Native american goddess names series#

The name 'Pipil' derives from the Nahua pi piltin which means 'nobles' or 'children.' The term has often been explained as a derogatory reference by the Aztecs who presumably regarded Nahuat as a childish version of their own dialect. Although their relations were often hostile, both the Xincas and the Lencas were strongly influenced by the Pipils. All these groups were in close contact with one another. North and east of Cuscatlan lay the territory of the Lencas, possibly the most ancient inВhabitants of El Salvador. To the west of the Izalco kingdom was another Pipil state centered on Escuintla, Guatemala, and between Izalco and Escuintla was a wedge held by the Xinca, an extinct language group that may represent the original indigenous inhabitants of coastal Guatemala. The Spanish conquistadors who arrived in Central America found that the territory of western and central El Salvador was actually divided into two aboriginal Pipil states: Izalco to the west and Cuscatlan in central El Salvador.В Cuscatlan was by far the larger of the two. In addition there were probably at least another 100,000 Pipils in the southeastern coastal region of Guatemala. The Pipil population of El Salvador probably numbered close to 1,000,000 on the eve of the Conquest. In addition, a few scattered enclaves of Pipils were found in Honduras. Some Nahuat speakers continued southward as far as Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where they became known as the Nicaraos. The route of the migrations took the Pipils from central Mexico to the Gulf Coast region where Nahuat is still spoken today-south across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and then along the Pacific coastal plain to Guatemala and El Salvador. They brought their place names with them when they moved from Mexico, and scholars have long noted the many parallels between Nahua place names of Mexico and those of Central America.

Native american goddess names series#

They miВgrated to escape a series of droughts that plagued central Mexico as well as to seek better social and political conditions. Its indigenous inhabitants were descendants of several groups of Mexican migrants who had migrated in the 11th century from the central highland plateau and the Gulf Coast region of Mexico via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In the early Colonial period, El Salvador was commonly known by the Pipil name of Cuscatlan.