Zoque

The Zoque are an Indigenous people of southern Mexico, concentrated in the hills and river valleys of Chiapas. Their Zoque languages, often mutually unintelligible, form a branch of the Mixe-Zoque family together with the speech of the neighbouring Mixe.

Because Mixe-Zoque words for cultivated things were borrowed across Mesoamerica, many scholars think the Zoque are descendants or close kin of the Olmecs. Ruins such as Chiapa de Corzo and Malpasito mark their pre-Hispanic towns. During the Post-Classic period, Chiapanecs fought or dominated settlements near Chiapa, while Nahuas from Cimatan influenced those farther north.

In 1494 the armies of the Aztec ruler Ahuitzotl defeated them and imposed tribute, though trade with the Mexica also brought prosperity. The Spanish conquest began in 1523 under Luis Marin; the Zoque were distributed among settlers for forced labour and sharply reduced by disease and exploitation.