CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE o£ 
agricultural revolution which accompanied the ex- 
pansion of coffee beginning about 1850.18? 
We may assume that many modern municipios rep- 
resent areas each of which had a considerable degree 
of cultural uniformity within itself about 100 years 
ago (183040). The early 19th century perhaps was 
the period of greatest homogeneity of municipios or 
preexisting ethnic groups that has ever been seen. 
Before the Conquest they did not exist as they are 
today ; the reducciones tended to throw together set- 
tlements, the ethnic uniformity of which probably be- 
came strengthened by years of living in small, more or 
less isolated areal units. Then came the break-up of 
cultural entities by the agricultural revolution. Rail- 
way and road-building operations!*? simultaneously 
tended to increase intercommunication and to cause 
some shift of population. There were numerous 
migrations of peoples during the period of the coffee 
boom which had no direct connection with that in- 
dustry (e.g., Patanatic and Xepéc, see p. 90, B, Nos. 
6 and 9) and which may have been stimulated 
by the general restlessness of the period. Cerro 
de Oro, an aldea of Santiago (p. 90, B, No. 8, 
and map 20) was peopled by the Patzicia settlers 
during the coffee boom period, and, though the lava 
apron in this area is stony and rough, the high grade 
of the coffee may have offset this disadvantage. Cof- 
fee must have reached Lake Atitlan relatively late, 
for Dollfus and Mont-Serrat (1868, p. 521) say of 
San Lucas Toliman (where good coffee in consid- 
erable quantity is grown today): “.. . absolutely un- 
productive country; the Indians plant a little corn, 
and catch fish in Lake Atitlan for their own consump- 
tion.”” Nor do they mention coffee in Panajachel, 
where it is a major crop today (map 23). It prob- 
ably came in during the last decade of the 19th cen- 
tury. Brigham in 1887, though he calls Panajachel 
the “garden of Solola” (op. cit., pp. 155-156), says 
nothing of coffee; yet Mrs. Maudslay mentions it as 
an important crop in 1899 (op. cit., p. 57). 
SANTIAGO ATITLAN: MUNICIPIO BOUNDARY 
CHANGES 
Before appraising the significance of present muni- 
cipio boundaries as cultural lines, it is well to examine 
the evolution of a municipio which is fairly well 
132 Dollfus and Mont-Serrat (1868, p. 521) wrote of Chimaltenango 
(1865-66): ‘Village of 1200-1500 inhabitants. . Most of the 
inhabitants, like those of the following villages, left their homes to go to 
work in the plantations of nopal and coffee, so that this region [High- 
lands around Chimaltenango] is on the verge of depopulation. 
133 The importance of roads was stressed during the rule of President 
Carrera (1844-65). For railway data, see p. 92, ftn. 141. 
known historically, such as Santiago Atitlan, site of 
the ancient capital of the Zutuhiles.1%* At the time 
of the Conquest the southern shore of Lake Atitlan 
was occupied by the Zutuhiles, whose lands extended 
into the Lowlands, where they had rich cacao planta- 
tions (map 11). Shortly after 1850, coffee was 
planted on a very large scale all along the piedmont, 
on slopes higher than the cacao lands (map 12). Cof- 
fee succeeded cacao as the major crop, and there was 
such a boom in coffee plantations that piedmont 
municipios developed on colonial lands of Highland 
municipios, and finally became independent of them, 
as Chicacao did in breaking off from Santiago Atitlan. 
The Indians in the two municipios, having stemmed 
from the same stock, are still closely related by blood. 
Zutuhil Lands.—Historical records indicate that 
the areal extent of the Zutuhil “kingdom” before the 
Conquest included the south shore (and originally 
probably the north shore as well; see p. 103, ftn. 159) 
of Lake Atitlan, and a center of settlement (‘“‘capi- 
tal”) which corresponded in some measure with the 
present village of Santiago, though archeological evi- 
dence indicates a somewhat greater dispersion to the 
north of the modern site (map 20; pl. 47). There 
were also extensive Lowland territories, commonly 
held by Highland Indians primarily for the planting 
of cacao and some supplementary corn. 
Brinton’s English translation (1885) of the Xahila 
manuscript?®> reveals that the Zutuhil “originally” 
occupied the shores of the Lake, and divided it with 
the newly arrived Cakchiquels, who even married 
their women, “neither their mothers nor sisters hav- 
ing accompanied them” (Brinton, 1885, p. 107). 
According to Fuentes y Guzman, “the kingdom of 
the Zutugiles comprised the territories of Atitlan and 
Suchitepequez” (Lowlands) (Fuentes y Guzman, 
1882-83, vol. 2, p. 172). 
Juan de Pineda (1908, p. 438), writing between 
1560 and 1580, says of “Atytlan’: ‘“‘they all have 
horses on which they take to the Zapotitlan lowlands, 
a day’s ride down below, all the things they produce, 
and they trade in cacao and cotton; furthermore, 
124 Described briefly or mentioned by the following: Lothrop, 1928, 
1933; Tax, 1937, pp. 431, 434-435; Wauchope, 1938. The name~ 
“Atitlan’? does not appear in the Cakchiquel history, even though the 
account brings their story up to 1600. The entire name of the village 
probably came in with the Spaniards, though definite mention of Aztecs 
(“Yaquis”) is made as early as 1503, when they were executed for 
taking sides in a Cakchiquel (Akahal) revolt (Brinton, 1885, p. 161). 
There have been numerous spellings of Zutuhil as is often the case with 
Guatemala place names. A few of these have been as follows: Zutujil, 
Tzutuhil, Zutuhil, Sotohil, Sotojil, and Zutijil. 
185 Variously titled (Brinton, ‘Annals of the Cakchiquels;” Brasseur 
“Memorial del Tecpan-Atitlan’’). 
