Mopan people

Mopan people
Mopan
Total population
approx. 9,800
Regions with significant populations
 Belize 6,909[1]
 Guatemala, El Petén 2,891[2]
Languages

Mopan, English, Kriol, Spanish

Religion

Catholic, Evangelicalist, Maya religion

Mopan are one of the Maya peoples in Belize and Guatemala. Their indigenous language is also called Mopan and is one of the Yucatec Maya languages.

The British forced the Mopan out of British Honduras into Guatemala. The Mopan in Guatemala meanwhile endured slavery. In the 19th century, many Guatemalan Mopan fled back into British Honduras.[3]

In the 2000 Census, 6,909 Belizeans recorded Mopan as their mother tongue and 6,093 as their first language; 3% the population.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Census 2000
  2. ^ "XI Censo Nacional de Población y VI de Habitación (Censo 2002) - Pertenencia de grupo étnico". Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 2002. http://www.ine.gob.gt/Nesstar/Censo2002/survey0/dataSet/dataFiles/dataFile1/var26.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
  3. ^ Cho, Julian (1998). Maya Homeland. University of California Berkeley Geography Department and the Toledo Maya of Southern Belize. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
  4. ^ "Belize 2000 Housing and Population Census". Belize Central Statistical Office. 2000. http://celade.cepal.org/cgibin/RpWebEngine.exe/PortalAction?&MODE=MAIN&BASE=CPVBLZ2000&MAIN=WebServerMain.inl. Retrieved 2008-09-09.