Soconusco
Soconusco is a region in the southwest corner of the state of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico along its border with Guatemala. It is a narrow strip of land wedged between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is the southernmost part of the Chiapas coast extending south from the Ulapa River to the Suchiate River, distinguished by its history and economic production. Abundant moisture and volcanic soil has always made it rich for agriculture, contributing to the flowering of the Mokaya and Olmec cultures, which were based on Theobroma cacao and rubber of Castilla elastica.
In the 19th century, the area was disputed between Mexico and Guatemala until a treaty signed in 1882 fixed the modern border by dividing the area's historical extension, with most going to Mexico and a smaller portion east of the Suchiate to Guatemala. In 1890, Mexican president Porfirio Díaz and German chancellor Otto von Bismarck collaborated to take advantage of southern Mexico's agricultural potential by sending 450 German families to Soconusco near Tapachula in the southern state of Chiapas. Extensive coffee cultivation quickly made Soconusco one of the most successful German colonies, and between 1895 and 1900, 11.5 million kg of coffee had been harvested. Fincas were erected in the Chiapaneco jungle and given German names such as Hamburgo, Bremen, Lübeck, Argovia, Bismarck, Prussia, and Hanover.
This area has experienced a boom-and-bust economy with well-studied migration patterns of agricultural workers. After exporting cacao to central Mexico for thousands of years, the first modern crop for export was coffee. Since then other crops such as tropical fruits, flowers and more have been introduced. The most recent addition is the rambutan, a southeast Asian fruit.
History
Pre-Columbian era
Soconusco is geographically isolated from the political and economic center of Mexico, and it is relatively little known among the rest of the Mexican population. Geographically, it is part of the Chiapas coast, but it has had a distinct cultural and living identity from the rest of Chiapas since Mesoamerican times and remains so to this day.Soconusco lies on the border between Mexico and Central America, but it has had connections with what is now central Mexico since the Mesoamerican period, primarily because of trade routes into Central America and its production of cacao, achiote, and other products. The name is derived from 3 words in Nahuatl Xococ + Nochtli + có “Xoconochco” means as noted in the Mendoza Codex. The Mayan name for the area was Zaklohpakab. The area was originally defined as far south as the Tilapa River in what is now Guatemala, but when the final border between Mexico and Guatemala was set in 1882, the Suchiate became the southern boundary.
Mokaya culture
The earliest population of Soconusco region were the coastal Chantuto peoples, going back to 5500 BC. This was the oldest Mesoamerican culture discovered to date.In what is now the municipality of Mazatán, another culture arose. The culture is called Mokaya and it is dated to about 4,000 years ago when cacao and ballcourts appear.
During the Mesoamerican Preclassic period, the people in this region ate fish, white-tailed deer, dog, and gopher. They also grew maize, though it was probably used to create alcoholic beverages or attract deer, rather than being their staple food. They were likely already sedentary when they adopted agriculture, sometime around 900 to 800 BC.
It is thought that migrations out of this area east gave rise to the Olmec civilization. A later, but also important Mesoamerican culture, was centered on the site of Izapa, considered the most important on the Chiapas coast. It dates to about 1500 BC and is classified as Mixe-Zoque but it is also considered to be the link between the older Olmec civilization and the later Mayan ones.
The site was important for about 1000 years as a civil and religious structure. While most of its ruins now consist of earthen mounds, its importance lies in the information which has been gathered from its steles and other sculpted stone works. Izapa is considered to be where the Mesoamerican ceremonial 260-day calendar was developed.
Aztec conquest
Before the Aztecs, the area was divided into a number of small competing city-states. These appear to have been centered at Mapastepec, Soconusco town, Acapetahua, Huixtla, Huehuetán, Mazatán, Coyoacan, and Ayutla. The Kʼicheʼ kingdom of Qʼumarkaj had ambitions to conquer the area. The dominant language belonged to the Mixe-Zoque family, and is likely represented by the Tapachultec language. The area is sometimes described as ethnically Mam, but they probably only arrived in large numbers post-Spanish contact, after epidemics had ravaged the local population. A variety of Nahuat, known as Waliwi, was also spoken in Huehuetán, and Chiapanec was possibly spoken in Huixtla, though both alongside Mixe-Zoque speakers.In 1486, Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl conquered it; the area was then required to send cotton clothing, bird feathers, jaguar skins, and cacao as tributes. However, rebellions against the Aztecs continued with Moctezuma Xocoyotzin sending troops to pacify the area in 1502 and 1505. The Aztecs stationed two governors and likely a military garrison here.
Spanish Conquest
The first Spanish arrived in the area in 1522. According to chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo the area had a native population of about 15,000 inhabitants although other estimates have put that number as high as 75,000 in the 1520s. Pedro de Alvarado is credited with the conquest of the Soconusco as he headed down into Central America from the Spanish stronghold in southern Veracruz in 1524. The conquest caused a steady depopulation of the area with the disappearance of much of the native population either from migration out of the area or death from the diseases that the Europeans had brought with them.Soconusco was declared a province by the Spanish Crown in 1526, with its original extension down into what is now Guatemala. Its first governor was Pedro de Montejo Sr. as part of Chiapas. That lasted only a short time after which it was governed from Mexico City. In the late 16th century Miguel de Cervantes, future author of Don Quixote, requested from the Spanish king the right to govern Soconusco because of its well-known cacao.
The first evangelists came to the area in 1545, sent by Bartolomé de las Casas. These monks were Dominicans, who divided the area into six parishes. Soconusco was originally under the religious jurisdiction of Tlaxcala before it was moved to that of Guatemala. In 1538, the pope created the bishopric of Chiapas, part of which was Soconusco.
In 1543, Chiapas became governed by the Audencia de los Confines (Real Audiencia of Guatemala, which included much of what is now southern Mexico and Central America, with its capital in Guatemala City. In 1564, the capital of this Audencia was moved to Panama City and governance of Soconusco switched back to Mexico City. However, in 1568, the Captaincy General of Guatemala was established and Soconusco and Chiapas was made part of it. That would remain the case until the end of the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. However, the area maintained important political and economic ties with Mexico City throughout the period. Huehuetán was established as the capital of Soconusco in 1540. It remained so until 1700 when it was moved to Escuintla. In 1794, a hurricane devastated this town, so it was moved again to Tapachula. Mistreatment by encomienda and hacienda owners also caused population loss and various uprisings such as the Tzeltal Rebellion in 1712, which involved 32 villages centered on Cancuc. To counter the mass depopulation of the area, the Spanish Crown created two alcaldes mayores in 1760 to give more protection to the native population. However, that proved insufficient. and by 1790, the area had lost its status as a province and became part of Chiapas.
Soconusco and the highlands of Chiapas were one of the first areas in the Central American region to support independence from Spain. They supported the Three Guarantees of Agustín de Iturbide but declared their own separate independence from the Spanish Crown in 1821. There was division in the state as to whether ally or unite with Mexico or the new Central American Republic when it split from Mexico in 1823. Those in the highlands preferred union with Mexico but the lowlands, including the Soconusco, preferred Central America.
19th century, Mexican and Central American independence
Soconusco's political status would be undecided for most of the rest of the 19th century. Mexico annexed Chiapas formally in 1824 and made its first formal claim to the Soconusco in 1825. That was not accepted by Guatemala or the ruling elite in Soconusco. In 1830, Central American troops entered the Soconusco to pursue a political dissident, but troops from the highlands of Chiapas countered their entrance. The first attempt to settle a border in the area occurred in 1831 with several others in the decades that follow but without success, in part because of political instability in Mexico. The Federal Republic of Central America dissolved between 1838 and 1840, leaving Guatemala to pursue claims to the Soconusco, which it did by declaring it part of the Quetzaltenango District in 1840. The population there favored inclusion into Guatemala. However, Antonio López de Santa Anna sent troops into Soconusco and the rest of Chiapas to press the population to formally unite with Mexico, which Soconusco did in 1842.More negotiations were attempted in 1877 and 1879, but a treaty was not signed by Mexico and Guatemala until 1882 to formalize a border. It split the Soconusco region, with the greater part going to Mexico. One reason behind the reaching of the agreement was concerns of the United States taking advantage of the continued instability between Mexico and the Central American states. However, Guatemala still made claims to the Soconusco until 1895.