Lenca people

Lenca

Lenca at a market in La Esperanza, Honduras
Total population
137,000
Regions with significant populations
Honduras	100,000~137.000 (1987-1993) 50.000-95.000 (1996) 100.000 (2008)
El Salvador	37,000
Languages
Honduran Spanish, Salvadoran Spanish Formerly: Lenca
Religion
Roman Catholic

The Lenca are an indigenous people of southwestern Honduras and eastern El Salvador. They once spoke the Lenca language, which is now extinct. In Honduras, the Lenca are the largest indigenous group, with an estimated population of 100,000. El Salvador's Lenca population is estimated at about 37,000.

The pre-Conquest Lenca had frequent contact with various Maya groups as well as other indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America. The origin of Lenca populations has been a source of ongoing debate amongst anthropologists and historians. It continues to generate research focused on obtaining more archaeological evidence of pre-colonial Lenca. Some scholars have suggested that the Lenca migrated to the region from South America around 3,000 years ago.

Lenca culture developed for centuries preceding the Spanish conquest. Like other indigenous groups of Central America, they gradually changed their cultural relationships to the land.

While there are ongoing political problems in contemporary Central America over indigenous land rights and identity, the Lenca have been able to retain many Pre-Columbian traditions. Although they have lost their indigenous language, and their culture has changed in other ways over the centuries, the Lenca preserve enough of their traditional ways to identify as indigenous peoples.

Modern Lenca communities are centered on the milpa crop-growing system. Lenca men engage in agriculture, including the cultivation of coffee, cacao, tobacco, varieties of plantains and gourds. Other principal crops are maize, wheat, beans, squash, sugarcane, and chili peppers. In El Salvador peanuts are also cultivated. Within their communities, Lenca traditionally expect all members to participate in communal efforts.