Manche Ch'ol

The Manche Ch'ol were a former Ch'ol-speaking Maya people inhabiting the extreme south of what is now the Petén Department of modern Guatemala, the area around Lake Izabal (also known as the Golfo Dulce), and southern Belize. The Manche Ch'ol took the name Manche from the name of their main settlement. They were the last group of eastern Cholan-speakers to remain independent and ethnically distinct. It is likely that they were descended from the inhabitants of Classic period (c. 250-900 AD) Maya cities in the southeastern Maya region, such as Nim Li Punit, Copán and Quiriguá.

The first Spanish contact with the Manche Ch'ol was in 1525, when an expedition led by Hernán Cortés crossed their territory. From the early 17th century onwards, Dominican friars attempted their concentration into mission towns and their conversion to Christianity. These attempts alarmed their warlike Itza neighbours to the northwest, who attacked the mission towns and fomented rebellion among the Manche. The Manche Ch'ol in the mission towns were badly affected by disease, which also encouraged them to flee the towns.

In the late 17th century, Franciscan missionaries argued that further attempts at peaceful pacification of the Ch'ol were useless and argued for armed intervention against the Manche Ch'ol and their Lakandon Ch'ol neighbours. The Manche were forcibly relocated in the Guatemalan Highlands, where they did not prosper. By 1770, most of the Manche Ch'ol were extinct. The few survivors were soon absorbed into the surrounding Q'eqch'i Maya population.

...
Wikipedia