Chapter Four - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

THE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINE
GUATEMALA VILLAGES OF THE 16TH CENTURY
Dan Stanislawski
Chapter Four
Santiago
Petatan En la cibdad de Santiago de la provincia de Guatemala
diez e nueve dias del mes de Hebrero año
Diego del nascimiento de maestro Salvador Jesu Cristo de myll
Sanchez e quinientos e cuaranta e nueve anos por los señores
Santiago presidente e oydores del audiencia y chanci
lleria real de su Magestad que en la dicha cibdad reside
se taso el pueblo de petatan que es en los terminos
e jurisdiccion de la dicha cibdad y esta encomendado en Diego
Sanchez Santiago vezino della mandose a los na
turales del dicho pueblo que en cada un año
le pagan una sementera de mahiz de dos fa
negas y se las beneficien cojan y encierren
en el dicho pueblo e media fanega de frisoles
y le den en cada año treynta mantas de las
que suelen y acostumbran a dar e cient petates
pequeños para barbacoas de los que acostum
bran a dar y seis açumbres de miel cada año
y tres cargas de agi e le den cuatro dozenas
de gallinas de castilla cada año e le den dos
yndios de servicio ordinarios en esta cibdad
con que sea obligado a darles de comer el tiempo
que se sirvieren y enseñarles la dotrina cristiana
no an de dar otra cosa ni se les a de lle
var a los dichos yndios por ninguna via que sea
ni comute ninguna cosa de un tributo en otra
cosa so la pena contenida en las leyes y ordi
nanças por su Magestad fechas para la buena governacion
de las Indias el licenciado Cerrato el licenciado
Pedro Rramirez el licenciado Rogel
En la ciudad de Santiago en la provincia de Guatemala a treynta
dias del mes de Dizienbre año del nascimiento de nuestro sal
vador Jesu Cristo de mill e quinientos e cinquenta años
por los señores presidente e oidores del audiencia y chance
lleria rreal de su Magestad que en la dicha cibdad reside fue
mandado a los naturales del pueblo de Petatan

que por los dos yndios de servicio que por esta tasacion
estaba mandado que diesen en esta cibdad
den en cada un año treynta mantas como las
demas contenidas en esta tasacion la mytad por
San Juan y la otra mytad por navidad y no
an de dar los dichos yndios de servicio........
Santiago de Guatemala
Tribal warfare—and its turmoil—had been the condition of affairs in Guatemala for centuries before
the Spanish arrival in the early sixteenth century. Early evidence of it is to be seen in the change of
town sites from open valley bottoms to mesa tops protected mostly by steep-walled ravines, and with
small, defensible entryways.
Remote origins are to be found in earlier events in Mexico, where, after about a.d. 900 and until about
1200, the Toltecs, a group made up of disparate peoples including Chichimecs (not a disparaging term,
but one proudly claimed by the descendants who remembered their prowess) became supreme in
central Mexico (Diehl '83, p. 7; Coe '86, pp. 123-25). In the thirteenth century they moved into the Gulf
region and small, military units went from Xicalanco on the Laguna de los Terminos in Campeche, up
the Usumacita River and its tributaries into the highlands of Guatemala.
Their raids led to the relocation of towns from open lowlands to defensible highlands. Notwithstanding
this protective device, the Mexicans succeeded in establishing themselves as a ruling elite over the
mass of upland Guatemala Mayan-speaking peoples. Because there were relatively few of the
conquerors, local languages persisted, and were adopted ultimately by the invaders (Carmack '81, p.
52).
The basic desires of the conquerors—made up of several groups— were conquest of territory,
acquisition of tribute, and sacrificial victims (Carmack '68, pp. 44, 71-2, 86). Each conquering group
established control over a territory, and each from its own territory became a potential rival of the
others, a condition that led to internecine warfare.
Emerging as the most important of the conquering groups were the Quichés, whose class society made
warfare the most important part of a noble's life (Orellana, '84, p. 57). The Cakchiquels, in an early
period of time, served as troops under their command (Carmack '81, p. 378). That situation changed
several generations prior to the Spanish conquest when the Cakchiquels became an independent force
contesting with the Quichés for power. A third group, the Tzutujils, became involved in the tribal
warfare, perhaps not by their own volition. Their tribal name identifies them as farmers, not, as do the
names of the other two groups, with war and conquest. (Carmack, '81, p. 62). They settled and once
controlled the lands circumnambient to Lake Atitlan which included extensions into the Pacific
piedmont and coastal plain (Orellana, '84, pp. 52-54). Much of this territory had been appropriated by
the Cakchiquels some generations prior to the Spanish conquest (Carmack, '81, p. 329 n.3, p. 140;
Orellana, '84, pp. 52-54).
In this tumultuous area there may have been little possibility of an organization for trade similar to the
government-chartered Pochteca of the Mexican plateau. Trade was an individual endeavor conducted,
in spite of internal warfare, by a small, elite group of wealthy merchants who achieved a sufficient
order to maintain long-distance trade and distribution without the tight politicization of the Pochteca
(Sharer, '84, p. 82; Sabloff, cited by Hammond, '82, pp. 238-39). But that there was considerable
efficiency in their trade is indicated by dishes designed to be stacked for effective use of space in
transport and storage (Hammond '82, p. 146, quoting Eric Thompson).

The natives were dwellers in towns, small and large: villages for local exchange, and a few relatively
large towns from which distant trade was effected.
Traders' attitudes as opposed to those of the truculent warriors were expressed by a 1571 informant
who said that his forbears living in Atitlan—a traders' town—had submitted to Pedro de Alvarado,
whereas the Indians of present Sololá, Tecpanguatemala, and Rabinal resisted (Indios de Atitlan
-Simancas, Cartas, RAH Muñoz coll. vol. 42, f. 115-118).To traders the disruption of war can be
anathema.
Towns on the tribute list
In the mid-sixteenth century, Santiago encomenderos held, not only territory of present Guatemala, but
also the southwestern area of present El Salvador: the cacao-producing zone that composed the native
province of Los Izalcos. It included Ahuachapan, Apaneca, Xuayoa (present Juayua), and Yzalco.
Presumably Caluco was included although it was not listed. However, in the Relacion of 1583 (A.G.I.
Patronato , legajo 183, no. 1, ramo 1 [2-2-4] it was included among the pueblos of Santiago; and the
bishop Cortés y Larraz, in 1770 (Vol. 1, pp. 80ff), listed it as an ecclesiastical cabecera whose district
included Nahulingo. From the territory of Caluco the boundary ran southward to the ocean. Towns to
the east of it (and north of the territory of Ahuachapan) were included in the Spanish province of San
Salvador.
After a quarter of a century of dominance in Central America, the Spanish Crown issued a precise list
of tributes to be paid by the natives to their conquerors (legajo 128). In it, the list of towns paying
tributes to the encomenderos of Santiago de Guatemala was recorded mostly in the four months.
February 19 to June 19, 1549. It included 169 entries. Many towns that are known to have existed at
that time do not appear. In a number of such cases, the omission resulted from the town being the annex
of another. For example, in legajo 128, the town of Zapotitan, no. 117 on the tribute list, had three
barrios under it: Cuyotenango, Mazatenango, and Cintecomatlan (AGCA, p. 18). The first two of these
barrios are important towns now and could not have been negligible then, but their names do not appear
on the tribute list. Several names appear more than once. In some cases there were two towns with the
same name; but in others there was more than one listing of the same town because its tributes were
divided between two or more encomenderos: such duplications occurred twenty three times. Position
on the list is no necessary indication of geographical location, nor relation to the preceeding or
following entries.
The position on the list of town names with an initial C-cedilla (Ç) is difficult to decide because some
so listed in the sixteenth century are now spelled with an S (e.g., Sacapulas), others with a Z (e.g.,
Zacapa). For that reason, on this list, all those spelled with initial C-cedilla follow those with plain C.
In referring to a town, the number of its appearance on the list is shown and also, after a slash, its
number of tributaries, e.g. Acatenango is listed three times: #75/100 est., #132/100 est., #139/80 which
indicates that the seventy fifth entry was identified as Acatenango, and the number of tributaries is
estimated to have been 100 (see section on estimating tribute populations at end of chapter). Another
listing of Acatenango was in the hundred and thirty second position. It, too, showed no number of
tributaries, so an estimate is given. The third entry of the name is in the hundred thirty ninth position.
The number of tributaries was listed as being eighty.
Brackets—mostly around numbers of servants—indicate exchanges which are listed in chapter three,
"Tributes."
Acatenango
The settlement of that name is now located at an elevation of 1571 meters (5154 feet), on a re-entry of
lower country into the south slope of the mountains, west of Antigua Guatemala. Long before the

Spanish conquest, the importance of that position for trade between the hot lowland and the densely
settled interior had been exploited by the Cakchiquel Maya from their capital at Iximché, by the Mam
of Zaculeu, and the Quiché at Utatlan. In spite of conflicts between these Maya groups, trade was
generally maintained and the importance of the route was never broken for long (Morley, Brainard, and
Sharer, p. 224). Such was the condition of affairs at the advent of the Spaniards.
In early years after the conquest the town was held in part by Diego Sanchez de Ortega (Kramer,
Lovell, Lutz, and Swazey, 1990, p. 15). Another part—or a separate pueblo called San Bernabe
Acatenango— was held by Jorge de Alvarado's servant, Andres de Rodas (Kramer, et al, p. 16)
The name appears three times on the tribute list. The entries are as follows
Encomendero
Maize
Beans
Mantas
Chickens
Cacao
Salt
Petates
Servants
#75/100 est. #132/100 est. #139/80
Andrea de Rodas Gonçalode Alvarado and
Pedro de Cavallos The
Crown
6
.5
150
96
—
—
—
(6)*
* (exchanged for 100 tostones)
4 —
— —
— 100
72 —
— 40
200 —
48 —
(6)** —
** (exchanged 36 gold
pesos)
In 1531 (Kramer et al, '90, pp. 15,16), the two entries probably indicate two towns of the same name -
as was the case about 1770 when the bishop Cortés y Larraz, referred to San Pedro Acatenango and San
Bernabé Acatenango, about three leagues apart, (vol ii, p. 295).
The three entries of 1549 (numbers 75, 132, and 139) might involve two towns, with Andrea de Rodas
retaining San Bernabé Acatenango that he had held in 1531 (Kramer, et al, '90, p. 16); but, given the
approximate equality in values of the three entries of 1549, they probably represent a three-part
division of one town that included a smaller annex. Cortés y Larraz (Vol. 11, p. 295) wrote that San
Pedro Acatenango had only one quarter the population of San Bernabé).

Acatepeque(caption) Coçalchiname(text)#158/10, under Antonio de Salamanca, one of the
conquerors with Pedro de Alvarado. Muñoz lists it as Cozalchiname-Acatepeque (Acad. de Hist.,
Madrid: Muñoz Coll. Vol. 85 ff 87-94). Payments of 900 lbs. of salt and 150 lbs. of fish indicate the
coastal plain. This entry and the previous one (#157, Coçalchiname), which planted 200 lbs. of maize
and paid sixty mantas to the Crown, may refer to same small town which was probably in the area of
present El Salvador, near the Guatemalan border. (Sherman, p. 24; Lardé y Larin, p. 345; Barón Castro,
p.612, n.9).
Acaxutla/#35/20, under Hernan Perez Peñate. Present Acajutla in El Salvador. By 1555 Perez Peñate
had died, but the current encomendero was not named. In the review of tributes at that date, salt and
fish were eliminated, and payment of cacao was reduced from twenty xiquipiles to fifteen.
Aguacatlan/#85/200, under Juan de Celada. This entry may refer to the same town as does #5
(Ystapalatengo y Aguacatlan), whose encomendero, the son of Juan Paez, was allotted a smaller
number of tributaries and received a smaller proportion of the total tributes. The payment of feathers
was unusual. Only one other town, Pajacis, #119, listed such payment. Even Queçaltepeque, named for
the Quetzal birds, did not list them as tribute. Present Aguacatan is eastnortheast of Huehuetenango at
1670 meters elevation (5479 feet). By the time of the Central American review of 1554 (AGCA, legajo
2797, p. 11), Juan de Celada had died and his minor son was the heir of the encomienda. Tributes were
not changed from those of 1549 except for the elimination of 100 lbs. of beans to be sown.
Aguachapa/# 109/100 est., under Bartolomé Marroquin (brother of the bishop). Now Ahuachapan in
El Salvador. In the mid-sixteenth century Tomás López, of the Audiencia de los Confines, reported that
the men spoke Nahuat and the women Pokomam, because of the recent Pipil conquest. The Pokomam
town had been renamed, (cited by Lardé y Larin, p. 31). Pineda, shortly after the middle of the
sixteenth century, reported that it was a prosperous town, that the natives took crops and pottery to
trade for cacao at Izalcos; and some owned their own cacaotales . (pp. 453-54). Garcia de Palacio in
1576 (p. 21) referred to the fine pottery (más galana loza) made by the women "without the use of a
potters' wheel, or any tool".........and that they made a red coloring matter for the pottery "from the
excrescence of nearby hot springs".
The present town is in an area of faults and fissures approximately at the border between the older
volcanics (Pliocene) and deposits of the younger (Quaternary) volcanics (Williams and Meyer-Abich,
1955, Reconnaissance map). Also see the soils map of the Republic of El Salvador (Mapa Pedologico,
January, 1974) which shows it to be at the edge of the region of red clays (Latosols arcillo rojizos).
In 1586, Ponce also remarked about the special, fine, red pottery of the bonito pueblo. That the skill
was continued is the testimony of Fuentes y Guzman toward the end of the seventeenth century (Vol. II,
p. 40). But it would seem that the pottery was a trade item with little importance as tribute: none was
paid to the encomendero in 1549.
Alotepeque
Two towns with this name appear on the tribute list.
#96/130, under Pedro de Ovid is unidentified now. Two other towns of his encomienda: #72,
Teguantepeque, and #73, Texcoacao, were cacao-paying towns of the coastplain. Alotepeque paid
cacao, and also fresh fish. It, like Teguantepeque, may have disappeared or, like Texcoaco, may have
been absorbed by another coastplain town.
#166/75 est., under Gonçalo Ortiz. It, like three other towns in the encomienda of this man (Conetla,
Chicuytlan, and Bohon), is not identified; but, like the others, its payments all suggest the inland west,
near the Chiapas border and saline streams, e.g. petates, large mantas , henequen and salt. The specified
size for the mantas (2X2 braças: about eleven feet square ) in that area was greater than that of any

other area giving specifications in Santiago province. ( A Mexican influence?)
In the review of 1554 (AGCA, p.6) Gonçalo Ortiz was still the encomendero, but his tributes were
reduced by 50 lbs. of sown maize, 300 lbs. of dried beans, 12.5 lbs. honey, 20 mantas, 5 chickens (and
the remainder to be local fowl not European chickens as originally specified). There was one small
increase, that of five mats (petates ).
Amatenango /#89/70
In early years, and until 1533, it was part of the encomienda of Rodrigo de Benavides who relinquished
it in 1533 when he left for Peru. (Kramer, et al, '90, p. 17)
By 1549 the encomienda had been divided between Gutierrez de Gibaja and Mendez de Sotomayor.
Jointly, they held four towns: two in present Chiapas (Amatenango, and Motolcintla), Cuilco, in present
Huehuetenango near the Mexican border, and Suchitepéquez (probably present San Antonio
Suchitepéquez).
Amatitan,/#18,#19,#20/356.
In 1528 the town was divided between Cristobal Lobo and Juan Freyle, (Kramer et al, '90, p. 14).
Frayle's name does not appear on the 1549 list.
The three entries on the 1549 tribute list related to parts of one town and its anexos, under Cristobal
Lobo: present Amatitlán, at 1,190 meters elevation (3904 feet), a town that had been founded by
assembling five earlier pueblos (Chinchilla y Aguilar, p.29).
Its elevation is hardly enough for successful planting of wheat; but its annexes doubtless included the
high territory that had formerly appertained to them (perhaps present Santa Lucia Milpas Altas and
Magdalena Milpas Altas, both over 6,600 feet, had been a part of the encomienda). From town number
20, the encomendero was allotted an Indian to herd goats - the only reference to goats in the legajo.
Perhaps even he didn't have any: the goatherd was exchanged for silver tostones.
Amayuca/#43/ 3. Granted, in 1528 by Jorge de Alvarado to Fernando de Arévalo who was forced to
give it up two years later (Kramer, et al., '90, p.15). In 1549 it had been assigned to Diego de Alvarado
and Juan de Astroqui, who received sixty five xiquipiles of cacao from it. Pineda (p.430) reported it as
being near the sea, in the area of Escuintla; and remarked that it had formerly been a great pueblo "but
now has only seven or eight Indians". Later it disappeared, as apparently, did another town,
Chandelgueve, #82, under the same encomenderos.
Amystlan/#50/25 est., under Juan de Ecija. Paid 40 xiquipiles of cacao. Probably extinct.
Apaneca/#6/100, under the minor sons of Bartolome de Molina. In present El Salvador, at 1300 M.
elevation (4265 feet) (Servicio Meteorologico, San Salvador, 1977), south of Ahuachapan. Two crops
of maize per year were planted, and also 6 fanegas of wheat (which may have been at risk). As cotton
was planted as well as cacao for the encomendero; and it was specified that the workers in the cacao
plantation were to be fed when they worked in it, it would seem that he also held somewhat distant
lower and warmer lands.
Ataco/#15/160, under the minor sons of Alonso Perez (who had held it in 1528: Kramer, et al., '90, p.
13). Present Concepción de Ataco, at 1340 meters elev. (4396 feet), near Ahuachapan. The cacao it paid
in tribute either had to be acquired by trade with an area of lower elevation, or Ataco had lowland
annexes.
Atescatempa/# 147/100, under Francisco de Utiel, a surgeon who received the tributes from the town
by assignment from Jorge de Alvarado in the 1520s and passed them on to his heir in 1560 (Kr., L, L,
and Sw, '90, p. 16). Present Atescatempa is at 700 meters elevation (2297 feet) in the department of

Jutiapa. The name suggests that it may have been founded by Pipiles. Its chief payment, cacao, could
hardly have been grown immediately near the town. Either the municipio included lower territory or
the tributaries obtained it by trade.
Atiquipaque.
Its tributes were divided:
#14/25, under Martin de Guzman, and #22/30 under Juan Lopez. It was a Xinca town once named
Atiepar (Lehmann,1920,p.747).The bishop Cortés y Larraz reported it as being west of Tasisco, Xinca
in speech, with many insects, snakes, etc. and with poor harvests (Vol. II, pp. 232 ff). As tribute, the
Indians paid maize, fish and cacao. The town no longer exists.
Atitlan/#l 16/1000. It was, soon after the conquest, allotted to Jorge de Alvarado (Kramer thesis, p. 81),
but by 1529 it was jointly held by Pedro de Cueto and Sancho de Barahona (op. cit., p. 83). Cueto's
share went, in 1533, to Jorge de Alvarado (Kramer et al, '90, p. 13). That share by 1549 was under the
Crown, and the other share was held by the minor children of Sancho de Barahona. The sole payment,
1200 xiquipiles of cacao, was equally divided.
Present Santiago Atitlán was established in 1547, across the bay from the original Tzutujil capital of
Chiyá, (a Tzutujil name equivalent to Nahuat" Atitan" - (Orellana, pp. 4, 122). Chiyá had been the
principle settlement of the Tzutujils, and their nobles controlled and drew tribute from several lowland
cacao-producing settlements including Nagualapa and San Antonio Suchitepéquez (Thompson, '48, p.
9), and north at least as far as present San Pedro and Santa Clara(op. cit. pp. 18-19, 49, 82, 131-33). A
1571 report by the native town leaders mentioned their pre-conquest estancias "now called Sant.
Bartolomé i Sant Andres i Sant Francisco i Sancta Barbara" (RAH Munoz coll. vol. 42, f. 115-118).
These lords may have traced their lineage back to the Mexican invaders of the thirteenth century
(Thompson, '48, op. cit. pp. 26, 34, 47, 83, 87). The importance of the settlement was not based on
local production, but because its position favored it to be a center of transport and trade. The bishop
Cortés y Larraz described its territory as being very arid, and its harvests as being of some maize,
beans, chili, and chia; and that there was some fishing in the lake (Vol. II, pp. 279 ff). MacLeod refers
to its sixteenth century decline: he gives figures from the Relación de Santiago Atitlan for 1524 when it
had 12,000 tributaries, that had decreased to 1,005 by 1585 (p. 131).
Ayllon/#69/160. From 1528 to 1530, one half was under Hernando de Yllescas, the servant of Jorge de
Alvarado. The holder of the other half was not given (Kramer et al '90, p. 14). In 1549 the tributes were
still divided, but between Juan Resino and Diego Diaz.
The town's payments of 120 mantas and 48 chickens were modest in view of the number of tributaries;
but an allotment of ten servants was higher than average. They were exchanged for 150 tostones.
Resino held other towns in the southeast; Diaz probably did. This town may have been in that region.
However, Kramer,et al ('90, fig. 11) identify it with present Ilóm in interior Quiché province .
Basaco/#29/20, under Juan Resino. Present Pasaco, at 150 meters elev. (492 feet) in southeast
Guatemala, was a Pupuluca town. Paxsaco was reported by Crespo as being hot, mosquito infested, and
a salt producer ( p. 15). In tribute it paid 7,500 lbs. salt and 200 lbs. fish .
The encomendero Resino also held two other towns: Moyutla, #30, and Ayllon, #69. Neither paid high
tributes. Present Moyuta is about thirty kilometers from the coast (by direct flight). Its tributaries—who
were salt workers—may have aided in gathering the salt paid by Basaco. Unidentified Ayllon may also
have been involved.

Bohon/#168/20 est. See comments regarding Alotepeque, #166.
In the review of tributes made in 1554 (AGCA, legajo 2797, p. 5) chickens were reduced by four (and
they were to be "of the country", not European type fowl), the item of 300 lbs. of salt was eliminated,
honey was unchanged. Twelve mats (petates ) were added.
Cacalutla/#77/100. Held in 1528 by their father (Kramer et al., '90, p. 15), in 1549 it was under the
minor sons of "Inancio" de Bobadilla. Kramer,et al show it on their fig. 1 as being present Colotenango
on the Selegua River, northwest of Huehuetenango city.
Cacaotlan/#25/20, under Alonso Marroquin. Unidentified. It paid 140 xiquipiles of cacao and 56 lbs.
of fish, also fruit. Apparently a lowland setttlement now disappeared.
Caçaguastlan/#53/200, represents one of two towns in the encomienda of Cristobal de Salvatierra. On
the 1977 map of Guatemala, two Acasaguastláns are shown, San Cristobal on the Motagua River at 250
meters elevation (820 feet) and San Agustin about six miles away on a small, left-bank tributary at
slightly higher elevation. Pineda in the last half of the sixteenth century reported two towns named
Ciçacahuaztlan. He noted that San Agustin was the smaller (p. 452).
The present municipio of San Agustin was important in pre-Columbian times for its jadeite, a tradeproduct
for its Maya inhabitants (Morley, Brainerd, and Sharer, p. 213).
On the tribute list of 1549, payments from town #53/200, of which one half were made to Cristobal de
Salvatierra, are precisely the same as those for #103, Caçaguastlan, under the minor sons of Anton de
Morales, one of the conquerors of Guatemala with Alvarado (Fuentes y Guzman, 1883, Vol. 11, p.
375), who died, as did Alvarado's wife, in the disaster of 1541 (Remesal, Vol. II, p.43). The two towns
were probably considered as a unit, and the total payments divided equally between the encomenderos.
In 1554, the encomenderos of 1549 were still alive, but 80 xiquipiles of cacao were also to be paid to
Alonso Marroquin (AGCA, legajo 2797, exp. 40466, p. 1), presumably added to the 140 xiquipiles paid
to him by the tributaries of Cacaotlan (no. 25) in 1549.
Camotlan/# 148/100, under Hernan Perez Peñate. Present Camotlan, in the department of Chiquimula,
at 471 meters elevation (1545 feet), is Chorti in speech. Camotes (sweet potatoes) are still important.
Cerquil/# 164/80, under Santos de Figueroa. Unidentified. The payment of henequen may be
suggestive: other towns listing it: Coatlan, Conetla, were in the inland west; and Olaverreta (1740)
refers to cordage from San Andrés Jacaltenango, and Santo Domingo Sacapula(pp. 20, 22)
Chalchuytlan/#8/60. In the late 1520s, Jorge de Alvarado may have granted one half of the tribute of
the town to Alonso Pulgar (Kramer et al, '90, p. 16). His sons held one half in 1549 when Hernan Perez
Peñate held the other half. Lovell ('85, p.97) identifies the town as present Chalchitán, part of
Aguacatlán. The Diccionario Geografico (Vol. 1, pp. 9-10) refers to the ruins in that municipio and
states that the settlement must have been important, and that the Indians still call the eastern part of
Aguacatán, Chalchitán.
Chancoate/#l36/50 est., under Cristobal Lobo. Now unidentified; probably in the southeast, near
Queçaltepeque. The two towns are listed next to each other on the tribute list, which does not
necessarily indicate geographical propinquity, but sometimes it does; also they pay similar tributes
(although Chancoate's are smaller), and both pay petates, which are mostly limited to this area and that
of the northwest.
Chandelgueve/#82/50, under Diego de Alvarado and Juan de Astrogui. An unidentified town, but
apparently on the coastplain. In 1554 the names of Diego de Alvarado and Juan de Astrogui did not
appear, and its tributes were paid to Bernal Diaz and Francisco de Chavez. They had been reduced by

100 lbs. of maize to be planted, 50 lbs. of honey, and 20 xiquipiles of cacao (AGCA, p. 20).
Crespo in 1740 ( p. 10), reported a San Francisco Changüegüe that raised maize, beans, and cacao; but
with an "infinity" of abandoned cacao groves nearby. Apparently the "infinity" became absolute
sometime later: the settlement had disappeared.
Chichicastenango/# 125/400, under the minor son of Gaspar Arias. This important Quiché town—but
with a name applied by Mexicans—is located at 2070 meters elevation (6791 feet: Dice. Geog.). A
much sought prize, it was held by six encomenderos in the decade after its conquest (Kramer thesis, p.
199), the last of whom, Gaspar Arias, bequethed it to his minor son who held it in 1549. In view of its
population, tributes were modest.
Chicuytlan/# 167/20 est. See comments regarding Alotepeque, #166.
In 1554 (AGCA, p. 6) Gonzalo Ortiz remained as its encomendero , but payments to him had been
reduced by 14 large mats (petates),12 large mantas, 6 chickens (and those to be paid were to be "of the
country", not European fowl), 25 lbs. of beeswax, and 300 lbs. of salt.
Chimaltenango and Atitlan# 155/125, under Leonor de Castellanos. Present Santiago Chimaltenango,
at 2246 meters elevation (7369 feet) and San Juan Atitan.
Chimaltenango/#108/450 est., under Antonio Ortiz, as it had been in the late 1520s (Kramer, et al, '90,
p. 14), and as it remained in 1555 but with changes in its tributes. Reductions of 125 lbs. of honey, 24
pieces of pottery, and perhaps 400 tostones (which had been paid in 1549 in exchange for 30 servants)
were made in 1555; but 1,000 lbs. of beans were added (AGCA, p. 21). It is present Chimaltenango
City.
Chipilapa/#42/10, under Juan de Aragon. It is now just north of La Gomera, southwest of Escuintla. In
1740 it was described as being hot, humid, sandy; and populated by thirty mulatoes ( Crespo, p. 11).
Cortes y Larraz (Vol 11, pp. 244-45), thirty years later, described it as ladino and its products being
maize, sugar, cotton, indigo (tinta), cattle, and much salt.
Chiquimula/#95/150. In the late 1520s, the tributes of this town were divided between Juan Gomez
and Cristobal Rodriguez Picon (Kramer et al, '90, p. 16). In 1530 it was granted to Juan de Celada, a
silversmith (Kramer thesis, pp. 125, 188) who held it in 1549. In the early seventeenth century, Pineda
identified the town as "Chiquimula de Celada", and located it at the present site of Chiquimulilla (1908,
p. 432). It was a Xinca town (Crespo, p. 13; Cortes y Larraz, Vol. II, pp. 219-20).
Juan Gomez is not listed in 1549. Rodriguez Picon, who had relinquished Chiquimula by 1530 perhaps
acquired then the town of Nestiquipaque (#47) which may have appealed to that Spaniard, because it
was a wheat producer. Its tribute of that crop was the highest paid by any town in the province.
Two other Chiquimulas were listed in 1549. They and their tributes are listed below:
# 112/160, under Lorenzo de
Godoy and the minor daughters
of Hernando de Chavez
Mantas 240 450
# 126/400, under the minor
son of Hernando de la Barrera

Chickens 144 120
Honey 50 lbs. 25
Cacao 200 xiquipiles 160
Fish 150 lbs. 0
Mats 0 12
Chili 0 150 lbs.
Maize 800 lbs. planted 0
The total values of the above two payments are approximately equal, the greater payment of cacao of
the first equaling the greater payment of mantas of the second.
Isabel Vargas, widow of Chaves, claimed in court that her husband had been given the town
exclusively, but that Pedro de Alvarado afterward had given one half to Garcia Salinas who transferred
his portion to Rodrigo de Almonte who, in turn, transferred it to Godoy (Rodriguez Becerra, p. 51).
In 1770, the bishop Cortés y Larraz (Vol I, p. 275), wrote that its land was suitable for all kinds of
agriculture, ranging from cacao and sugar cane to wheat (suggesting the the municipal area also
included high lands).
As there are now two Chiquimulas it might be assumed that each can be associated with one of the
above sixteenth century tribute lists. One is in the valley of the Rio Grande de Zacapa, a right bank
tributary of the Motagua River, at an elevation of 484 meters (1588 feet). The other, Santa Maria
Chiquimula, is in Totonicapan province, above 2100 meters (6890 feet) in elevation.
Although cacao could not have been raised in the upland area, it was widely traded and could have
been obtained, hut fish were almost alwavs associated with the coastplain. On the other hand, chili was
generally associated with the upland. Considering these items it might be reasonable to identify #112
with the lowland and #126 with the upland.
But there is another—perhaps better—possibility: that both entries represented payments of the same
lowland town which were divided approximately in equal total values, and any tributes paid by the
upland town were included in those of the regional center, Totonicapan.
Chiquiotla/#83/3, under no identified encomendero. Location unidentified. Its sole payment: 450 lbs.
of salt could place it either on the coastplain or near one of the salinas of the interior.
Cinacantlan/#31/100, under the minor sons of Hernando de Chaves. Now an aldea under
Chiquimulilla. Two "short leagues east" wrote Cortés y Larraz (Vol II, p. 219). A Sinca (Xinca) town
and a center of Quetzal feathers wrote Lehmann (pp. 729-30, citing Crespo and Juarros). Crespo (p. 13)
reported that it raised cacao and pita (Agave?). Its tributes were 200 lbs. of maize planted, 80 xiquipiles
of cacao, and 48 lbs. of fresh fish in Lent.

Ciquinala/#54/150.
Before 1529, Jorge de Alvarado had granted one half of the town's tributes to Francisco de Zebreros
(Kramer et al, '90, p. 16). The other half is not mentioned. In 1549, all tributes were paid to Francisco
Calderon. In 1555 it was listed as being under Gaspar Arias but with tributes considerably reduced
because of excessive earlier demands (AGCA, p. 20).
Present Siquinalá, is west of Escuintla, at 337.58 meters elevation (1108 feet). Crespo described it as
being hot, humid, and with many mosquitoes, and producing maize, and cacao. There were 85
inhabitants (p. 10). Thirty years later Cortés y Larraz wrote that Tziquinalá (Vol. 11, pp. 287-88) was an
annex of Cozumalhuapam, with only 31 inhabitants, who were, apparently, raising sugar cane (there
were four trapiches, i.e., sugar mills).
Citala/# 127/40. Granted in early years to Francisco Sanchez (Kramer et al, '90, p. 17) who held it in
1549. In about 1572 the name is mentioned as that of a town tributary to Sacapulas (Carmack, '73,
Appendix xxi, pp. 392-94). It is not the Citalá located in present El Salvador.
Coatlan/#48/15 est, under Juan de Leon, Maldonado's business partner (Kramer thesis, p. 340). A
coastplain town now extinct? It paid only cacao.
Coatlan/#49/5. Granted in early years to Francisco Sanchez by Jorge de Alvarado (Kramer et al, '90, p.
17), in 1549 it was listed as being under Francisco Sanchez Tamborino, presumably the son of the
earlier grantee. This entry may refer to present San Sebastián Coatán, southwest of San Mateo Ixtatán,
on a tributary of the Selegua River. Olaverreta in 1740 (p.20) described it as cold and humid. He
reported that the inhabitants were travellers and traders, selling their wheat in Chiapas, and going to
distant hot country to plant maize.
Sanchez Tamborino also held #93 Nema, present Nebaj (Lovell, '85, p. 98) near Sacapulas, and #101,
Quelquel (unidentified). Both Nema and Quelquel exchanged servants for gold pesos, usually
indicative of an interior position. (See #150, which could refer to the same town).
Coatlan/# 150/150 est., under the Crown. The payments, especially the high payment of honey, and the
payment of maguey, suggest the highlands. Town #49 and Town #150 could be the same town whose
tributes were unequally divided with a token payment going to Sanchez Tamborino and the large part to
the Crown.
Present San Sebastián Coatán in the department of Huehuetenango, southwest of San Mateo Ixtatán,
meets the requirements.
Coçalchiname/# 157/50 est., under the Crown. In 1554, also listed as being under the Crown
(Cozalthiname: AGÇA, p.9), its tributes were reduced by 200 lbs. of maize to be planted, and 30
mantas . One addition was made: 12 chickens ("of the country"). The town is now unidentified. See
Acatepeque.
Cocelutla/#76/20, under Santos de Figueroa. The encomienda of which this town was part included
towns in the northwest, but also one town on the coastplain. Cocelutla's tributes, including herders,
probably indicate the interior.
Cochumatlan/#159/300 est. Held in 1528 by Marcos Ruiz (Kramer, et al, '90, p, 13), it was shared in
1549 by his minor sons and Garcia de Aguilar. The entry refers to present Todos Santos Cochumatlan at
2481 meters elevation (8140 feet).
The size specified for the mantas: 2-1/2 varas (33"=1 vara) long and made of four piernas (a pierna is
3/4 of a vara, or about 25" wide) would indicate that they were about 82-1/2 X 100 inches in size.

Coçumtlan/#84/100 est. Held in 1528 by Marcos Ruiz (Kramer, et al, '90, p. 13), in 1549 under the
minor sons of Antonio de Morales. The town is now unidentified. Perhaps it was near Casaguastlan
(Acasaguastlan, in the Motagua River valley), half of which was in the same encomienda, and which
also paid beans and fish.
The willingness of the encomenderos to exchange mantas for eight reales each was no generosity:
ordinarily an exchange of mantas was for four reales each.
Colutla/#67/60, under the minor son of Gonçalo de Ovalle. Unidentified. MacLeod (p.117) suggests
that the grant may have been made by Maldonado. The father had been allotted an encomienda with
860 tributaries, in three towns. One, Jacaltenango is in a valley of the highlands of the northwest,
another, Tasisco, is a cacao-paying town of the southeastern lowlands. Colutla which paid salt, could
have been in either section of the country.
Comalapa/#131/600. Held until 1530 by Ignacio de Bobaldilla (Kramer et al,'90, p. 14), it was, by
1549, under Juan Perez Dardon.
Present Comalapa, northwest of Antigua at 2115 meters elevation (6939 feet) was a well-populated and
productive place or the important conqueror, Perez Dardon would not have taken it. The tributes that he
received were not excessive — except for the trade of twenty servants for 150 gold pesos, exceeding
the rate paid to any other encomendero. However his payments had been reduced materially from those
paid to him in 1536-41. See the comparison of payments in the section dealing with that and other
payments as discovered and published by Kramer,et al (1986, p. 367). They suggest that the amount of
salt paid was an indication of the importance of the town as a trading center. They quote a 1562 source
to the effect that the merchants of the city were energetic traders whose connections reached into much
of the hot lowlands to acquire salt and cotton for exchange (ibid., note #51).
Comapa/#l 18/60 est., under Diego Lopez de Villanueva. Present Comapa, south of Jutiapa at 1250
meters elevation (4101 feet) was described by Crespo (p. 14) as being a Mexican-speaking town, cold
and producing Maize and pita (Agave fiber). The inhabitants still make cordage from Agave fiber. That
the natives were traders is indicated by their suggestion that fifty mantas and three servants be
exchanged for twenty-seven xiquipiles of cacao.
Comiaco and Totonicapa/#24/80, under Pedro de Paredes. Comiaco is not now listed. Perhaps it was
near the town now called San Cristobal Totonicapan? Paredes tributes are reasonable for the number of
his tributaries although two plantings of maize in the one season at an elevation of 2330 meters (7644
feet) would be hazardous.
Comitlan/# 145/20, under the minor son of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Unidentified. The payment of
pottery could suggest the northwest. (Kramer, Lovell and Lutz '91, place it on their map in the position
of present Comitancillo, NNE of San Marcos City.)
Conetla/# 165/150 est., under Gonçalo Ortiz. See comments regarding Alotepeque,#166. In 1554 it
was under the same encomendero (AGÇA, p.9).
In the review of 1554 (AGÇA, p. 9) many reductions were made: 100 lbs. of maize to be sown, 10 , 26
chickens (European type), 75 lbs. of honey, 50 lbs. of beeswax, 800 lbs. of chili, and 1500 lbs. of salt.
Two additions were made: 500 lbs. of dried beans, and 15 medium mats (petates).
Copulco/# 144/100 est, under Antonio de Paredes and Pedro Gonçalez Najara. Cubulco, about 15 kms.
west of Rabinal, may be the place called Copulco in the list. The tributes were modest. Two out of three
items were traded for gold pesos: aside from the gold only 48 chickens were paid .
Cozumaluapa. One half of the tributes of the town had been granted, in early years to to Gaspar Arias
who received them until 1534 (Kramer, et al, '90, p. 17). By 1549 they were divided: entry #99/70,

eferred to one part, under Rodrigo de Salvatierra and Diego Lopez de Villanueva. Reductions in
tributes paid to them in 1554 included 40 xiquipiles of cacao and possibly 80 tostones (for which they
had exchanged 4 servants). In compensation it seems, they were paid the additions of 10 xiquipiles of
pataxtle , 40 chickens (European type), 200 lbs. of chili, and 100lbs. of maize planted (AGÇA, p. 12).
The other part, listed in entry #100/60, was paid to Garcia de Salinas who had been a servant of Pedro
de Alavarado (Kramer, thesis, p. 240). Salvatierra and Lopez de Villanueva were paid 30 xiquipiles
more cacao, and one more servant than was Salinas who had been allotted 10 less tributaries. The name
of Salinas is not listed in 1554. His share had been allotted to Antonio Gomez who was to be paid 50
lbs. of maize to be sown, 20 chickens (European type), 40 xiquipiles of cacao, and 100 lbs. of chili.
(AGÇA, p. 13)
The town that paid these tributes is marked by extensive ruins at the Finca El Baul about three kms.
north of present Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa (Thompson, '48, p. 15).
Cuchil/#l1/30. Briefly under Diego Diaz, it was reassigned in 1531 to another encomendero (Kramer,
et al, '90, p. 14). By 1549 it was under Francisco Lopez and Melchor de Velasco. It is now part of Nebaj
( Lovell, '85, pp. 80-81).
Cuylco/#88/290, under Hernando Gutierrez de Gibaja and Hernando Mendez de Sotomayor.
Present Cuilco, on the river Cuilco near the Chiapas border is in a deep, warm, fertile valley surrounded
by rugged terrain. Because of the contrasts in elevations and climate of the area, the products range
from sugar (the source of most profit), coffee, bananas, as well as chili, vegetables, grains—including
wheat—also grazing lands for cattle (Dicc. Geog.).
Çacapa/#79/80, under the minor sons of Bartolomé de Molina. Another Çacapa, #110, also is shown as
having 80 tributaries. It was under Juan de Chávez. The two entries probably represent an
approximately equal division of the payments of one town. Present Zacapa is located at 185 meters
elevation (607 feet), south of the middle Motagua River.
Çacapula. In the late 1520s, Jorge de Alvarado granted one half of this town to Juan Paez, whose
minor sons inherited it. The other half, in those years, was allotted to Anton de Morales (Kramer et al,
'90, p. 14) whose heirs—or their father—had exchanged their share for other—important—towns by
1549. The tributes of Çacapula in 1549, were evenly divided between the son of Juan Paez (#34/80),
and Cristoval de Salvatierra (#38/80). The son of Juan Paez held the share in 1554 (AGÇA, p. 17) with
reductions of 8 chickens, and, presumably, 14 xiquipiles of cacao that had been allotted in exchange for
5 servants. The other share was still under Salvatierra in 1554 (AGÇA, p. 8) but with reductions of 38
chickens, 1950 lbs. of salt, and, presumably the 14 xiquipiles of cacao that had been paid in exchange
for 5 servants.
Sacapulas, a Quiché town at the foot of the Cuchumatanes Mountains is an ancient salt producer.
Andrews ('83, pp. 89, 91) describes the process which he says has been carried on since pre-Spanish
times in the same laborious way. Now, most of the product is used by nearby cattle ranches, but some,
as a continuation of ancient trade, goes to regional markets.
Çacatepeque/#40/400 est. under Francisco de Monterroso. This man came to Guatemala in 1542 as a
servant of Pedro de Alvarado. He married the widow of one of the conquerors. She was granted
Santiago Zacatepeque with the proviso that she marry Monterroso (Kramer thesis, p. 333).
Çacatepeque/#46/700, under Bernal Diaz. Of the seven towns listed as Sacatepéquez on the modern
map of Guatemala, four are Cakchiquel-speaking towns in the general area of Antigua. Two, San Lucas
and Santiago, were probably in the encomienda of Monterroso. The other two, San Juan and San Pedro,
probably in the encomienda of Bernal Diaz. The reasons for the conclusion are these: Bernal Diaz held,
in 1579, as part of his encomienda, San Raimundo, northnorthwestward of present Guatemala City

(Simpson, 1937), which was, according to Cortes y Larraz (Vol. II, pp. 83, 197-98) an annex of San
Juan. Because the road was too steep for animals and human bearers had to be used, the encomendero
was instructed to pay 30 cacao beans per carga for delivery of maize and wheat to the city (Antigua).
The other two towns of the name (presumed to be under Monterroso) also were in country too steep for
pack animals, but their payment for human carriers was smaller: 25 cacao beans per carga. It would
seem that those towns were closer to the city than were those attributed to Bernal Diaz. Such is the case
with San Lucas and Santiago. The other three towns now bearing the name Sacatepéquez, are
considered to have been part of the encomienda of Francisco de la Cueva - entry #106 on the tribute
list. See discussion of him and these towns in the chapter on the Encomienda .
Cacatepeque and Ostuncalco/# 106/2000, under Francisco de la Cueva (the rotundity of the number
makes it suspect as does the size of the property).
In 1528 this important holding was under Don Pedro Portocarrero (Kramer et al, '90, p. 13). Later, it
had been acquired by Martin de Guzman, Maldonado's brother-in-law. After his return from Spain in
1540, Alvarado arranged to pay an enormous sum— 4600 pesos—for the town. For remarks regarding
these towns and the encomienda of this man see the comments regarding him in the chapter on The
Encomienda and in the section regarding towns that were not noted in the tribute list.
Çapotitan/# 102/80, under Pedro Gonçalo Najara. This entry probably refers to present Zapotitlan,
SSE of the city of Jutiapa. . Although it is located at 900 meters elevation (2953 feet), too high and too
dry for cacao trees, it paid a tribute of 60 xiquipiles of cacao, acquired, no doubt, by trade. Such was
also the case with its neighbors.Yupitepeque (#66 - present Yupiltepeque), seven kms. away, and
Atescatenpa (#147 - present Atescatempa), about nine kms. away.
Çapotitan/#l17/1000. In the first assignment of encomiendas it was divided between Bartolomé
Becerra and Hernando de Andrade (Kramer, thesis, p. 81). In 1528, the town was under Bartolomé
Becerra (Kr., L. L. and Sw '90, p. 13). Either that record failed to record another holder or, by 1549
Becerra had relinquished part: the tribute list shows the town as being under Martin de Guzman and
Bartolome Bezerra. Both of these men were important in the early affairs of Guatemala. Martin de
Guzman was the brother of Alonso Maldonado, the president of the Audiencia and a member of the
Salamancan nobility who had supplemented that influence by marrying the daughter of Montejo, the
conqueror of Yucatan (Sherman, pp. 129, 136-39). Bartolomé Becerra was described by Fuentes y
Guzman as one of the "valiant defenders" of Sacatepequez in the rebellion of 1526 (Vol. II, p.79). His
daughter married Bernal Diaz del Castillo (op. cit. ,Vol I, p103). The listing of 1549 refers to present
San Francisco Zapotitlán in the Quiché area (Thompson, '48, p. 9), which included under its
jurisdiction present Mazatenango, San Martín Zapotitlán, and Cuyotenango (Garcés, pp.103, 382).
By 1555 both Martin de Guzman and Bartolomé Becerra had died. Their shares were inherited by the
minor son of Guzman, and Juana de Saavedra, the widow of Becerra.
The reductions of 1555 were considerable: 600 lbs. of maize planted, 100 mantas (or perhaps 200. The
addition of payments of the annexes is obviously incorrect in the document), 44 chickens, 50 lbs. of
honey, and 200 xiquipiles of cacao (AGÇA, legajo 2797, exp. 40466, p. 18).
Çaqualpa/# 16/200. In early years, and until 1541 the town was under Diego de Monroy (Kr.L,L,and
Sw '90, p. 16, Kramer thesis, p. 125). In 1542, Pedro de Alvarado granted it to his brother. Later, when
other towns for his brother became available he granted it to his cousin, Alonso Castillo Maldonado
(Kramer thesis, pp. 334, 340). No encomendero was listed in 1549. If the entry refers to present
Zacualpa due east of Santa Cruz del Quiché on a left bank tributary of the Motagua River, at about
1500 meters elevation (4921 feet), cacao had to have been acquired by trade.

In 1554, the town was under a newcomer, Pedro de Robledo. The tributes of 1549 were reduced by the
300 lbs. of maize to be sown, 30 mantas, and 20 xiquipiles of cacao (AGÇA, p. 12).
Kramer suggests that it may be present San Miguel Escobar (thesis, p. 424).
Çaqualpilla/# 129/20. Granted to Francisco Sanchez by Jorge de Alvarado (Kramer et al, '90, p. 17), it
remained as part of his encomienda at least until 1549. Now unidentified, but perhaps the trade of one
servant for five gold pesos is an indication of an interior location: part of Zacualpa?
Çoloma/#10/40, under Diego de Alvarado and Juan de Astroqui. A cold site (Soloma) at 2274 meters
elevation(7460 feet), about 40 kms. north of Huehuetenango City — but suitable for the tributes
required: maize, mantas, chickens and herders.
Çunpango
The name appears in three entries: #58/200, under the Crown, #59/(200 -assumed) under Juan Alvarez,
#169/200 (assumed) under the Crown.
Tributes #58 #59 #169
Maize 6 5 50,000 lbs.
Wheat 6
Beans 1
Chickens 72 72
Cacao 50 80 (xiq's)
Servants (7)
Present Sumpango is about twelve kilometers north of Antigua, at 1900 meters (6234 feet) elevation. In
the tribute list town #58 is described as being close "to the city" (i.e. present Antigua). It is suggested
that the Indians may, "of their own volition" deliver the maize and beans to "the city" as the road is too
steep for animals. For town #59 the same suggestion is made regarding the wheat. Payment was to be
thirty cacao beans per fifty lb. carga. The seven servants of town #59 were exchanged for twenty
xiquipiles of cacao. The 50,000 lbs. of maize of town #169 would represent a planting of five fanegas
(500 lbs.).
The assumption made here is that the tributaries of the town were divided approximately equally, which
would suggest a total of 600. That figure would be reasonable—at a time of diminishing populations—
in comparison with the figure of 465 in the year 1561 (See Lovell, Lutz, and Swezey, 1984, table 2).
The situation is somewhat confused by the fact that towns #58 and #59 were recorded in early April
1549 while town #169 is dated November 24, 1551. The later entry apparently represented a correction
of tribute payments in favor of the Crown.
Guaçacapan/#68/400. In the first assignment of encomiendas the town was put under Juan Munoz de
Talavera, a name not listed in 1549. Perhaps he had died by1528, for at that time probably, Jorge de

Alvarado granted it to Juan Gomez, who, in the late 1530s sold it to Pedro de Alvarado (Kramer et al,
'90, p. 15). It was later, apparently, expropriated by the Crown. In 1549 its Indians planted 200 lbs. of
maize for tribute and paid 600 xiquipiles of cacao.
Modern Guazacapán is located at 261 meters (856 feet) elevation, in southeastern Guatemala. Shook
and Gillen report that part of the modern town is still Indian and "remains almost unchanged since the
Spanish conquest."
Gueguetenango/#17/500, present Huehuetenango, was, in 1549 under Juan del Espinar, one of the
conquerors of Mexico and Guatemala. He held it as early as 1525 and—with a brief interlude —until
his death in the 1560s (Kramer et al, 1991, p. 271). According to Pedro de Alvarado, with whom he
quarelled, he was "a lowly man.........a tailor" but "he had a good horse" (op. cit., pp. 269-70). That, by
literal translation would have made him a caballero, a person of status, but apparently such was not the
case.
As Wendy Kramer has pointed out, it was "unusual that a known artisan, probably unmarried, without
any claim to exceptional services in the conquest, and with no family ties to any of the governors,
managed to become such a wealthy and prominent encomendero" (Kramer, theses, Chap 9, pp. 354 et
seq., particularly p. 384).
Nevertheless, his part in the conquests of Mexico and Guatemala could not have been negligible. The
fact is shown by the 1525 grant to him by Pedro de Alvarado of the important city of Huehuetenango .
But later, after they quarreled, Alvarado wrote disparagingly of him and, in 1530, the encomienda was
taken from him and granted to Francisco Zurrilla; but it was returned to Espinar in 1531.
On the whole, tributes paid to him seem, in view of the number of tributaries, to have been
comparatively small (see Chap no. 2). He was paid relatively few mantas and no cacao. But that record
may not be a proper indication of his receipts. He was paid merchantable surpluses of comestibles:
maize, beans, chilis, and salt. Payments of those were the highest or among the highest of the province.
The same was true of planted cotton. Yet more important were his profits from gold and silver mines
near his encomienda (Kramer, thesis, pp. 361, 379).
The large amount of salt paid in tribute was acquired from Çacapula.
Gueymango/#28/100, under Bartolome Reynoso, the widower of Isabel Godines. It is one of two
entries of the same name. The other, no. 44, was listed as being under Garcia Lopez. Early records
indicate that the two entries refer to one town (Crespo, 1935, p. 12; Fuentes y Guzman, Vol.1, pp. 79
ff). Present Guaymango, in the district of Ahuachapan, El Salvador, was, at the time of the tribute lists,
under Santiago de Guatemala. In the mid-sixteenth century, the tributes of the town were unequally
divided between Reynoso and Garcia Lopez (see town #44/50). The unequal division was made
perhaps because each encomendero held two towns and the total payments for each man were in
keeping with the respective tributary totals.
Joanagaçapa/#7/20, under Bernal Diaz. The sole payment was twenty xiquipiles of cacao. Present
Guanagazapa, at 325 meters (1066 feet) elevation, southeast of Escuintla, is a ladino town with few
natives. It is considerably larger than was the native town held by Bernal Diaz.
Joxutla/#45/37, under Garcia Lopez. Joxutla's tributes were of the same items, only of somewhat lesser
quantities than those of Gueymango which is to be expected in view of the respective numbers of
tributaries. Also the encomendero had planted a cacao grove and the Indians of this town were obliged
to "cultivate the cacao milpa in the pueblo". Present Jujutla is located at 420 meters (1378 feet)
elevation, about five kilometers from present Guaymango.

Jumaytepeque/# 105/75 est., under Francisco de la Cueva (spelled Jumaytepeque in the border gloss
but Zumaytepeque in the body of the text). Present Jumaytepeque, in the department of Santa Rosa, is
at an elevation of 1815 meters (5955 feet), northeast of Cuilapa. If this was the town under Cueva, one
wonders why he wanted it, an unimportant town at least 150 kms. away from his major holding of
Çacatepeque and Ostuncalco.
In 1528, the town was under Alonso Gonzalez Naxara and Sebastian del Marmol. Alonso was,
presumably, the father of the man listed as Pedro Gonçalo Najara in 1549. According to a document of
1543 cited by Fowler (p. 246) Alonso was eaten by the inhabitants of the town. Sebastian died about
1540 (Kr. L. L. and Sw. '90, p. 15). In 1549, Pedro Gonçalo Najara held other towns (see #102, and
#144).
Los Esquipulas/#151/150 est., under the Crown. In the east, near the Honduras border.
Luquitlan/#57/300, under the minor sons of Anton de Morales and Pedro de Çavallos. Its payments of
cacao and exchange of servants for cacao suggest a lowland position; perhaps with extensions into the
uplands for other tribute payments. It may have been in the Motagua drainage: the heirs of Morales also
held a part of Çacaguastlan (#103) in that region. The name Luquitlan does not appear on modern
maps.
Morales and Çavallos (Ceballos in the 1554 record: AGÇA, p. 8) were still the encomenderos in 1554.
Reductions in 1554 from the tributes of 1549 were the following: 100 mantas , 42 doz. eggs, 50 lbs. of
honey, 200 lbs. of chia, and 5 xiquipiles of cacao (from the direct tribute of 60 xiquipiles plus 15
received in exchange for 6 servants in 1549).
Macagua and Mecameos/# 120/100, under Francisco Calderon. Mecameos is unidentified: probably it
was absorbed by Maçagua. This entry and another Maçagua, #128, under Santos de Figueroa, one of
the conquerors of Guatemala with Pedro de Alvarado, apparently referred to the same town, the tributes
of which were shared by Calderon and Figueroa. Masagua, a name applied to several settlements in
Central America, in this instance refers to the town southsouthwest of Escuintla. It was founded about
1544 by merging several scattered settlements of Pipiles (Thompson, '48, p. 8). In 1554 (AGÇA, p.2)
Mazagua was listed as being under Santos de Figueroa. Pineda, a few years after the date of the tribute
list, referred to it as being part of the encomienda of the widow of Figueroa (p. 428). In the first half of
the eighteenth century, Crespo noted that the language was "Mexican". He also noted that to the Indian
population Mulatoes had been added, (p. 11). Calderon, a Maldonadoan, had been allotted part of the
tributes of the town. He held two other cacao-paying towns, Siquinala (#54), west of Escuintla, and
Tacuscalco (#121). From the three towns he was paid 630 xiquipiles of cacao, the fourth largest
payment of that item in Central America. MacLeod describes him as being "a powerful private
individual", whose income was one of the largest in the area (pp. 111, 117).
By 1554, apparently, he had died. Siquinala, then was recorded as being under Arias (AGCA, p. 20),
and Maçagua under Santos de Figueroa (AGÇA, p. 2).
Malacatepeque/#78/80, no encomendero shown. Until 1541 it was held by Diego de Monroy (Kramer
et al, '90, p. 16). The 1549 payment of fish suggests a coastal location (all identified towns of the
province of Santiago that paid fish were coastal).
Mascote/#l 13/150 est., under Bartolome Marroquin. Unidentified. Its tributes suggest an upland
location; perhaps upslope from Ahuachapan, in present El Salvador which was held by the same
encomendero.
Miaguatlan/#123/6. In early years it was granted by Jorge de Alvarado to Francisco Lopez (Kramer et
al, '90, p. 17). In 1549 he shared it with the minor son of Juan Paez. It paid cacao and nothing else.

Pedro de Alvarado reported being at "Miaguaclam" after having been in Acaxual (Acajutla) and
Tacuxalco (Tacuscalco)(Cortes Society, p. 81). Kelly locates Miaguatlan at about one half mile from
Sonsonate (p. 146; and see notes regarding Tacuscalco, #121).
Misco/# 134/160, under Gonçalo de Alvarado. Present Mixco, west of present Guatemala City, was
established after the destruction of the former Mixco - now Mixco Viejo - in 1525. The former town
had been a capital of the Pokoman "nation" (Coe, '80, p!41), probably founded in the thirteenth
century . At the time of the conquest, it was an important military fortress and trading center and was
the focus of about 10,000 Indians living on the surrounding slopes (Bruce Hunter, pp. 206 ff). Andres
de la Mezquita held it until 1546 (Kramer, thesis, p. 189).
Motolcintla/#90/138. In present Chiapas. See Amatenango.
Moyutla/#30/250, under Juan Resino. Present Moyuta, in the hills northeast of Pasaco at 1283 meters
elevation (4209 feet), in southeast Guatemala. Crespo identified it as a Pupuluca town, with saltmakers
(p. 15). Their ancestors probably worked salinas on the coastplain not many kilometers to the south of
the settlement.(Andrews identifies such areas on his page 73). Its 1549 tributes included a payment of
900 lbs. salt.
Mustenango/#l 14/450. In 1530 it was held in part by Diego Diaz (Kramer et al, '90, p. 14). In 1549 it
was held entirely by Juan Perez Dardon.
Present Momostenango, is at 2235 meters elevation (7382 feet). Cacao obviously was brought in from
the lowland, Indians exchanging other of the goods for it. For further discussion of Perez Dardon see
the section regarding The encomienda.
Nancintla/#26/30, under Alonso Hernandez, and continued to be at least until 1554, when the tribute of
200 lbs. of maize planted was eliminated, but that of 90 xiquipiles of cacao remained (AGÇA, p. 3).
Nancinta, which at the time of the Spanish conquest was a Xinca town (Crespo, '35, p. 13), is now an
aldea of the municipio of Chiquimulilla (Pineda Pivaral, p. 30). Rubio Sanchez (p. 40) and Sherman (p.
23) identify the town with Nacendelan, a name that does not appear on the tribute lists, but which was
located between Taxisco and Pasaco, and was very large according to Lehmann (p.727) who was
quoting Alvarado. At one time it was in another location nearby, but no remnant of that structure
presently exists (Pineda Pivaral p. 134).
Naolingo/#70/200, under three encomenderos: Gomez Diaz de la Reguera received one half of the
payments, Juan de Guzman received one quarter, as did Francisco Lopez. The sole payment by the
town was 685 xiquipiles of cacao. In 1575 Diego de Guzman, presumably the heir of Juan, still
received one quarter of the payment of cacao; but it had been increased to 250 xiquipiles. Vazquez de
Coronado, a Salamancan, as was the president of the Audiencia, arrived in the 1540s (MacLeod, p. 86).
His Salamancan connections made him the recipient of valuable properties in the New World. He had
been allotted the half of the payments formerly paid to Diaz de la Reguera. The other quarter had been
transferred to one Gernan Gonçalez, the husband of Beatriz de Escobar, who may have been the heir to
the estate of Francisco Lopez (Naolingo, 1575). In 1770, the bishop, Cortés y Larraz listed "Naulingo"
as being under the ecclesiastical control of Caluco (Vol. I p. 80). Present Nahulingo is near Sonsonate
in El Salvador.
Nema/#93/35. In early years under Francisco Sanchez (Kramer et al, '90, p. 17), by 1549 it had been
placed under his son, Francisco Sanchez Tamborino. It is present Nebaj, northwest of Sacapulas
(Lovell, '85, p.98).
Nestiquipaque/#47/ 150 est., under Cristobal Rodriguez Picon. Present Santa Anita (Nistiquipaque),
part of the municipio of Santa Maria Ixhuatán. Payments to the encomendero included 15 fanegas of
sown wheat, 1250 lbs. of beans, and some maize, mantas, blouses, chickens and honey. Also paid were

six xiquipiles of cacao which according to Pineda (p. 453) it obtained, as it did cotton for mantas and
blouses, by trade. He described its location as being on a mountain above Guacaçapan.
Niquitlan# 156/20, under Leonor de Castillanos. (Kramer, et al, '91 "Fire in the Mountains, p. 17,
identify it as San Pedro Necta).
Nopiçalco/#33/100 est, under Isabel Godines, the widow of Bartolome Reynoso. It paid 150 xiquipiles
of cacao and 300 lbs. salt. Barón Castro indicates that it no longer exists, but that it was in the area of
"the Izalcos", that is, present southwest El Salvador ( p.579)
Nytla/#56/155, under the minor daughter of Juan Duran, who possibly held it before 1530 (Kramer et
al, '90, p. 14).
Present Asunción Mita? That town was once Pipil, according to Stoll but was taken over—reclaimed?
by the Pokomames (1938, p.2). Its sole payment was 280 xiquipiles of cacao. The elevation of 470
meters (1542 feet) is suitable to the product.
Ocotenango/# 124/50, under the minor son of Gaspar Aleman who (the father) was granted it in early
years (Kramer, et al., '90, p. 16), and the son continued to hold it at least until 1554 (AGÇA, p. 14). At
that time there were reductions of 20 mantas (from 50 that included 30 in exchange for two servants),
and 100 lbs. of chili. There was no reference to servants.
Present San Bartolomé Jocotenango, south of Sacapulas, on a tributary of the Chixoy River: a Quiché
town.
Oçuma/#l 15/40, under Andrea de Rodas, a servant of Jorge de Alvarado who granted the town to
Rodas in early years (Kramer et al, '90, p. 16). It may be present Usumatlan on the Motagua River,
about 10 kms. east of San Cristobal Acasaguastlan. In 1554 (AGÇA, p. 4) tributes had been reduced by
the elimination of eggs and fish. Ten xiquipules of cacao were added. Servants (three of which had
been exchanged for forty tostones in 1549), were not mentioned.
Ostuncalco and Cacatepeque. See Çacatepeque.
Paçaco and Tototepeque/#60/40, under Antonio de Salazar. Present Pasaco (indigenous "Paxa"; at 150
meters elevation: 492 feet.) in Jutiapa province. Crespo (p. 15) and Cortes y Larraz (Vol I, p.58)
identified it as a Pupuluca town. Tototepeque is unidentified.
Pajacis/#l 19/30 est., under Diego Lopez de Villanueva. Interesting, in the tributes of this town, is the
item of 200 feathers that were paid in direct tribute and another 200 in exchange for an allotted two
servants. Cortés y Larraz wrote that the Indians of Çumpango--which did not list feathers among its
tributes— spent a large amount of money for feathers to use in their fiestas (Vol II, p.79). Perhaps they
obtained them from Pajacis? The town is not identified, but its tributes suggest position in the
southeast.
In 1554 (the town of "Xequicic"), was under Lopez de Villanueva, but changes had been made in
tributes: the item of 50 lbs. of maize to be planted was eliminated. Servants (that had been exchanged
for 200 feathers) were not mentioned. There was an addition of 10 xiquipiles of cacao.
Petapa/# 160/300. In early years the town was assigned to Perez Dardon but was removed from his
encomienda in 1530 (Kramer et al, '90, p. 17). At that time, probably, it was placed under the control of
Francisco de Castellanos, the treasurer of the colony, but it was removed from his control by Alvarado
in 1535. By 1549 it had been placed under the Crown.
It is situated at 1360 meters elevation (4462 feet) between present Guatemala City and Lake Amatitlan.
The cacao, paid in tribute was obtained, no doubt, by trade. (Gage in the early seventeenth century
reported it to be a large town with a large trade: 1958, p. 201).Wheat, also paid, may have been planted

on lands controlled by the town on slopes above.
Petatan/#l/35 est. Held in 1528 by Gonzalo de Ovalle (Kramer et al, '90, p. 12), who by 1549 had
relinquished it for other, more important towns. In 1549 it was under Diego Sanchez Santiago.
This aptly-named town paid, among other things, 100 petates. It is now the aldea of that name in the
municipio of Concepción in Huehuetenango, located near the Chanjón River, SSW of Jacaltenango..
The name is also applied to an archaeological site in the same municipio.
Pinola/#l37/100, under Martin de Guzman, who by 1555 (AGCA, p. 17.), had died and was succeeded
by his son, Juan Maldonado de Guzman. The name of the town appears only once in the list; but it
appears three times on the modern map: Santa Catarina Pinula, at 1580 meters elevation (5184 feet),
virtually at the edge of modern Guatemala City, San José Pinula, about nine kilometers from Santa
Catarina, at 1850 meters elevation (6070 feet), and San Pedro Pinula, in Jalapa province, at 1097
meters elevation (3599 feet), eastnortheast of the city of Jalapa. Because of their propinquity, Santa
Catarina and San José may have been considered as a unit in payment of tributes; and the total of the
two (plus annexes?) was made to Guzman. The payments of San Pedro Pinula were probably subsumed
under the tributes paid by Xalapa (Jalapa), #161, to Graviel de Cabrera.
In the revue of tributes in 1555 (AGCA p. 17), paid to Juan Maldonado de Guzman, the son of Martin
de Guzman, maize planting was reduced by 100 lbs., and honey by 25 lbs. The 6 servants noted in 1549
are not mentioned.
Queçalcoatitan/#9/20, under Alonso de Luarca, to whom it was granted in 1528 (Kramer et al, '90, p.
15). Ponce (Vol I, p. 404) places it about in the place of present Salcoatitan (in modern El Salvador),
which has an elevation of 1045 Meters (3428 feet). For the payment of cacao the natives would have
traded other goods. The total payments were heavy for twenty tributaries. The explanation may be in a
combination of payments made by this and the other town held by Luarca (see #37, Yçapa).
Queçaltenango/#91/200. It was granted by Jorge de Alvarado, probably in 1528 (Kramer et al, '90, p.
15), to "Ynancio" (Ignacio) de Bobadilla, whose minor childrem held it in 1549. In 1554 (AGCA, pp.
10,11) it was reported as being under a minor daughter. At that time the tributes had been reduced by 30
mantas, 50 lbs. of honey and, possibly 150 tostones (which, in 1549, had been paid in exchange for 10
servants).
Another entry of the name Queçaltenango, #138/800 est., under the Crown, is also listed in 1549 and in
1554 (AGÇA, p. 10). At the latter time payments had been reduced by 200 mantas and 50 lbs. of beans
to be planted. As there is no suggestion in the literature that there was more than one town of the name
it can be assumed that a relatively small part of the tributes of one town were paid to the heir of
Bobadilla and the greater payment to the Crown. The elevation of 2333 meters (7654 feet) precludes a
plantation of cacao, but Garcés, in 1570 (p.382), refers to the estancias of San Felipe and San Luis
under Quezaltenango of the Crown, in both of which cacao was grown. Pineda, in the same period of
time, also referred to San Luis, and other cacao towns that were subject to Quezaltenango (p. 436).
Although the number of tributaries allotted to the Crown is not shown, it was probably about the same
as that of Totonicapan: the tributes paid are precisely the same for each town. (See Queçaltenango, no.
138, and Totonicapan, no. 122).
Queçaltepeque/#52/20 est. (also see #92/24, and #135/90).The three entries for this name probably
represent the same town, divided between Velasco, Larios, and Cristobal Lobo, in unequal parts. The
present town, in the department of Chiquimula, is situated at 650 meters elevation (2133 feet),
southsoutheast of the town of Chiquimula, in the relatively dry east of Guatemala, in the drainage of
the Zacapa River. The name in Nahuat means Mountain of the Quetzales but no feathers appeared on
the tribute list. It may have been a center of trade where they were handled .

The payments to Velasco of cacao, salt, and fish could have been acquired by exchange, or by the town
controlling lands in the lowlands, not far away. The four servants allotted to Larios, in entry #92, were
the sole payment for his part of the town. They were exchanged for 80 tostones. The larger number of
tributaries and larger tributes were shown under town #135, in the encomienda of Cristobal Lobo.
Quelquel/#l01/10. Granted in early years to Francisco Sanchez by Jorge de Alvarado (Kramer et al,
'90, p. 17), by 1549 it was under his son, Francisco Sanchez Tamborino. The town, is now unidentified.
Its tributes were minor. The one servant being exchanged for 5 gold pesos may suggest the interior,
north of the young volcanics.
Quiaguistlan/# 140/20, under Francisco Lopez and Gomez Diaz de la Reguera. Mentioned by Fuentes
y Guzman as one of the productive villages of the valley of Sacatepéquez (Vol II, p.66). Now
unidentified.
Suchitepeque
In the early 1530s, Suchitepeque was shared by three Spaniards: Juan Luis, Cristobal Lobo, and Gaspar
Arias (Kramer thesis, p. 191). The name of Juan Luis does not appear on the 1549 list. That of
Cristobal Lobo does, but with other towns. The minor son of Gaspar Arias had inherited a share.
The name of the town appeared on the tribute list of 1549 three times: numbers 39, 87, and 97. The
following tributes, were paid:
Held by
Dates of
Entries
Maize
Mantas
#39/160 87/est. 400 #97/286
sons of Garcia de Escobar Gutierrez de Gibaja,
and Mendez de
Sotomayor
minor son of
Gaspar Arias
4/5/49 4/26/49 4/26/49
8 2 3
-- 300 (exchanged for 75
xiquipiles of cacao on
7/12/49)
Chickens 96 48 48
Honey 75 50 50
Cacao -- 500 (plus 75.
See above)
450 (plus 50.
See above),
200 (exchanged
for 50 xiquipiles
of cacao on
7/12/49)

Fish — 75 —
Servants 12 (exchanged for 60
gold pesos on 9/14/49)
— —
It would seem that the tributes of San Antonio and Santo Domingo Suchitepeque were combined and
divided according to the decision of the authorities.
The payments to the minor sons of Garcia de Escobar were relatively small and included no cacao or
mantas —items avidly sought by powerful men. The minor sons of Escobar apparently were being
remembered for the achievements of their father, but lacked the political weight of the other
encomenderos involved with these towns.
Entry no. 87, with an estimated 400 tributaries, was later called San Antonio Suchitepéquez. In 1555, it
was under two new encomenderos : Pedro Hernandez Montesdoca (who had acquired the share of
Gutierrez de Gibaja), and the minor son of Hernan Mendez, who had inherited that of his father,
Mendez de Sotomayor (AGÇA, p. 17). Reductions of 1555 were material: payments of planted maize,
honey, and fish were eliminated, chickens were reduced from 48 to 36. Mantas (300 of which had been
exchanged for 75 xiquipiles of cacao) were not mentioned, and the original figure of 500 xiquipiles had
been reduced to 450 (making a total reduction of 125).
In 1570, Garcés (Carmack, '73, p. 380) reported on San Antonio "of the encomienda of Juan Mendez de
Sotomayor and Francisco de Ayllon" (who had replaced Pedro Hernandez Montesdoca). Garcés
described the area as being "rich in cacao", a fact demonstrated by the payments made.
Vazquez de Espinosa, two generations later, reported that the alcaldia mayor exported quantities of
cacao in an active trade with Mexico City and all of New Spain (1942 638).
Suchitepeque/no. 97/286, under the minor son of Gaspar Arias.
This entry refers to Santo Domingo Suchitepequez. In the 1555 review of the tributes paid by
"Suchitepeque Nagualapa" (AGCA,p. 19), the town was listed as being under Gaspar Arias (no
reference to "minor sons"). Several items of payment were reduced: 300 lbs. of planted maize, 12
chickens, 25 lbs. of honey, and 150 xiquipipiles of cacao (including 50 paid in exchange for 20
mantas). One addition was made: 50 xiquipiles of pataxtle (the inferior type of cacao).
Garcés, in 1570, refers to San Juan de Nagualapa in the encomienda of Gaspar Arias de Avila as "the
richest town of this coast, and of all the land", because of its cacao (Garcés, pp. 380-81).
Tacolula/# 104/30, under the minor sons of Garcia de Escobar and Juan Alvarez. It was a Xincaspeaking
town (Lehmann, p.727), that Cortés y Larraz reported to have been big until the beginning of
the eighteenth century (Vol. II, pp. 232 ff). The bishop also reported that it was three leagues west of
Taxisco and that the priest was ill, the territory was "inundated" by mosquitoes, sand-flies, bloodsucking
spiders (talajes), and other pestiferous insects, as well as dangerous animals. Maize was sown
twice a year but the harvest was so poor that it hardly merited the labor. The remains of the settlement
of Tacuilulá are in the municipio of Taxisco.
Tacuba/#32/100, held in 1528 and until his death in 1540 by Sebastian del Marmol (Kramer, thesis, p.
124). By 1549 it had been placed under Francisco de la Cueva. Tacuba WSW of Ahuachapan in present
El Salvador, is probably the town in the encomienda of Cueva. It is too high for cacao, but that
payment could have been obtained by exchange. The Indians of Cueva's town were instructed to send
twenty men twice a year, for four days each time, to the pueblo of Yumaytepeque (present
Jumaytepeque) to work with the wheat. As the towns are about forty miles apart, they would be gone

not only the eight days each year, but probably that many more in transit. Yet nothing is said about food
for those Indians, which was required in similar cases with other towns and encomenderos. Two
conditions may have militated against the matter of food in Cueva's case: he was a most important
encomendero, and the tributes from this town with 100 tributaries consisted of only one item: eighty
xiquipiles of cacao, a low payment.
Tacuscalco/#121/100, under Francisco Calderon. Pedro de Alvarado mentioned "Tacuxalco" as a place
he passed through after leaving Acajutla going toward the interior of present El Salvador (Alvarado,
1924, p. 81), and from there through Miaguaclam (op. cit, p. 83), which was located somewhat north of
east of present Sonsonate (Termer, '54, p.7; Gómara, p.319). The town no longer exists, but Barón
Castro wrote that it did exist as late as 1823. If so, it may have been moved from an earlier location
because he described its remnants as being one kilometer south of Sonsonate (p. 126, n. 127).
Tasisco/#81/300, under the minor son of Gonçalo de Ovalle (whose father had received it from Jorge
de Alvarado in 1528: Kramer, et al, '90, p. 12). In December 1554 (AGCA, p. 15), it was reported as
being under Lope Rodriguez de las Varrillas "a minor son" (of whom it doesn't say). There was no such
name on the tribute list of Santiago in 1549. The tributes of 1549 were reduced in 1554 by eliminating
all but the payment of 400 xiquipiles of cacao. Pineda, in the last half of the sixteenth century, adverted
to its several annexes (p. 431). Crespo (pp. 12-13) reported it as being on the flanks of Mount
Nextiquipaque (presumably Tacuamburro). It was a Xinca-speaking town (Lehmann, p. 727). Present
Taxisco is located at 214 meters elevation (702 feet), apparently moved from the earlier location
reported by Crespo, which may not have been suitable for cacao. Perhaps the present town is at the
location of one of the several annexes reported by Pineda.
Tecoaco/#51/40, under the minor sons of Bartolome de Molina, who continued to hold it at least until
1554 (AGÇA, p. 4). At that time the tribute payments were reduced by eliminating payments of
chickens, fish, and 30 xiquipiles of cacao, leaving a payment of 30 xiquipiles . It was a Xinca town
(Crespo, Thequaco, p. 14), and is present San Juan Tecuaco, in Santa Rosa Province, at 475 meters
elevation (1558 feet), east of Chiquimulilla.
Tecocistlan/# 146/600, under the Crown. Part or all of the town was held by Pedro de Alvarado in early
years, but by1528 by Baltazar de Mendoza and Gaspar Arias. In 1535, when Mendoza died, his part
reverted to Jorge de Alvarado who, even earlier had received the part of Arias (Kramer et al, '90, p. 16).
By 1542 one half of it was held by Gonçalo Ortiz, but removed from his control during his absence in
Spain during that year and in 1544 it was under the Crown (Kramer thesis, p. 320). But Ortiz had been
compensated: by 1549 he held four other towns that paid him several items convertible into cash:
honey (the highest payment in the province), salt, chili, and beeswax.
It is present Rabinal at 972 meters elevation (3189 feet). Remesal reported that it was only after some
difficulties with the Indians that Bartolomé de las Casas and Father Pedro de Angulo arranged for the
transfer of natives from other settlements to what ultimately became Rabinal (1932, Vol. 1, p. 212).
Pineda, about 1557, referred to "Tequecistlan" as being very large, but less than one half of its former
size. He also reported that cotton was raised and from the harvests, heavy mantas were made to be sent
to "the Ycalcos" where they were used to contain cacao for transfer to Mexico (p. 446). Six hundred
mantas were paid in 1549.
Gage, in the first half of the seventeenth century, referred to it as being a large, fine town with 800
families of Indians. It was warm, he wrote (p. 210). Cortés y Larraz referred to it as being hot and dry;
but with large plantings of maize, and with other crops, including sugar cane, and cattle . He was struck
by its lovely situation in a flat valley (Vol II. pp. 26 ff).
Tecpanpuyumatlan/#12/150, Under Pedro de Bozarraez (his only town). 500 lbs. salt, and 60 mats
(petates), and herders may suggest the northwest. Kramer, Lovel and Lutz, '91, identify it with Santa

Eulalia, southsoutheast of San Mateo Ixtatán.
In June 1554 the tributes were reduced by 80 mantas (in 1549 the payment of mantas was listed as 150,
but by exchange of 3 servants 50 more were paid). In 1554 (AGCA, p. 7) the total was reduced to 130,
nothing was stated regarding servants, 300 lbs. of salt, 30 mats (petates).
Teguantepeque/#72/35 est., under Pedro de Ovid. The payment of 50 xiquipiles of cacao hardly
suggests a "great town of Tehuantepeque" as described by Fuentes y Guzman (cited by Thompson, '48,
p. 8). A document of 1678 contains an account of the disappearance of the Pipil-speaking settlement of
Tehuantepeque (Carmack '73, p. 206); and the Diccionario Geografico indicates that San Miguel
Teguantepeque disappeared in 1599 when its last vecinos moved to Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa (Vol.
II, p. 260).
Tepemiel/#86/25, under Diego Diaz, to whom it was granted in 1530 (Kramer thesis, p. 188). It paid
cacao, chickens and fish. Probably a coastal settlement. Now unidentified.
Tequepanatitan/# 142/1000. After the conquest, it was passed back and forth between Pedro and Jorge
de Alvarado until 1541 (Kramer thesis, p. 81). In 1549 it was under the Crown.
Present Sololá at 2113.50 meters (6934 feet) elevation. Garcés reported that the towns of cacao reached
from those of the Crown under Tecpan Atitlán to those of Santa Catalina (present Retalhuleu) of the
encomienda of Francisco de la Cueva (p.380).
Tequepanguatemala/# 143/400, under Alonso Marroquin—as it remained in 1555 (AGCA, p. 16).
Now, east of Sololá at 2287 meters elevation (7503 feet), near Iximché, the former Cakchiquel capital.
The tributes of 1549 were reduced in 1555 (AGCA, p. 16), by 200 lbs. of planted maize, 100 lbs. of
planted beans, 150 mantas, 72 chickens, 104 doz. eggs, and 25 lbs. of honey. The only item unchanged
was that of 300 lbs. of chili. However, there is the matter of servants, which are not mentioned. In
1549, Marroquin had been allotted ten which he exchanged for 60 gold pesos . That payment may have
been eliminated.
Tetechan/#41/50, under Alonso Larios, who was probably granted it by Jorge de Alvarado. Modest
tributes were paid. It may be identified with Tectitán on the latitude of Huehuetenango City, about ten
kms. from the Chiapas border. The problem with this identification (but not a denial) is that the
encomendero's other two towns—Queçaltepeque and Utlacingo—were far away in the southeast of the
province.
Texutla/#27/120, under Gonçalo Alvarado and Pedro de Çavallos. There is a Tejutla in the Mam area
of the highlands, but the town numbered 27, probably was another of the same or similar name, in the
lowlands, where cacao could be grown and fish taken.
Tezcuaco/#73/35 est., under Pedro de Ovid who probably acquired it in 1524 (Kramer thesis, p. 82). It
paid 50 xiquipiles of cacao, and 200 lbs. of salt. Crespo (p. 11) described it as being level, hot, with 6
Indians and 150 mulatos who raised maize, cotton, and cacao. Cortés y Larraz wrote (Vol. 11, Sect.
112) that it was an annex of Don Garcia (now La Democracia - about 50 kms. southwest of Escuintla).
The Diccionario Geografico lists Texcuaco as an archaeologic site in the municipality of La Gomera
(south of La Democracia).
Present Texcuaco is about eighteen kms. westsouthwest of La Gomera.
Tipiaco/#21/50, under Luis Perez (his only holding). Unidentified. Simpson, ('37,p. 102) says Bernal
Diaz later held a town of that name. In 1548 it paid small tributes including 30 xiquipiles of cacao, plus
10 more in exchange for four servants, also 25 lbs. fish. A lowland town, now gone.

Totoapa/#l53/60, under the Crown. Unidentified. Concepción Tutuapa at about 2100 meters (nearly
7,000 feet) north of San Marcos, a Mam town connected with the rest of its province only by mule
trails. The tributes paid in 1549 were fitting to it, except for twelve xiquipiles of cacao. That could have
been obtained by trade.
Totonicapan/# 122/800 est., under the Crown. This entry would have referred to the present highland
city of Totonicapan, which, soon after the conquest was placed under the control of Diego de Rojas, but
by 1526 had been taken into the encomienda of Pedro de Alvarado (Kramer thesis, p.81). After his
death and that of his widow, it was put under the Crown. The number of tributaries in 1549 is not stated
but the number of mantas may be an indication, even though that statistic is not necessarily dependable
in Guatemala. In this case it seems reasonable: another important settlement under the Crown,
Tecocistlan (Rabinal), recorded 600 tributaries and it paid 600 mantas. In 1583, a report stated that
Totonicapa with its "subjects" had a tributary population of 823 (Relación 1583).
Whatever the tribute population may have been in 1549, it apparently was diminished by 1554. At that
date tributes were materially reduced: the planting of 600 lbs. of maize was eliminated, as was the
planting of 50 lbs. of beans, Also 1,000 lbs. of chili listed in 1549 did not appear in 1554. The item of
240 xiquipiles of cacao was reduced to 200, and that of mantas from 800 to 400 (AGCA, p.5).
Uçumacintla/#71/60. Held in early years by Pedro de Olmos, by 1531 it was under Marco Ruiz
( Kramer et al, '90, p. 15) who, apparently, relinquished it for another holding: in 1549 his sons held
Cuchumatlan (no. 159) with about 300 tributaries. On that date, Melchor de Velasco held
Uçumacintla--as he did in November 1554 (AGCA, p. 13), when his tributes were reduced by 100 lbs.
of planted maize, 30 mantas (in 1549 he was allotted 30, but was paid 50 more by exchange for 4
servants. In 1554 he was to be paid 50), 10 mats (petates).
It is now part of San Pedro Necta on a small tributary of the Selegua River (Lovell, '85, p. 98).
Another listing of the name, #154/40 under the Crown, probably represents a portion of the tributes of
the same town. The payments are congruent with the tributary populations shown.
Uspantlan/#13/100 est. Held, in 1526 and until he went to Peru, by Diego de Rojas (Kramer thesis, p.
82, Kramer et al, '90, p. 12). In 1549 it was under Santos de Figueroa.
On modern maps, the town of Uspantan is just south of the Cuchumatanes in Quichédepartment, at
1837 meters elevation (5563 feet). The archaeological site nearby may represent the town that was
taxed.
Utlacingo/#141/8 , under Antonio Paredes and Alonso Larios. Its payments of cacao and salt indicate a
location on the coastplain. Fowler identifies it with present Otacingo (p. 181).
Vyztlan/#3/45. under Francisco Lopez. Kramer (Thesis, p. 423) identifies this town with Santa Ana
Huista in Huehuetenango department. No salt was listed in the tasaciones but 100 petates were paid, a
tribute payment typical of the northwest.
Xacaltenango/#4/500. under the minor son of Gonçalo de Ovalle, was in 1529 under his father
(Kramer et al, '90, p. 12).
In 1549, it paid a long list of tributes and of a wide variety, including some unique to it, e.g. jackets
(Xicoles), breechcloths (Mastiles), and palm containers (Chicobites).
Present Jacaltenango is at 1438 M. 4718 feet) elevation, but the canyons nearby are hot - suitable for
crops such as cotton. As an example of unlisted "anexos", Cortés y Larraz (Vol 1, p. 129) referred to
one "Guista" and three other towns with saints' names which now are associated with the name Huista,
as annexes of Jacaltenango. None of them appear on the tribute list except possibly Vyztlan (See

above).
Xalapa/#161/1000, under Graviel de Cabrera (so it is given in the text. In the caption the given name is
Grabiel). Present Jalapa, in a very fertile valley, at 1362 meters elevation (4469 feet) is a producer of a
variety of agricultural products. In 1549 the tributes paid were relatively modest in view of the number
of tributaries. The only large item— 1100 mantas which was reduced to 900 in 1552—were to be made
from the harvest of ten planted fanegas of cotton. That planting would have produced more than the
necessary lint.
In 1554, Cabrera was not listed (AGCA, p. 15. The new encomenderos were listed as Alonso Idalgo
and Diego de Vibar, whose combined tributes included an increase of 400 lbs. of planted maize and 200
pairs of sandals (alpargatas), but with reductions that included the surplus of cotton, beyond that
necessary for the tribute of mantas , paid in 1549 (the amount to be planted in 1554 is not mentioned).
Mantas were reduced from 900 to 600 (A description of the size of the mantas is given, but il may be
inaccurate. In it the width is that of the large mantas of Santiago and Yucatan, but the length is given as
5 varas which would be over two feet longer than those of Yucatan and the large ones of Santiago. The
figure for length probably should have been given as 4 varas , which would make them comparable to
those of Yucatan and the large ones of Santiago.) Other probable reductions were 25 lbs. of honey, 50
lbs. of beeswax. The chili required in 1549 was eliminated in 1554.
Xicalapa/#98/60. Granted by Pedro de Alvarado soon after the conquest to Francisco Calderon, who
relinquished il when he went to Peru (Kramer thesis, p. 191). In 1549 it was listed as being under the
minor son of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.
Now unidentified, Garcés in 1570 described the town as being near the sea and distant from other
towns of the distlrict; and very hot and unhealthy, but the richest of the cacao towns (p. 381) (thus
contradicting his statement regarding San Juan Nagualapa). Nine years later, Estrada y Niebla
described its position as being on the coast of Zapotitlan, 1-1/2 leagues from the sea, "where the Rio
Quiquiçat (Tiquisate?) disemboques The presenl town of Tiquisale is on a tribulary of Ihe Nahualate
River that disemboques about 91°, 32" west). The document further stales that the town was not of
"citizens", that all people there were cacao merchants (pp. 68, 73). The uniqueness of its nearly seaside
location is shown in the fact that it was the only town in the province of Santiago that required the
services of fishermen (3 days per week): not fishermen, but quantities of fish were specified by other
towns.
Xilotepeque/#94/500, under Juan de Chaves. Present San Martin Jilotepeque at 1786 meters elevation
(5860 feet), northnortheast of the city of Chimaltenango. Tributes were few and low except for the
exchange of fifteen servants for twenty seven tostones each, the highest rate paid in the province.
Xilotepeque/#l 11/160, under Cristobal and Lope Lobo. Present San Luis Jilotepeque. Two other towns
in the encomienda of Cristobal Lobo-- Queçaltepeque and probably Chancoate were in the southeast.
The three towns paid similar and proportionately comparable payments.
Xitaulco/#l 52/40, under Antonio de Salamanca. The encomendero held three towns that are now in El
Salvador. This unidentified town was probably on the coastplain in the area that, in 1549, was held by
the encomenderos of Santiago.
Xocotenango/#55/100, was granted in early years to Diego Sánchez Ortega and held by him into the
1540s (Kramer et al, '90, p. 15), but his name does not appear in 1549 when the town was under the
minor sons of Anton de Morales.
Present Jocotenango, three kilometers north of Antigua at 1450 feet elevation is called by Fuentes y
Guzman "the pueblo y minas of Jocotenango". Among other minerals the mines may have yielded
some gold, indicated by the exchange of four servants for twenty pesos of gold by the sons of Morales.

Another Xocotenango on the 1549 lists, #130/120, was part of the encomienda of the minor son of Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo. It paid 180 mantas, 12 xiquipiles of cacao, and three servants, which were
exchanged for 7 xiquipiles of cacao. The total values of the respective payments of these two towns are
approximately fitting to the numbers of tributaries. It seems reasonable to believe that the payments
made to the son of Rodriguez Cabrillo were part of those paid by Jocotenango, north of present
Antigua. The tributes paid by present San Bartolomé Jocotenango, about twenty kilometers NNE of
Santa Cruz del Quiché, at about 1500 M (4921 feet), were probably subsumed under those paid by
another town, perhaps Santa Cruz.
Xuayoa/# 149/60, under Antonio de Salamanca. Present Juayua is located northnortheast of
Nahuitzalco, at 1,000 meters elevation (3281, feet) in El Salvador. Another of the Pipil towns, it
procured cacao to pay in tribute by exchange: its situation is not suitable to grow it.
Xutiapa/#61/80, under Antonio de Salazar. Present Jutiapa, capital of Jutiapa province in southeast
Guatemala, at 906 meters elevation (2972 feet). In 1549 the town paid maize, beans, chickens, honey,
mats (petates ), 12 pairs of sandals (cutaras ), and 4 servants which were exchanged for 20 large
mantas. In addition, the Indians were to clean and cultivate a cacao plantation, which must have been
downslope in a zone where cacao was possible; but it could not have been at great distance as there is
nothing mentioned about the Indians being fed while there.
Yçalco/#62/(400?). In 1528 it was divided between Antonio Diosdado and Diego Lopez (Kramer et al,
'90, pp. 13, 14). In 1541, Diosdado's widow, Margarita de Orrego, was granted the half (Kramer thesis,
p. 296). In 1549 the division was between the post-conquest immigrants Juan de Guzman cousin of
Maldonado (Kramer thesis, p. 332), and Francisco Giron. This entry represents the part of Juan de
Guzman. Its tributes were 120 chickens and 1,000 xiquipiles of cacao.
The assumption of 400 tributaries may be gratuitous. It is the number shown for the other part of the
town, no. 63, under Francisco Giron. But it is also possible that 400 was the total number of tributaries
of the town and their products were divided between the two encomenderos.
Yçalco/#63/400, the part of Francisco Giron. Its tributes were exactly the same as those of #62 above.
Kramer (thesis, p. 425) believes that that town is present Caluco.
Yçapa/#37/160, under Alonso de Luarca who had been granted it in 1528 by Jorge de Alvarado
(Kramer et al, '90, p. 15). It has been identified by at least two scholars as being present Santo
Domingo de Guzman (Barón Castro, '78, n.5 on p. 612; Browning - his #12, present Santo Domingo de
Guzman); but it is impossible to relate the items of tribute paid by Yçapa, #37 on the tribute list, with
the position as identified by those authors.
Certainly wheat could not have been grown at that elevation. No towns in the area paid pottery. Nor did
any pay mats (petates). Another fact would seem to exclude it from the area of "Los Izalcos": ten
servants were exchanged for 150 tostones. Among the towns in that area listed in legajo 128 no
exchanges were made. A further fact would seem to be conclusive: instructions for this entry were "as
the road is too steep for animals, the Indians may, if they wish, carry the maize and wheat to the city for
payment." Obviously the town was in a rugged area, in the region of "the city", i.e. Santiago de
Guatemala. A more likely identification is that of present San Andrés Itzapa. whose location meets the
physical requirements of the tribute payments.
Yçatepeque The name is entered twice on the tribute list: #64/60, the part of Juan Alvarez, one of the
conquerors; and #65/60, the part of the Crown. The town is unidentified, but it was near "the city" (i.e.
Santiago), in country too rugged for pack animals. The Indian bearers—"by their own choice" could
carry the maize harvest to the city for payment of thirty cacao beans per carga of a maximum of fifty
lbs.

Yçuatlan/#80/100, was held in the late 1520s by Alonso Cabezas (Kramer et al, '90, p. 13), but it was
under Juan de Aragon in 1549.
It is present Santa María Ixhuatán (Fowler, pp. 53, 163). The fact that 6 servants were exchanged for
plantings of maize and wheat may indicate that the town was at an elevation where wheat would be
satisfactorily grown, which would eliminate the possibility of cacao growing there; but that could have
been obtained by trade as it was by its present subordinate village Santa Anita (then, Nestiquipaque).
Pottery, which was paid as tribute in 1549 is still an important product of the village.
Ystalavaca #162 (l/2)/100, under Juan de Leon Cardona. This entry and the next, #163 (l/2)/100, under
Francisco de Chaves, refer to one town, divided between two encomenderos, a town that is unidentified
now. The fact that pottery was paid may suggest that it was north of the high mountains of young
vulcanism.
Ystalavaca e Çamavaque/# 107/850. Ystalavaca was granted in about 1533 to Juan Lopez, a new
migrant (Kramer, thesis, p. 191). He was the encomendero in 1549.
That the two pueblos were considered to be one for the exaction of tribute, is indicated by such phrases
as "the pueblo of Ystalabaca e Çamavaque" and "the natives of the said pueblo". Garcés in 1570
reported that the two towns were "three gunshots" from each other (p. 381), which, in view of the range
of sixteenth century guns suggests close proximity. His reference was to San Pablo, indicating present
San Pablo Jocopilas.
Juan Lopez, probably a Maldonado appointee, was still in control in 1555 (AGCA, p. 21), when he
collected the same amount of cacao, chickens, chilis, and honey and was even paid an additional 12
mats (petates); but reductions included all plantings of maize, beans, wheat, and the 80 doz eggs that
were specified for payment in 1549. By 1570 he was no longer listed and Garces reported that the town
of Zamayaque was in the encomienda of Alonso Gutierrez de Monzon (Carmack Appendix XVIII). He
compared its territory unfavorably with that of Suchitepequez, saying that the soils thinned out and
were less productive for cacao as one went west from Suchitepéquez. The tributes paid present a
problem of interpretation, particularly wheat. In most cases, if wheat were paid in tribute it indicated a
highland position; but it is possible that Lopez insisted upon wheat and was able to do so effectively
even though it involved considerable transport labor.
Ystapa/#23/4, which paid the Crown sixty xiquipiles of cacao and 600 lbs. of salt, may represent part
of the town that is also entered under the number #36/25, (Iztapa) in possession of the minor son of
Gaspar Aleman, who received 20 mantas , 600 lbs. of salt, and three servants.
Present Iztapa is at the seashore, SSE of Escuintla. Pineda reported it as a "port", hot but healthy (yet he
also reported that so many Indians had died that labor for the cacao plantations was lacking - pp. 427
ff). Crespo referred to it as a "salina" where salt was gathered and fishing thrived, (p.11).
In 1554, the tribute to the Crown was reduced from sixty xiquipiles of cacao to five, and the amount of
salt from 600 lbs. to 150. However, at the latter date only one quarter of the town's tributes were paid to
the Crown. Three quarters were paid to a latecomer, Pedro de Salazar. He was paid fifteen xiquipiles of
cacao and 450 lbs. of salt (AGCA, p. 14).
In 1549 Aleman's son was paid 20 mantas, 600 lbs. salt, and the work of three servants . In 1554, his
payments of mantas and salt were the same and 36 European type chickens had been added, but there
was no reference to servants.
Ystapalatengo and Aguacatlan/#5/100, under the minor son of Juan Paez Payments, especially wheat
(although it was exchanged for forty mantas), and petates, are typical of locations in the northwest.
Aguacatlan later absorbed Ystapalatengo (Lovell, '85, pp.79,81) as it did many other small settlements

in the general area. The fine, fertile valley with abundant supplies of water supports a widely varied
agricultural production. The town itself lies at an elevation of 1669 meters (5476 feet), but in an area of
broken terrain, with cold highlands above and temperate to hot river valleys below where, among many
things, citrus thrives.
Ystatan/#2/35, under Diego Sanchez Santiago. San Mateo Ixtatán, in Huehuetenango, at 2560 meters
elevation (8499 feet), the most northerly town listed in the Tasaciones, and an important Chuj-speaking
(Mayan) settlement in pre-Columbian times. In 1549 it validated the meaning of its name ("place of
salt": Andrews, '83, p.81), 1,800 lbs. of salt were paid in tribute. At the present time salt is taken from
two wells......in which water with a high percentage of salt accumulates and is periodically removed to
be boiled down by the Indians" (Lovell '85: p. 25, p. 187 n.38). The town of Ixtatan now has a
population of 5,000 Chuj-speakers and is one of two salt sources being exploited in the Guatemalan
highlands (the other being Sacapulas). The salt-making process is simple and virtually unchanged since
prehistoric times, according the Andrews: ".......The natives speak one of the oldest known Mayan
languages and retain native dress and customs and make a living as they did many centuries
ago.........There is an aura of sacredness and ritual....incessant chanting and burning of
incense......carried out by older women.........although associated with crosses. It is obviously a
continuation of a pre-Spanish custom" (Andrews, '83 pp. 81-85). Olaverreta, in 1740, wrote that it was
very rainy and cold; and that the Indians were in the business of transport, "they had many mules"; also
they made white petates of palm. Although no petates were listed in thetributes of the town, the
inhabitants may have paid part of the levy against Sanchez Santiago's other town, Petatan.
Yupitepeque/#66/520, under Antonio de Salazar. Payments in general, were small, but they included
300 xiquipiles of cacao. Present Yupiltepeque, in the departimento of Jutiapa is situated at 1050 meters
elevation (3445 feet). As in the case of Xutiapa (#61), also under Salazar, cacao was involved in the
tributes. In the tribute list there is a reference to a cacao grove "presently planted in the pueblo" (of
Yupiltepeque), which could mean in a municipio , that included lower lands. It could also mean that the
encomendero did not realize the altitude limits of the tree.
Yzquine/#74/25, under Francisco Aleman, son of Gaspar Aleman, a companion of Alvarado in the
conquest of Guatemala (Fuentes Y G, pp. 313 ff). The encomienda inherited by his son included three
towns: Iztapa, No. 36, a coastal town, Izquine which because of its lone payment of cacao, may be
assumed to have been lowland, and Ocotenango, which, if it was named for the pitch-pine (Ocote:
Pinus ssp.), may have been an upland town.
Yztapa/#36/25, under the minor son of Caspar Aleman. See notes regarding town #23, Ystapa.
Zupelingo/#133/50, under Juan de Aragon. The Diccionario Geografico lists a caserio in the township
of Esquipulas, in the southeast of Guatemala with this name.
Some Santiago towns known to have existed but unrecorded on the tribute lists of
1549.
The list of towns paying tribute to the encomenderos of Santiago included 169 entries, mostly recorded
in the four months February 19 to June 19, 1549. It is a list that requires interpretation because many
town names appear more than once and many towns known to have existed at that date do not appear.
One's first assumption may be that the Spaniards were negligent in making their record, but that
conclusion probably is unwarranted. While it is true that some towns might have been omitted from the
list -- particularly small settlements near the peripheries with few inhabitants and in lands of little
promise -- it strains one's judgement to accept the proposition that the lawyer Lopez de Cerrato, a
determined official who, being a fifteenth century Spaniard, wanted to bring the natives to Christianity,
and a man not unwilling to help his friends, the encomenderos, would allow many settlements to go

unrecognized and unexploited. As the thirst of conquerors is not easily slaked it would require a strong
imagination to suppose that such a town as Nagualapa, not listed, but for which such terms as "great",
"large", and "rich" were applied, would have not have been made respond to the venality of the victors.
A large number of towns were considered to be annexes of other, usually larger, towns. In many cases
—particularly those of coastplain towns—the settlements have disappeared. Duplication of names on
the list, which occurs twenty-three times, indicates, in some cases, more than one town with the same
name; but in most cases the individual listings refer to tributes paid by one town to two or more
encomenderos. Nearness of position on the tribute list was more by bureaucratic accident than by
geographical propinquity. Nor were towns held in the same encomienda necessarily grouped together
(five cases out of eighty-two).
Omissions of town names from the tribute list can be seen in the record of the encomienda of Francisco
de la Cueva in which the most important part was constituted of the towns Çacatepeque and Ostuncalco
and their appendages which were listed as having 2,000 tributaries. (The rotundity of that figure makes
one wonder if it had real validity). The territory subsidiary to these towns included more than 2,000
square miles of land, extending east from the Mexican border for about thirty five miles, and north
from the ocean for about sixty five miles. The east and north borders were approximately those of a
line connecting the present towns of Retalhuleu, San Martin Sacatepéquez, Ostuncalco, Cabrican,
Tejutla, and from there west to the border of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Within those borders was a
multitude of towns not mentioned in the tribute-list.
In 1570, the Alcalde Mayor of Zapotitlán, Diego de Garcés, referring to Santa Catalina (Retalhuleu*),
wrote, "above this pueblo are many others of the same encomienda of Don Francisco de la Cueva
which borders on Soconusco, such as La Magdalena, Coatepeque, San Pablo, Santa Lucia Malacatlan,
Zazitepeque. All of these are subject to Zacatepeque and Ostuncalco." In addition, he reported that
there were other "estancias" in the high cold country: Chiquirrichapa, San Martin, Texutla, and
Comitlan, pertaining to the same encomienda. Present Tejutla, located at approximately 15 degrees
north, is the most northerly town mentioned in the report (appendix XVIII, in Carmack, 1973).
_________________________________________________________
* Regarding the names Santa Catalina and Retalhuleu, the 1579 report by Estrada and Niebla (p.72)
couples the two names as referring to the same place; and Father Ponce left the village of Tlilapa, "the
last of Xoconusco" on April 6, 1586, travelled four and three quarter leagues (of apparently
unproductive country) then traversed approximately an equal distance amid many groves of cacao,
before arriving at a "bonito pueblo" named Santa Catalina, of Guatemala Indians (Ponce, Vol. I, pp.
304-05). This would place Santa Catalina approximately at modern Retalhuleu.
Also, a report of 1765 (Boletin del Archivo General del Gobierno, Tomo II, num. 3, April 1937, pp.
324-27) refers to Santa Catalina Retalhuleu. It then had a population of 305. It was an area where cacao
was "decaying".
_________________________________________________________
In 1770, bishop Cortés y Larraz listed, under the cabecera of Ostuncalco, the villages of Chiquirichapa,
S. Martin Zacatepeques, San Miguel Quiaholah (Cajola?), and San Cristobal Cabrican. While it can not
be accepted always that administrative divisions of 1770 would have been those of the mid sixteenth
century, it is usually the case. If true in this case, Cabrican would have been a part of the encomienda of
Cueva.
Of seven towns presently named Sacatepéquez in Guatemala, two each are in Chimaltenango and
Guatemala provinces respectively; but three are in the Mam area west and northwest of Quezaltenango
that fell within the encomienda of Cueva (i.e. San Martin, San Antonio, and San Pedro). The name

appearing on the tribute list probably referred to the present town of San Martin; and San Antonio and
San Pedro were included under it as "anexos".
Alotenango
This pre-hispanic town, at an elevation of 1382 meters (4536 feet), near the headwaters of the
Guacalate River, south of Antigua, was mentioned in the Popul Vuh (Dicc. Geog.). With its agriculture
and trade position between the coastplain and the upland it could hardly have been overlooked by the
Spaniards with their avidity for tribute-paying towns. The problem is that of knowing under which
town recorded on the 1549 tribute list it was subsumed.
Fuentes y Guzman (Vol. II, pp. 141 ff) described the fertility of its area and wrote that it controlled an
extended territory, down to the coast.
Almolonga
The name referring, in Nahuat, to a spring of water, was perhaps applied to several settlements. In
1549, one is present Ciudad Vieja, near Antigua; another is southeast of Quezaltenango. Each,
presumably, was an annex of a larger settlement.
Alotec
It was, according to Cortés y Larraz (Vol. II, pp. 287 ff), six to eight leagues from Cotzumalhuapa. He
reported its demise as having taken place within the eighty years prior to his time (1770).
Atitlán, the pueblos on the lake.
Atitán, #116 on the tribute list, with 1,000 tributaries—present Santiago Atitlán— was divided
between the Crown and the minor sons of Sancho de Barahona.
Tequepanatitan, #142, with 1,000 tributaries—present Sololá—was solely under the Crown. The
tributaries listed as being under each of these towns represented the totals of many villages in their
respective areas. Early in the seventeenth century Vazquez de Espinosa stated that "Tepanatitan" had
twenty two villages in its jurisdiction (1942, par. 636) and that Santiago de Atitlán had twenty. The
names of these many towns on the lake or in the countryside near it did not appear on the tribute list:
they were annexes of the two larger towns.
MacBryde's account of the trade importance of Sololá (1933, especially pp. 112-119) carrying on the
function performed since before the arrival of Europeans (p. 136) which is that of gathering and
dispersing goods from the towns around the lake, from cold country at higher elevations, and from
warm country to the south.
Garcés reported pueblos under the Crown, as estancias of Atitlán, that were cacao-producers (p. 380),
e.g. San Francisco, Santa Barbara San Andrés, and San Bartolomé Caluco.
Presently east of Sonsonate in El Salvador. Formerly it must have been part of the region of The Izalcos
under the administration of Santiago de Guatemala.
The name is not listed in the 1532 report of Marroquin. Nor is it listed on the tribute list of 1549;
although Fowler (pp. 143, 164-65) believes it to have been one of the entries listed as Yzalco. It was
listed in the relacion of the towns of Guatemala in 1583. The bishop Cortés y Larraz, in 1770,
identified it as the ecclesiastical center (cabecera) of the parish that included Naulingo, and Guaimango
(Vol. 1, p. 80).
Chiantla
It was an annex of Huehuetenango held by Juan de Espinar in encomienda. Lovell ('85, p. 105) reports
that Espinar had 200 to 300 servants plus 250 slaves working the mines at Chiantla which gave him a

very large income. The name, Chiantla, does not appear on the tribute list.
Chicacao
The name does not appear on the tribute list; but the meaning of the name, according to the Diccionario
Geografico is "amid cacao groves". The present town, in the area of San Francisco Suchitepequez,a
great early center of cacao production, probably was an annex .
Cuyotenango
Unlisted in 1549, it appeared as a barrio of Zapotitán in 1555 (AGCA, p. 18). It was then listed as
paying tributes of 160 xiquipiles of cacao, 35 mantas , and 33 xiquipiles of pataxtle . In 1570 it was still
a "subject" of Zapotitlán (Garcés, p. 382).
Mazatenango
Unlisted in 1549, in 1555 it was recorded as being a barrio of "Zapotitán" (AGCA, p. 18) and paid 130
xiquipiles of cacao, 110 mantas , and 14 xiquipiles of pataxtle . It was held by the minor son of Martin
de Guzman, deceased, and Juana de Saavedra, the widow of Bartolomé "Vecerra". Inl570 it was still a
"subject" of "Zapotitlán" (Garcés, p. 382).
Nagualapa
On the Nahualate River, east of San Antonio Suchitepéquez (Estrada y Niebla,1955, p. 76; Cortes y
Larraz, Vol. II, pp. 274 ff), this town was one of the centers of cacao plantations under the control of
the Tzutuhil lords of Santiago Atitlán (Thompson, '48, p. 9). Garcés, writing in 1570, described it as
being "the richest pueblo of this coast, and in all the land" (Carmack, 1973, pp. 380-81). Yet, the bishop
Cortés y Larraz, in 1770, wrote that Nahualapan, was, six years before, completely eliminated, leaving
no signs of its existance except a few remnant walls of the ruined church which were almost
completely covered by the encroaching forest (Vol II, pp. 174 ff). In fact, its elimination had largely
taken place even earlier, as indicated by a 1763 document (Boletin del Archive General del Gobierno,
Guatemala, April, 1937, Año II, No. 3, p. 324).
The name did not appear on the tribute list.
Nacendelan
Once a very large Xinca town ("sehr gross" wrote Lehmann, citing Alvarado, p. 727 and as being
between Taxisco and Pasaco). It may be marked now by the town of Nancinta (Crespo, p. 13, Rubio
Sánchez, p. 40, Sherman, p. 23;). Pineda Pivaral states that it had moved from a nearby location to its
present location southeast of Chiquimulilla (p. 469), of which it is an aldea (p.30). The town of the
earlier location was "rich and of high culture" of which no remnant remains: "all plowed under" (p.
134). The payments of 1549 (Nancintla, #26/30) do not suggest a rich town. Its decline must have taken
place before the conquest.
Patulul
The name does not appear on the list of tributes. Garcés (p. 380) states that it was an estancia of the
Crown under Tecpanatitan (i.e. Solola)
Several towns with saints' names are listed in 1570 by Garcés (pp. 380, 382): San Francisco, Santa
Barbara, San Bartolomé, and San Andrés. He describes them as being rich in cacao, They were under
the Crown, and "citizens" (vecinos ) of Atitlán, who, apparently divided the produce of cacao, cotton,
and other "products of the land". Of the four towns, two are now gone (San Francisco, and San
Andrés), one (Santa Barbara, which was founded in 1545) is some ten kilometers west of Patulul, and
one (San Bartolomé) has become part of present Chicacao (Orellana, '84, p. 132; Estrada y Niebla,

1955, p. 73, comment that San Bartolomé was called Aguacatepet; Crespo, in 1740—1935, p. 9—
referred to an Aguacatepeque, on the slope of Fuego volcano which was cold and with many
mosquitoes).
San Martíin (Zapotitlán)
It was an unlisted "subject" of San Francisco Zapotitlán. Near it, upslope, was San Felipe, which was
an unlisteded estancia of the Crown. San Luis was an estancia of Totonicapan, which was under the
Crown. La Magdalena, a.k.a. Patulul, an estancia of Tecpan Guatemala (Sololá), was on the coastplain
but was not a cacao producer. Santo Tomás (la Union?), upslope from San Antonio Suchitepéquez, in
temperate climatic conditions, hence not very productive of cacao. Pineda, shortly after the middle of
the sixteenth century reported that San Bernardino was a large town, an annex of Santiago Atitlán (p.
437), and wrote that its lands produced abundantly. That condition had changed by the time of the
report of Garcés who reported that it possessed no lands because those of San Antonio Suchitepéquez
reached to the doors of its houses (p. 381).
Teguantepeque
There is a listing of this name on the tribute list of 1549 for Santiago, but its payment of fifty xiquipiles
of cacao and nothing else does not seem to represent a sufficient tribute from "the great town of
Tehuantepeque" as Thompson ('48. p. 8) quotes from Fuentes y Guzman. Thompson suggests that the
"great town" is probably to be identified with San Miguel Teguantepeque, a Pipil town south of Santa
Lucia Cotzumalhuapa, that was one of the pueblos included by Cortés y Larraz (Vol. II, pp. 287 ff) in
his list of towns that had disappeared in the preceding eighty years (preceding 1770). Carmack ('73, p.
206) cites a document of 1678 that indicates that it might have disappeared even earlier.
Zambo
Termer (1939 p. 32) referred to this place as a "finca", and wondered if it were not the "Zapotitlán"
conquered by Alvarado. Present San Francisco Zapotitlán is about one kilometer to the north of it. At
Zambo the products of greatest importance in 1570 were cacao (Theobroma cacao) and a less desirable
species, patlaxtli (Theobroma bicolor), cotton, chickens, and maize (Garces, p. 382). Sixteen years
later, Ponce reported that the pueblo of Santiago Zambo was located in "an infinity of cacao groves"
(Vol. 1, p. 296). In 1770, the bishop Cortés y Larraz reported that San Francisco Zapotitán was the head
of the parish (cabecera) and had sixty families, while its "subject" pueblo, Zambo, had 180 families of
Quiché-speaking natives who cultivated their lands more effectively than did those of San Francisco
Zapotitán, whose lands were mostly uncultivated and its church and houses "crumbling" (Vol II, p.
263).
More than one quarter of the towns that appeared on the list are not now identified. Two thirds of those,
with a total of more than 1500 tributaries, were on the lowland. The other third, with less than 800
tributaries, were in the uplands.
It is probable that most of the upland towns on the list, that are now not identified, were absorbed by
other upland towns; many of the lowland towns were abandoned because of difficult living conditions
that were tolerable only with a valuable product. When cacao was no longer important, the area had lost
it major attraction.
Coastplain Living Conditions
The disappearance of many towns shown by the the tribute lists and by early reports to have existed,
leads one to the conclusion that without extraordinary inducements, the coastplain was a place better
avoided than chosen for residence.

The report of Tomás López of 1557 recommended that attention be given to the the coastal area
extending from below Escuintla over to Xicalpa (present Jicalapa, near the mouth of the Nahualate
River), because "the miserable Indians are in total decline." He reported that one pueblo with only
about ten Indians, he had seen earlier when it had about three to four hundred (p. 6). Not long after that,
Spaniards had changed the situation, if not for health and comfort, at least for commerce: in 1570
Garcés described the town of Xicalapa as the richest of the cacao towns, although it was the hottest and
most unhealthy of those in the district (p. 381). Nine years later, Estrada y Niebla described it as being
entirely constituted by cacao merchants.
Just after the mid-sixteenth century, Pineda described Iztapa, near the coast, southsouthwest of present
Guatemala City as having much cacao but less than formerly because so many Indians had died that
there was a lack of labor. Hedidn't speculate as to the morbidity (p. 429).
Another witness, Garcia de Palacio, in 1576 (pp. 10-11), described the coasts between the Michatoya
River and Ahuachapan as "unhealthy land because great heat and humidity cause fevers and other
illnesses. Mosquitoes of four kinds molest and create discomfort in the daytime and make sleep
difficult at night. The bites of many flies and wasps of various types cause swellings which, if
scratched, become ulcerous. Also there are many other pestilent and dangerous insects. There are
scorpions, and worms which, by touching the skin may poison it; and, in some cases, kill. There are
equally dangerous centipedes, and poisonous snakes".
In 1579, Estrada y Niebla (p. 75) reported that on the coast of Zapotitlán and Suchitepéquez there was
an illness called pasmo, the reasons for which they explained thus: "when a man is wet from heavy
rain....................pores are open because of warmth...............then there is fever followed by pasmo ."
Although that statement suggests malaria, it may not have been that (see below).
The value of cacao made it worthwhile in spite of discomforts, such as those described by Father Ponce
seven years later. He told of meeting two priests in Soconusco, near the Guatemala border. Their hands,
legs and feet were so bitten by bedbugs that they looked leprosed (Vol I, p. 297). Referring to the
Indians of another village a little farther on, he noted that the occupants weren't native to the region:
they spoke another language. They had come in from elsewhere after the local Indians had been
eliminated by pestilences. The immigrants occupied the houses and took possession of the cacao
groves. He repeated his plaint with regard to a village to the east, referring to "insupportable heat and
insufferable persecution by mosquitoes, bedbugs, and ticks".
Father Crespo, in the early eighteenth century, speaking of the same coastal region referred to the
mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, and other insects. Referring to Guaymango, he said that all the Indians
had left because of unhealthy conditions (p. 12). Lardé y Larin wrote that it had changed from an
earlier location because of a plague of vampire bats (1957, p. 175). Later in the same century, Bishop
Cortés y Larraz (Vol. II, p. 232), referring to Tacolula (Tacuilula), a Xinca-speaking town (Lehmann, p.
727; Termer, '39, p. 33), said that it had formerly been a large pueblo, but the priest was ill, and the
territory was "inundated by mosquitoes, sand-flies, blood-sucking spiders (talajes), and other
pestiferous insects and animals." He added that the people planted two crops of maize each year, but
the crops were so poor that it was hardly worthwhile. The bishop also referred to Zambo, an annex of
Zapotitlán as being mostly depleted with its remaining population "poor, sick, and pallid". The bishop
also referred to the pueblo of Taxisco and wondered why its population had not been consumed by the
mosquitoes and other insects "that abound".(Vol II, p. 230); and he wrote that Atiquipaque, another
Xinca town, east of present Escuintla, had many insects, snakes, etc., "and poor harvests".
Thompson ('48, p. 16) reported that Cotzumalhuapa and another town were abandoned, according to
local tradition, because of a plague of enormous vampire bats. He also reported that several writers
called attention to a disease causing blindness along much of the coastal area.

The bishop Cortés y Larraz, commenting on the parish of "Cusumaluapam", mentioned the great
diminution of population and the decrease in towns in the years just prior to his report (of 1770). He
knew of fifteen towns that had become extinct, and others, he implies, that he had not investigated. He
also wrote that much the same thing had happened in the province of San Antonio (Suchitepéquez)
according to information given to him. The areas were hot and humid..........the land was fertile but
there were not people to cultivate it..........so it had reverted to trees and brush "which cause various
illnesses, mostly of chills and fever". (Vol. 11, pp. 288-89). By that time malaria may have been
common.
The reasons for the depletion of population in the sixteenth century, seem, in many cases, to suggest
malaria, e.g., Estrade y Niebla's "pasmo"; but that may not have been the case: malaria may not have
been spread in the New World until later, and probably its effects were not felt until the middle of the
seventeenth century (Newsom, 1985, p. 47).
Although there were anopheline mosquitoes, the carriers of the disease, present in the New World,
there is no evidence of any one being infected with malaria until after Spaniards introduced it.
Moreover, the transfer of the disease is a complex and slow process because of the many steps
involved. Rapid diffusion is impossible (Hackett, 1937, p. 225). First, a female Anopheles mosquito, of
a species that can carry the infecting parasites (not all Anophelenes do: Prothero, 1965, p. 8) must draw
blood containing parasites of the Plasmodium genus from an infected human who is in condition to
infect it -- which is relatively rare among infected humans (Hackett, 1937, p. 66). Subsequently, the
parasite must develop within the mosquito before it can be transmitted to another human who is
susceptible to the infection; and most people, at most times are not in such condition. Also there is the
fact of a critical density level for each species of malaria vector; and a critical minimum for the
parasites. Each depends to considerable extent on the other for its continuance (Russell, 1955, p. 180).
Notwithstanding the complexity of transmission, all circumstances suitable to it do converge in some
times and places, and the "sea of infection" is created.
Apparently that condition had been brought about by the mid-seventeenth century in the New World
and malaria spread over large parts of both continents.
Yet there were places that escaped. An interesting example is that of Barbadoes, which remained a
malaria-free island, off the malaria-plagued north coast of South America until the twentieth century,
when laborers who had gone to work on the Panama Canal returned with a "dangerous reservoir of
infection" (Fonaroff, 1966, p. 157).
Estimating the tributary populations of towns for which the numbers are not shown.
For about one fifth of the towns in the province of Santiago, the numbers of tributaries are not given,
and there is no single method to supply the deficiency. Unlike the Yucatan provinces of Mérida and
Campeche, where although the tributary numbers for many towns were not given, the almost invariable
payment of one manta per tributary made it possible to fill in the gaps, in Santiago province, only about
one half of the towns paid mantas . Of those that did, about one third paid one per tributary or
approximately that; but among others, the variance was considerable.
But various bases of calculation—or surmise—may be used. For some towns, another paying
comparable tributes— e.g. Petatan,town #1—can be the basis of judgement. But that comparison must
be used with caution as in many encomiendas one of the towns was relieved of part of its payments
because of balances struck with other towns under the same encomendero. In some cases the payment
of cacao can be used, even though it is hazardous because of wide variability of payments. Clearly,
many of the estimates shown below may be incorrect; but the error is probably not great.

Estimates of tributary populations of the towns in Santiago province for which figures are not
given on the tribute list.
Calculations are based on payments of maize: at 3 lbs. planted per tributary, mantas: at .6 per tributary,
chickens at .66 per tributary, servants, one from each fifteen tributaries. Mostly, these ratios are based
on general averages of payments in Santiago province; but for some towns that method can not be used
at all; and in some cases there are obvious reasons for using another basis of judgement. Such facts—
and subjective judgements—are noted.
ESTIMATES
Entry
by
Maize
by
Mantas
by
Chickens
by
Servants
Suggested
total
number of
tributaries
(numbers
rounded to
the
nearest
five)
Notes
1 -- -- -- -- 35 The encomendero's other town, #2, Ystatan,
listed thirty five tributaries who paid tributes
of comparable value
13 67
120 100 90 100
33 -- -- -- -- 100 This town paid 150 xiquipiles of cacao.
Another town, #28, of this encomendero paid
cacao at the rate of 66 libs. per tributary.
40 333 --- 398 400
An estimate of the tributary population of this
town can be made by comparing its tributes
with those paid to Bernal Diaz by towns of the
same name and in the same general area. The
figure of 400 is is not unreasonable in terms of
tributes paid and keeping in mind the fact that
Bernal Diaz ws a generous encomendero (see
Simpson, 1937, pp. 100-106).
47 17 167 109 90 150 1500 lbs. of wheat was planted; more
than that by any other town listed under
Santiago.
The estimate for the five towns, numbers 48,

48 --- --- --- --- 15
50 --- --- --- --- 25
52 --- --- 40 -- 20
72 --- --- --- --- 35
73 --- --- --- --- 35
75 67 240 106 90 100
84 100 96 40 50 100
87 67 480 80 --- 400
50, 52, 72, and 73, are
calculated on the basis of cacao being paid at
the rate of .66# per
tributary.
Payments of beans, wax, and fish were
taken into consideration.
A payment of 500 xiquipiles of cacao
was also made. While it may seem futile
to try to estimate number of tributaries
by paymentsof it, because of wide
disparities; certain facts indicate that the
total of 400 may be approximately
correct: The two encomenderos who
shared the town were probably
Maldonado appointees and avid for cash.
This town included Nagualapa as an
annex, which, Garces wrote, "was the
richest pueblo of this coast" (Carmack,
1973, pp. 380-81). The mantas traded
from Suchitepeque were exchanged for
cacao at a rate fifty percent higher than
usual. These men demanded much of
their tributaries.
105 50 --- 58 60 75 Also 600 lbs. wheat planted.
108 267 --- 598 --- 450
Many extras were paid: 400 lbs. of wheat
were planted, 150 lbs. of honey paid, 48
xiquipiles of cacao, 1,000 lbs. of beans,
(which would mean slightly more than
100 lbs. planted), 500 lbs. of chili, 156
dozen eggs, seventy-two pieces of
pottery
109 133 --- --- 30 100 190 Xiquipiles of cacao were also paid.
113 133 --- 120 90 150
300 lbs. of wheat and 100 lbs. of beans
were to be planted, and twenty- five lbs.
of honey, 1,000 lbs. of chili, and 156
dozen eggs were to be paid.

118 33 80 60 45 60
119 33 -- 40 30 30
122 387 533 --- --- 800 See notes regarding Totonicapan
132 133 --- 120 90 100
136 67 48 40 30 50
Also 200 lbs. salt, 48 mats
(petates)
Also 12.5 lbs. honey, 20 "usual" mats
(petates), and 2 large ones.
138 200 1330 --- --- 800 See notes regarding Quecaltenango
144 133 --- 80 120 100
150 67 92 --- --- 150
151 150
157 67 100 --- --- 50
159 200 480 159 --- 300
160 200 --- --- --- 300
165 100 800 83 --- 150
166 75 32 27 --- 75
167 --- 19 20 --- 20
168 --- --- 20 --- 20
Fifty lbs. of beans were to be planted.
Also paid were: 187.5 lbs. of honey, 75
lbs.wax, 600 lbs. henequen.
This town, Los Esquipulas, under the
Crown made only one payment: 300
tostones . Payment of two tostones, i.e.
one silver peso per tributary, may have
seemed reasonable for the Crown.
The maize was for the Indians and
wayfarers
The mantas were to be of four piernas,
each to be 2.5 varas long: i.e., 99 X 82.5
incles. Also 400 lbs. wheat were to be
planted.
Also 300 lbs. of wheat to be planted, 40
xiquipiles of cacao. See notes regarding
Petapa.
The mantas were to be eleven feet
square. Other payments were:125 lbs.
honey, 50 lbs. wax, 1500 lbs. salt, 1,000
lbs. chili, 1,000 lbs. beans, 500 lbs.
henequen, 30 medium mats (petates).
Mantas to be similar to the above. Also
paid: 62.5 lbs.honey, 400 lbs. beans, 10
medium mats (petates).
Mantas to be similar to the above; also
20 large mats (petates )
Also, 20 medium mats (petates), 50 lbs
honey, 300 lbs. salt.

169 250 --- --- --- 200
Total 5,645
This town, was to pay to the Crown
50,000 lbs. of maize, which would be the
harvest from 250 lbs. planted; also paid
were eighty xiquipiles of cacao.