Huaxtecs
The Huaxteken or Huasteken (own name Teenek , Spanish Huaxteca , adjective huaxteco or wastek ) belong to the Maya language group and settle in the northern Gulf zone of Mexico , north of the settlement area of the Totonaks . The Huastekian language (Teenek kaaw or Teenek kawintalab) is one of the Maya languages (around 173,000 speakers in 2000).
Own name
The self-designation Teenek is a contraction of Te 'Inik , "people from here" ( te "here", inik "man", cf. winik and winaq in other Maya languages ). The external name Huasteca or Huaxteca comes from the Nahuatl , probably from the plant name huaxi ( white headed mimosa Leucaena leucocephala ).
history
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, their territory, called La Huaxteca , comprised parts of the northeastern Mexican state of Hidalgo , San Luis Potosí - although it is disputed whether their area extended to the north, into southern Tamaulipas - and Veracruz , with their settlements and cities separated concentrated along the Río Pánuco and on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico .
The Huaxteks, however, did not know the hieroglyphic writing developed by the Maya , their calendar calculation , nor the false vault in architecture so typical of the Maya , so that it is assumed that a very early separation from the rest of the Maya language family took place.
The Aztecs regarded them as poorly clad barbarians, but they were very experienced in magic. The Huaxteks faced them as courageous and cruel warrior people. They fought naked and cut off the heads of fallen opponents as trophies. The Aztecs and later the Spaniards never succeeded in the complete military subjugation of this people.
Their architecture was very simple. One characteristic was their construction with a round floor plan or with rounded corners. Their most important city was Tamuín .
Todays situation
Of the approximately 66,000 Huaxtecs still today, mostly small farmers, one third live in Veracruz and two thirds in San Luis Potosí (according to INAH ). It is estimated that there were around 500,000 Huaxtecs when the Spaniards invaded their area in 1529.
See also
literature
- Guy Stresser-Péan: Viaje a la Huasteca . Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), Mexico City 2008, ISBN 978-968-16-8510-2 .
