Tojolabal

The Tojolabal are a Maya people of east-central Chiapas, living around Comitán, the plains of Zapaluta and the Ocosingo valley along the Guatemalan border. Their Tojol-ab'al language belongs to the Mayan family and is closest to Chuj; its name means right or straight speech, from tohol for correct and ab'al for word.

Their own oral tradition holds that they migrated north from Guatemala, and the Classic Maya city of Chinkultic, whose carved stelae span the years 591 to 897 and whose occupation lasted into the thirteenth century, stands in their former lands.

Spanish control reached Comitán and the Ocosingo valley by 1528, when Diego Mazariegos organized the colonial province of Chiapa and distributed the Tojolabal towns as encomiendas; harsh tribute demands drove many to abandon their villages for the remoter mountains.