747634 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ObxVAAAAMAAJ|language=es}}
{{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style -->
{{Portal|Mesoamerica|Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}
{{Ancestry and ethnicity in Guatemala}}

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[[Category:Maya peoples]]
[[Category:History of Guatemala]]
[[Category:Former indigenous peoples in Guatemala]]
[[Category:Alta Verapaz Department]]
[[Category:Maya Contact Period]]
[[Category:Chʼol]]