CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE ale 
the Spanish Royal Academy, 1791 edition. 
Fuentes y Guzman (late 17th century) refers to 
“Mestizos and Spanish Ladinos” (1932-33, p. 409). _ 
A late 18th-century manuscript relating to Chiapa, 
in the Museo Naval, Madrid, reads as follows: 
“, . they are called ladinos, because they speak 
Spanish, they are mulattoes, zambos, and other castes 
which are not Indian .. .” (Anon:, Ms. 1783(?), 
p. 44). The early significance, then, was usually 
linguistic. Juarros defined a Ladino as an Indian 
who “professed Christianity” (Baily translation, 
1823, p. 24). 
The opposing factors of isolation and acculturation 
are of primary significance in the matter of speech. 
The Spanish language, like the wearing of shoes or 
the putting of full-sized windows in a house, is 
adopted by the Indian as he becomes “Ladinized,” 
and it may well be taken as an index of this process. 
Accordingly, where the two racial types are in close 
contact, there will be more Spanish spoken by Indians 
than where they live apart. Such, for example, is 
the case in the Quezaltenango area, where many 
Ladinos live, and in the Totonicapan and Momo- 
stenango areas, where, though there are few people 
of European culture, many Indians are long-range 
merchants, and travel often as far as Salvador. They 
must speak fluent Spanish, as it is the trade language. 
‘A large proportion even of women (usually last to 
learn it) speak the national tongue in such areas as 
Quezaltenango, Totonicapan, etc. 
Since Indians rarely settle permanently below the 
lower limit of the coffee belt, Spanish is consequently 
the language of the outer Lowlands, especially under 
200 m. (656 it.). The percentage of Indians in 
shore towns ranges from 0 (Tahuesco) to about 10 
(Champerico) ; the proportion is usually about 2 
percent. The few Indians here speak the European 
tongue almost exclusively. This was not considered, 
apparently, by Stoll (1884) when he drew his lin- 
guistic map. Sapper, however, made the correction 
(1897, Map 5), and it has been followed by others 
since. In the mixed villages of the piedmont most 
Indians, including women, have a good knowledge 
of Spanish, and many speak it well. 
In remote areas, on the other hand, a considerable 
number of men may even be found who cannot speak 
enough Spanish to carry on an intelligent conversa- 
tion. Native “intendentes” are chosen largely for 
their ability to speak Spanish, and usually in isolated 
settlements there are very few men to choose from. 
This is especially true of the villages of the more 
secluded northwest shore of Lake Atitlan—San 
Pablo, San Marcos, Tzununa, and Santa Cruz— 
where there are practically no Ladinos; there is a 
1,000-m. wall at their backs, and a wave-furrowed, 
wind-swept lake before them; nor do they have more 
than a very few canoes to traverse it. Those of the 
south-shore villages (and to a much lesser degree, 
those of the northeast), traveling frequently to the 
Lowlands, for the most part speak Spanish fairly 
well. It is almost the rule that Indian women of the 
Lake region lack knowledge of the national tongue, 
except for the most frequent vendors in the markets ; 
and even there, in the plaza of Santiago Atitlan, 
many women do not even understand Spanish nu- 
merals. That is distinctly a local market, however, 
and there are few Ladinos, most of whom know a 
little Zutuhil. In the mountains behind Solola it will 
be found that most of the Indian women and many 
of the men are equally inarticulate in Spanish. On 
the other hand, there appear to be more Ladinos 
about the Lake than elsewhere in the southwest, 
except in the case of merchants dealing largely with 
Indians, who could speak one or more of the Maya 
dialects. Many of the non-Indian residents, even of 
a town with as many Ladinos as Solola, can carry 
on conversations in Cakchiquel; for it is often a 
necessity. 
That Ladinos have long been established in the 
towns and villages of western Guatemala is indicated 
by Dollfus and Mont-Serrat through their population 
figures. Santa Cruz del Quiché, e. g., is said to have 
3,000 Mestizos and only 1,500 Indians (Dollfus and 
Mont-Serrat, 1868, p. 524). 
NEGROES 
The first appearance of Negroes in Guatemala 
dates back almost to the Conquest of that area. Garcia 
Pelaez discusses this rather fully, citing an edict of 
Guatemala in 1553, a cedula of 1540, and testimony 
of Alvarado (recorded by Remesal, 1932, bk. 1, 
ch. 15) to the effect that African slaves were men- 
tioned among the servants, characterized as “indus- 
trious workers,” and were forbidden to bathe in rivers 
and springs where there were white women and 
girls. A ship in 1543 brought 150 Negroes, and a 
1547 edict offered 3 to 6 pesos for the return of 
runaway slaves. Garcia Pelaez concluded, however, 
that the early Spaniards would rather marry Negroes 
than Indians (Garcia Pelaez, 1851-52, vol. 1, p. 63). 
This may in part explain the disappearance of 
