Chajoma

The Chajoma (Mayan pronunciation: [/tʃäχoˈmä/]) were a Kaqchikel-speaking Maya people of the Late Postclassic period, with a large kingdom in the highlands of Guatemala. According to the indigenous chronicles of the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel, there were three principal Postclassic highland kingdoms; the K'iche', the Kaqchikel and the Chajoma. In the Annals of the Cakchiquels the Chajoma of Jilotepeque were always referred to as the akajal vinak, in the Popul Vuh these can probably be identified with the akul vinak. Both akajal vinak and akul vinak mean "the bee people" or "the hive people".

Chajoma means "people of ocote" (a type of pine). In colonial times this was rendered into Nahuatl as sacatepēc "Grass mountain" which led to its current Hispanicized name Sacatepéquez. Early records, for example, record the placename San Juan Sacatepéquez as San Juan Chajoma. The Chajoma separated into six divisions, equivalent to the various colonial villages bearing Sacatepéquez in the name.

The political geography of the Chajoma is described in some detail in a small group of early colonial documents composed by the Chajoma leadership. At its greatest extent, the Chajoma kingdom covered an area of 900–1000 km². It was bounded on the north by the Motagua River, on the east with the Las Vacas River, by San Pedro Ayampuc in the southeast, the River Chalcayá on the southwest and the River Quisayá to the west. Their neighbour to the south was the Poqomam kingdom, with its capital at Chinautla Viejo (Old Chinautla, identified as the Mixco Viejo of Colonial period records). To the west they were bordered by the Kaqchikel kingdom based at Iximche. This territory includes the northern third of the department of Guatemala and includes both the cooler highland area to the south and the hotter lowlands of the Motagua Valley to the north. The latter is a challenging area for agriculture, with the poor soil of the steep-sided lowland river valleys consisting of semi-weathered metamorphic schistose. The best land for agriculture lies in the southern highland portion of the Chajoma territory, with settlement concentrating there from the Classic Period onwards.

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