Soon, the Tzoltzils and Ch'ols joined the Tzeltales in rebellion, but within a year the government was able to extinguish the rebellion. As of 1778, Thomas Kitchin described Chiapas as "the metropolis of the original Mexicans," with a population of approximately 20,000, and consisting mainly of indigenous peoples.
Chiapas, Soconusco and Tuxla regions were united to the first time as an intendencia during the Bourbon Reforms in 1790 as an administrative region under the name of Chiapas.
In the pre Classic period from 1800 BCE to 300 CE, agricultural villages appeared all over the state although hunter gather groups would persist for long after the era. Recent excavations in the Soconusco region of the state indicate that the oldest civilization to appear in what is now modern Chiapas is that of the Mokaya, which were cultivating corn and living in houses as early as 1500 BCE, making them one of the oldest in Mesoamerica.
The isolation of Chiapas from centers of power, along with the strong internal divisions in the intendencia caused a political crisis after royal government collapsed in Mexico City in 1821, ending the Mexican War of Independence.
In 1821, a number of cities in Chiapas, starting in Comitán, declared the state's separation from the Spanish empire.
In 1822, then-Emperor Agustín de Iturbide decreed that Chiapas was part of Mexico.
In 1823, Guatemala became part of the United Provinces of Central America, which united to form a federal republic that would last from 1823 to 1839.
In 1823, the Junta General de Gobierno was held and Chiapas declared independence again.
In July 1824, the Soconusco District of southwestern Chiapas split off from Chiapas, announcing that it would join the Central American Federation.
The State of Chiapas was officially declared in 1824, with its first constitution in 1826.
The State of Chiapas was officially declared in 1824, with its first constitution in 1826.
There was a small experiment with democracy in the form of "open city councils" but it was shortlived because voting was heavily rigged. The Universidad Pontificia y Literaria de Chiapas was founded in 1826, with Mexico's second teacher's college founded in the state in 1828. ===Era of the Liberal Reform=== With the ouster of conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican liberals came to power.
Ciudad Real was renamed San Cristóbal de las Casas in 1828. In the decades after the official end of the war, the provinces of Chiapas and Soconusco unified, with power concentrated in San Cristóbal de las Casas.
There was a small experiment with democracy in the form of "open city councils" but it was shortlived because voting was heavily rigged. The Universidad Pontificia y Literaria de Chiapas was founded in 1826, with Mexico's second teacher's college founded in the state in 1828. ===Era of the Liberal Reform=== With the ouster of conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican liberals came to power.
In 1823, Guatemala became part of the United Provinces of Central America, which united to form a federal republic that would last from 1823 to 1839.
This referendum ended in favor of incorporation with Mexico (allegedly through manipulation of the elite in the highlands), but the Soconusco region maintained a neutral status until 1842, when Oaxacans under General Antonio López de Santa Anna occupied the area, and declared it reincorporated into Mexico.
Elites of the area would not accept this until 1844.
In 1848, a group of Tzeltals plotted to kill the new mestizos in their midst, but this plan was discovered, and was punished by the removal of large number of the community's male members.
Eventually, this production of coffee would become the state's most important crop. Although the Liberals had mostly triumphed in the state and the rest of the country by the 1860s, Conservatives still held considerable power in Chiapas.
The more radical of these even allowed indigenous groups the religious freedoms to return to a number of native rituals and beliefs such as pilgrimages to natural shrines such as mountains and waterfalls. This culminated in the Chiapas "caste war", which was an uprising of Tzotzils beginning in 1868.
Stories about the cult include embellishments such as the crucifixion of a young Indian boy. This led to the arrest of Checheb and Cuzcat in December 1868.
The indigenous force was quickly dispersed and routed with government troops pursuing pockets of guerrilla resistance in the mountains until 1870.
However, Corzo's rule would end in 1875, when he opposed the regime of Porfirio Díaz. Liberal land reforms would have negative effects on the state's indigenous population unlike in other areas of the country.
The event effectively returned control of the indigenous workforce back to the highland elite. ===Porfiriato, 1876–1911=== The Porfirio Díaz era at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th was initially thwarted by regional bosses called caciques, bolstered by a wave of Spanish and mestizo farmers who migrated to the state and added to the elite group of wealthy landowning families.
There was some technological progress such as a highway from San Cristóbal to the Oaxaca border and the first telephone line in the 1880s, but Porfirian era economic reforms would not begin until 1891 with Governor Emilio Rabasa.
Guatemala would not recognize Mexico's annexation of the Soconusco region until 1895 even though a final border between Chiapas and the country was finalized until 1882.
In accordance with an 1882 treaty, the dividing line between Mexico and Guatemala goes right over the summit of this volcano.
There was some technological progress such as a highway from San Cristóbal to the Oaxaca border and the first telephone line in the 1880s, but Porfirian era economic reforms would not begin until 1891 with Governor Emilio Rabasa.
This governor took on the local and regional caciques and centralized power into the state capital, which he moved from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Tuxtla in 1892.
Guatemala would not recognize Mexico's annexation of the Soconusco region until 1895 even though a final border between Chiapas and the country was finalized until 1882.
While this coming event would affect the state, Chiapas did not follow the uprisings in other areas that would end the Porfirian era. Japanese immigration to Mexico began in 1897 when the first thirty five migrants arrived in Chiapas to work on coffee farms, so that Mexico was the first Latin American country to receive organized Japanese immigration.
This practice would lead to a kind of indentured servitude and uprisings in areas of the state, although they never led to large rebel armies as in other parts of Mexico. A small war broke out between Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristobal in 1911.
There were three years of peace after that until troops allied with the "First Chief" of the revolutionary Constitutionalist forces, Venustiano Carranza, entered in 1914 taking over the government, with the aim of imposing the Ley de Obreros (Workers' Law) to address injustices against the state's mostly indigenous workers.
The territory was reorganized into municipalities in 1916.
This action continued for six years, until President Carranza was assassinated in 1920 and revolutionary general Álvaro Obregón became president of Mexico.
This allowed the Mapaches to gain political power in the state and effectively stop many of the social reforms occurring in other parts of Mexico. The Mapaches continued to fight against socialists and communists in Mexico from 1920 to 1936, to maintain their control over the state.
Since the 1930s, many indigenous and mestizos have migrated from the highland areas into the Lacandon Jungle with the populations of Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque rising from less than 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000.
The population of municipalities in this area, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque have risen from 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000.
The current state constitution was written in 1921. There was political stability from the 1940s to the early 1970s; however, regionalism regained with people thinking of themselves as from their local city or municipality over the state.
The Mapaches were first defeated in 1925 when an alliance of socialists and former Carranza loyalists had Carlos A.
In general, elite landowners also allied with the nationally dominant party founded by Plutarco Elías Calles following the assassination of president-elect Obregón in 1928; that party was renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1946.
The last of the Mapache resistance was overcome in the early 1930s by Governor Victorico Grajales, who pursued President Lázaro Cárdenas' social and economic policies including persecution of the Catholic Church.
Since the 1930s, many indigenous and mestizos have migrated from the highland areas into the Lacandon Jungle with the populations of Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque rising from less than 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000.
The remaining three regions, Soconusco, Centro and Costa, have populations that are considered to be dominantly mestizo. The state has about 13.5% of all of Mexico's indigenous population, and it has been ranked among the ten "most indianized" states, with only Campeche, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and Yucatán having been ranked above it between 1930 and the present.
Studies done between 1930 and 2000 have indicated that Spanish is not dramatically displacing these languages.
This allowed the Mapaches to gain political power in the state and effectively stop many of the social reforms occurring in other parts of Mexico. The Mapaches continued to fight against socialists and communists in Mexico from 1920 to 1936, to maintain their control over the state.
The current state constitution was written in 1921. There was political stability from the 1940s to the early 1970s; however, regionalism regained with people thinking of themselves as from their local city or municipality over the state.
They were established in the 1940s, but the oldest communities in the area belong to the Lacandon people.
From fewer than one million inhabitants in 1940, the state had about two million in 1980, and over 4 million in 2005.
In general, elite landowners also allied with the nationally dominant party founded by Plutarco Elías Calles following the assassination of president-elect Obregón in 1928; that party was renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1946.
The population of the Lacandon was only one thousand people in 1950, but by the mid-1990s this had increased to 200 thousand.
While birthrates are still high in the state, they have come down in recent decades from 7.4 per woman in 1950.
The Lagunas de Montebello National Park was decreed in 1959 and consists of near the Guatemalan border in the municipalities of La Independencia and La Trinitaria.
Although this colony ultimately failed, there remains a small Japanese community in Acacoyagua, Chiapas. ===Early 20th century to 1960=== In the early 20th century and into the Mexican Revolution, the production of coffee was particularly important but labor-intensive.
Another important factor to this movement would be the role of the Catholic Church from the 1960s to the 1980s.
In 1960, Samuel Ruiz became the bishop of the Diocese of Chiapas, centered in San Cristóbal.
By 1990, it was estimated that there were over 200,000 Guatemalans and half a million from El Salvador, almost all peasant farmers and most under age twenty. In the 1980s, the politization of the indigenous and rural populations of the state that began in the 1960s and 1970s continued.
However, because of this diocese's activism since the 1960s, authorities accused the clergy of being involved with the rebels.
President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz awarded a land grant to the town of Venustiano Carranza in 1967, but that land was already being used by cattle-ranchers who refused to leave.
The current state constitution was written in 1921. There was political stability from the 1940s to the early 1970s; however, regionalism regained with people thinking of themselves as from their local city or municipality over the state.
In Chiapas poor farmland and severe poverty afflict the Mayan Indians which led to unsuccessful non violent protests and eventually armed struggle started by the Zapatista National Liberation Army in January 1994. These events began to lead to political crises in the 1970s, with more frequent land invasions and takeovers of municipal halls.
One reason for the Church's efforts to reach out to the indigenous population was that starting in the 1970s, a shift began from traditional Catholic affiliation to Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian sects. The 1980s saw a large wave of refugees coming into the state from Central America as a number of these countries, especially Guatemala, were in the midst of violent political turmoil.
By 1990, it was estimated that there were over 200,000 Guatemalans and half a million from El Salvador, almost all peasant farmers and most under age twenty. In the 1980s, the politization of the indigenous and rural populations of the state that began in the 1960s and 1970s continued.
This split had existed in Chiapas since the 1970s, with the latter group supported by the caciques and others in the traditional power-structure.
This problem has been at crisis proportions since the 1970s, and the government's reaction has been to encourage peasant farmers—mostly indigenous—to migrate into the sparsely populated Lacandon Jungle, a trend since earlier in the century. From the 1970s on, some 100,000 people set up homes in this rainforest area, with many being recognized as ejidos, or communal land-holding organizations.
Since the 1970s, this has been supported by the Mexican government as it has shifted from cultural policies that favor a "multicultural" identity for the country.
While there have been inter ethnic political activism such as that promoted by the Diocese of Chiapas in the 1970s and the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, there has been inter-indigenous conflict as well.
Starting in the 1970s, traditional leaders in San Juan Chamula began expelling dissidents from their homes and land, amounting to about 20,000 indigenous forced to leave over a thirty-year period.
In 1974, he organized a statewide "Indian Congress" with representatives from the Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Tojolabal and Ch'ol peoples from 327 communities as well as Marists and the Maoist People's Union.
Visitors can take boat trips down the river that runs through the canyon and see the area's many birds and abundant vegetation. The Montes Azules Integral Biosphere Reserve was decreed in 1978.
Another important factor to this movement would be the role of the Catholic Church from the 1960s to the 1980s.
One reason for the Church's efforts to reach out to the indigenous population was that starting in the 1970s, a shift began from traditional Catholic affiliation to Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian sects. The 1980s saw a large wave of refugees coming into the state from Central America as a number of these countries, especially Guatemala, were in the midst of violent political turmoil.
By 1990, it was estimated that there were over 200,000 Guatemalans and half a million from El Salvador, almost all peasant farmers and most under age twenty. In the 1980s, the politization of the indigenous and rural populations of the state that began in the 1960s and 1970s continued.
In 1980, several ejido (communal land organizations) joined to form the Union of Ejidal Unions and United Peasants of Chiapas, generally called the Union of Unions, or UU.
However, the government changed policies in the late 1980s with the establishment of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, as much of the Lacandon Jungle had been destroyed or severely damaged.
The Sumidero Canyon National Park was decreed in 1980 with an extension of .
The El Zapotal Ecological Center was established in 1980.
From fewer than one million inhabitants in 1940, the state had about two million in 1980, and over 4 million in 2005.
The Palenque National Forest is centered on the archaeological site of the same name and was decreed in 1981.
By 1984, there were 92 camps with 46,000 refugees in Chiapas, concentrated in three areas, mostly near the Guatemalan border.
By 1988, this organization joined with other to form the ARIC-Union of Unions (ARIC-UU) and took over much of the Lacandon Jungle portion of the state.
This helped to integrate the state's economy, but it also permitted the political rise of communal land owners called ejidatarios. ===Mid-20th century to 1990=== In the mid-20th century, the state experienced a significant rise in population, which outstripped local resources, especially land in the highland areas.
This was the beginning of a process that would lead to the emergence of the Zapatista movement in the 1990s.
By 1990, it was estimated that there were over 200,000 Guatemalans and half a million from El Salvador, almost all peasant farmers and most under age twenty. In the 1980s, the politization of the indigenous and rural populations of the state that began in the 1960s and 1970s continued.
Opposition would coalesce into the Zapatista movement in the 1990s.
In the 1990s, two thirds of the state's residents did not have sewage service, only a third had electricity and half did not have potable water.
The El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, decreed in 1990, is located in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in the municipalities of Acacoyagua, Ángel Albino Corzo, Montecristo de Guerrero, La Concordia, Mapastepec, Pijijiapan, Siltepec and Villa Corzo near the Pacific Ocean with .
While there have been inter ethnic political activism such as that promoted by the Diocese of Chiapas in the 1970s and the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, there has been inter-indigenous conflict as well.
In 1992, the Lacantun Reserve, which includes the Classic Maya archaeological sites of Yaxchilan and Bonampak, was added to the biosphere reserve. Agua Azul Waterfall Protection Area is in the Northern Mountains in the municipality of Tumbalá.
In Chiapas poor farmland and severe poverty afflict the Mayan Indians which led to unsuccessful non violent protests and eventually armed struggle started by the Zapatista National Liberation Army in January 1994. These events began to lead to political crises in the 1970s, with more frequent land invasions and takeovers of municipal halls.
Since the Accords, they have shifted focus in gaining autonomy for the communities they control. Since the 1994 uprising, migration into the Lacandon Jungle has significantly increased, involving illegal settlements and cutting in the protected biosphere reserve.
In areas such as Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas, the towns where the Zapatistas first came into prominence in 1994, 48% of the adults were illiterate.
Much of the latter has been prominent since the Zapatista uprising in 1994. Most of Chiapas' indigenous groups are descended from the Mayans, speaking languages that are closely related to one another, belonging to the Western Maya language group.
Language maintenance has been strongest in areas related to where the Zapatista uprising took place such as the municipalities of Altamirano, Chamula, Chanal, Larráinzar, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo, Palenque, Sabanilla, San Cristóbal de Las Casas and Simojovel. The state's rich indigenous tradition along with its associated political uprisings, especially that of 1994, has great interest from other parts of Mexico and abroad.
One reason for this was the December 1997 massacre of forty-five unarmed Tzotzil peasants, mostly women and children, in the Zapatista-controlled village of Acteal in the Chenhaló municipality just north of San Cristóbal.
Since the 1930s, many indigenous and mestizos have migrated from the highland areas into the Lacandon Jungle with the populations of Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque rising from less than 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000.
The revolt also pressed the government to institute anti-poverty programs such as "Progresa" (later called "Oportunidades") and the "Puebla-Panama Plan" – aiming to increase trade between southern Mexico and Central America. As of the first decade of the 2000s the Zapatista movement remained popular in many indigenous communities.
The population of municipalities in this area, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque have risen from 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000.
Studies done between 1930 and 2000 have indicated that Spanish is not dramatically displacing these languages.
From fewer than one million inhabitants in 1940, the state had about two million in 1980, and over 4 million in 2005.
In 2005, there were 924,967 households, 81% headed by men and the rest by women.
As of the 2005 Census, there were 957,255 people who spoke an indigenous language out of a total population of about 3.5 million.
It extends over and in 2010, it was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
As of 2010, 78% lives in urban communities with 22% in rural communities.
The most spoken indigenous languages as of 2010 are Tzeltal with 461,236 speakers, Tzotzil with 417,462, Ch’ol with 191,947 and Zoque with 53,839.
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