Mopan people

Mopan
Total population
approx. 13,000
Regions with significant populations
 Belize 10,557[1]
 Guatemala, El Petén 2,891[2]
Languages
Mopan, English, Kriol, Spanish
Religion
Catholic, Evangelicalist, Maya religion

The Mopan are one of the Maya peoples in Belize and Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Mopan and is one of the Yucatec Maya languages.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British forced the Mopan out of Belize and into Guatemala.[3] There they endured forced labour and high taxation.[3] In the late 19th century, many Guatemalan Mopan fled back into Belize, settling in the Toledo District in the southern part of the country.[3][4]

In the 2010 Census, 10,557 Belizeans reported their ethnicity as Mopan Maya. This constituted approximately 3% of the population.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Census 2010 Provisional Population and Households, by Sex and Major Geographic Divisions" (PDF). Statistical Institute of Belize. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "XI Censo Nacional de Población y VI de Habitación (Censo 2002) - Pertenencia de grupo étnico". Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 2002. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  3. 1 2 3 Shoman, Assad (1995). Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize. Belize City: Angelus Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 9768052198.
  4. ↑ Mwakikagile, Godfrey (2010). Belize and Its People: Life in A Multicultural Society. Continental Press. p. 114. ISBN 9987932215.
  • "Maya Homeland". University of California Berkeley Geography Department and the Toledo Maya of Southern Belize.


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