Uspantec



ETHNONYM: Uspanteco


The 2,000 Uspantec, of whom 1,000 still speak the Uspantec language, are Quichean Maya Indians who live in the Quiché Department of Guatemala. The K'iche' Maya conquered the Uspantec in the fifteenth century. The Uspantec successfully rebelled in approximately 1500, only to fall under Spanish subjugation in the 1530s. Starting in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the Guatemalan government began to appropriate Indian lands all over Guatemala, including the lands of the Uspantec. This led to increased poverty among the Uspantec, who again rebelled. The Guatemalan government retaliated, with the result that perhaps as many as one-fourth of all Uspantec migrated to the United States. The Uspantec in Guatemala subsist primarily on maize and beans.

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