In 1881, Gay referred many times to the Chinantla 
in his Historia de Oawaca (13). He used the term ina 
very broad sense, stating that ‘‘La Chinantla es una 
provincia situada al norte de la ciudad de Oaxaca,”’ and 
he intimated that it was synonymous with the territory 
of the Chinantecs. 
Belmar (4) wrote: ‘“The Chinantees occupy chiefly 
the Chinantla, comprising the Districts of Ixtlan, Choa- 
pam, Cuicatlin, Teotitlin, Villa Alta, and Tuxtepec’’, 
and elsewhere (3) he used Chinantla similarly. 
Burgoa (in 2) suggested that the Chinantla was a syn- 
onym of the area inhabited by the Chinantecs and stated 
that it lay “‘beyond Villa Alta. ’’ 
Although Bevan (2) carefully discussed the meaning 
of the name Chinantla and pointed out that it has been 
used in four different senses, he stated that in his opinion 
“the name La Chinantlais, ...asynonym for the region 
where any dialect of Chinantec is spoken. ’”’ 
In his writings on southern Mexico, Starr (81) has 
used Chinantla to refer exclusively to the eastern third 
of the District of Cuicatlan, which is Chinantec territory, 
especially to the region around San Pedro Sochiapam 
(long. 96°41’, lat. 17°53’) and San Juan Zautla (long. 
96°40’, lat. 17°58’). 
III. User sy Boranists 
In reviewing the use of Chinant/a in the writings of 
botanical explorers who knew the region personally, it 
is interesting to discover that the term was consistently 
employed in its historically correct sense. 
Among the early botanical explorers who travelled in 
Oaxaca, Galeotti, Hartweg and Liebmann penetrated 
into the Chinantla, carrying on their explorations almost 
simultaneously. Galeotti and Hartweg worked in the 
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