Napinaica

Napiniacá was the centre of the Chiapaneca people on the Grijalva River, near the entrance to the Sumidero canyon. Nearby stood a much older Zoque settlement, whose pyramidal platforms attest to a long history of occupation in the central depression of Chiapas. Mountains, springs, trees and the river formed part of the sacred landscape around the Chiapaneca town.

Spanish campaigns against Napiniacá began in 1524 and continued under Diego de Mazariegos in 1528. The colonial settlement of Chiapa developed beside the river, and Dominican friars sought to convert its inhabitants. Indigenous understandings of the landscape persisted through the new religious order, as local sacred places and Christian figures became intertwined in the religious life and traditions of the community along the river.

The later city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez lies here.