Chinamita
The Chinamitas or Tulumkis were likely a Mopan Maya 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 [Peten Peten Itza Kingdom|Itza Kingdom|Itza] of Nojpetén, south of the Yaxhá and 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 maguey hedge, and was accessed via a narrow entranceway.