Tzeltal

The Tzeltal were a Maya people of the central Chiapas highlands, closely related to the Tzotzil. Before the Spanish arrival they were divided among as many as forty-five autonomous hill polities.

Pedro de Portocarrero founded San Cristóbal de los Llanos in 1527; the Ocosingo valley and upper Grijalva basin submitted within a year, and Chiapa province was organized in 1528. Tribute and labour demands drove Tzeltal people from their towns. In the mid-sixteenth century Bartolomé de las Casas founded the mission town of Quechula.