The Chinamitas or Tulumkis (Nahuatl language chinamitl, Mopan language tulumki) were likely a Mopan people who constituted the former Chinamita Territory, an early Columbian polity of the Maya Lowlands, likely in present-day Belize and Guatemala. In the early 17th century, the Territory probably lay along the Mopan River in the eastern Petén Basin and neighbouring portions of western Belize, being thereby situated east of the Itza of Nojpetén, south of the Yaxhá and Laguna Sacnab lakes, and west of Tipuj.
Etymology
The term
Chinamita is derived from the
Nahuatl chinamitl, meaning "cane hedge". This was equivalent to the Mopan term tulum ki, meaning "wall of agave", which was the name of the Chinamita capital. Spanish chronicler Juan de Villagutierre Soto-Mayor described the Chinamitas and Tulunquies as two distinct peoples; however, chinamitl is merely the Nahuatl translation of the Mayan tulum ki.
Territory
The Territory is most commonly thought to have been situated along the Mopan River in northeastern Guatemala and southwestern Belize, wedged between Nojpeten and Tipu, and to have thereby been subordinate to or formed part of the
Mopan Territory. However, some scholars have proposed that the Territory rather lay in north Guatemala.
The Chinamitas' principal settlement was a town called Tulumki, and the Chinamita people were also referred to as Tulumkis or Tulunquies. Tulumki was said to have a population of 8,000 in the early 17th century; the population was said to include both male and female Spaniards who had been captured by the Chinamitas. The town was described as being defended by a moat and a Agave americana hedge, and was accessed via a narrow entranceway.
Relations with the Itza
Itza–Chinamita relations were quite strained, as the former "waged incessant wars against" the latter, while the Chinamitas were reciprocally hostile towards their Itza neighbours and their allies. In 1618, Itza warriors informed the
Franciscan Order missionaries Bartolomé de Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita that they always travelled armed when visiting their allies in Tipuj, for fear of encountering their fierce Chinamita enemies. According to Fuensalida, the Chinamitas had a reputation for being cannibals. When Franciscan friar Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola visited the Itza in 1696, he understood the
Tuluncies formed a part of the Itza kingdom.
Legacy
As of 2009, the Territory and its residents remained "virtually unknown materially and geopolitically except for documentary references or linguistic reconstructions." Along with residents of the former Mopan Territory, the Chinamitas are presumed ancestors of the modern Mopan Maya people of Belize and Guatemala.
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