Chiapanec people

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The Chiapanec, also known as Chiapas or Soctones, were an indigenous people who occupied a part of the central region of the present-day state of Chiapas, Mexico. Not much is known about their origin, but it is often speculated that they may have migrated from Central America northwards, due to their close linguistic relationship with the Mangues.^[1] The language of the Chiapas was the Chiapanec language, now extinct, although well documented. This language is classified within the Oto-Manguean language family, being the only language of that family spoken in the current Chiapas territory.

The main settlement of the Chiapas people was Napiniacá, now known as Chiapa de Corzo. The state of Chiapas takes its name from this indigenous people, whose resistance to the Spanish conquest has been treated in heroic tales that are now considered not entirely true. The disappearance of the Chiapas language has led to the assumption that the Chiapas disappeared without a trace. The people of Chiapas were decimated in the C.E.18th century by the various epidemics in the region, which led to the disappearance of some of its most notable settlements, such as Ostuta and Pochutla. The population of Chiapas was Ladinized and its culture survived in a cultural hybridization, some of whose features are preserved in the culture of the peoples of the Chiapas region, made up approximately of the current municipalities of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapilla, Acala, Suchiapa and Ixtapa.