TheMusul orMuzul Territory is thought to have been aPostclassic polity of the formerMaya Lowlands, in present-dayBelize. Little is currently known of the Territory, though it is presumed to have been subordinate to or formed part of theDzuluinicob Province or the Mopan Territory.
It has been suggested that Tipu and its environs formed part of the Territory until Columbian times, when theSpanish conquest of Yucatan is thought to have driven troves of northern,Yucatec Mayan speaking refugees to the area, an event which would have relegated native residents to minority status.[2]
The Territory is thought to have been under the close political, cultural, or spiritual influence of thePeten Itza Kingdom.[3][note 1]
At least some of the Territory came under Spanish control in 1695 when an embassy toMerida, Yucatan, offered theSpanish governor submission toChurch andCrown.[4][note 2] Another part of the Territory was subjected to forced relocation during Spanishreducciones in 1754–1756.[5][note 3]
The Territory's residents, the Muzul Maya, are thought to have been members of a singlech'ibal,'patronymic lineage,' that is, 'a highly localised group named after their dominant political family.'[6][7] Inhabitants are believed to have been some of theindios del monte,'wild Indians,' often referred to in Spanish colonial records, ie pagan natives residing south of Belize River with a mother tongue other than Yucatec Mayan.[8][note 4]
Little is presently known of the Territory or its inhabitants.[9][10] Along with residents of the former Mopan Territory, they are thought to be ancestors of the modernMopan Maya people of Belize and Guatemala.[9]
^von Houwald 1984, pp. 265–266 notes that[los Muzules eran] una "nación" íntimamente ligada a los Itzáes,'[the Muzuls were] a "nation" intimately tied to the Itzas,' and thatlos Muzules siempre se mencionan en relación con los Itzáes,'the Muzuls are always mentioned [in Spanish colonial accounts] in relation with the Itzas.' Spanish colonial accounts reported thatKan Ek'sólo conocía, aparte de la suya, las "naciones" de los Mopanes, del Tipú y de los Muzules,'knew only, other than his own, the "nations" of the Mopans, of the Tipu and of the Muzuls' (von Houwald 1984, p. 266). Upon the1697 fall of Tayasal, the Territory'scaciques were listed in Spanish records as among those whole obedecían a,'obeyed,' Martín Francisco Chan, nephew of the recently deposed Kan Ek' of Tayasal (von Houwald 1984, p. 265).
^Despite this, in 1707, Tipu was 'attacked by its disenchanted Muzul neighbours, who had killed the town's cacique, his lieutenant, and as many as fifteen principales' (Jones 1989, p. 271). Some or many of the Territory's residents were nonetheless forcibly resettled near Lake Peten Itza atSan Luis,Dolores,Santa Ana,San Andrés,San José, and Santo Toribio in 1700–1713 (Schwartz 1990, pp. 36, 61,Jones 1998, pp. 433–434).
^Resettled near Lake Peten Itza 'in and around Santa Ana, San Luis and (a few) San Andrés' (Schwartz 1990, p. 300).
^The Territory's inhabitants were sometimes referred to asMopan Maya, suggesting residents spoke theMopan Mayan language, or that the Territory itself formed part of the Mopan Territory (Jones 1977, p. 25,Jones 1998, pp. 21, 168–169, 175, 408, 556). However,Jones 1989, pp. 267, 334 suggests residents may have ratheror additionally spokenYucatec orChol Mayan.
Jones GD, ed. (1977).Anthropology and History in Yucatán. The Texas Pan American Series. Austin, Tex. and London: University of Texas Press.ISBN0292703147.OL18272858W.
Jones GD (1989).Maya Resistance to Spanish Rule: Time and History on a Colonial Frontier. Albuquerque, New Mex.: University of New Mexico Press.ISBN082631161X.OL2213175M.
Jones GD (1998).The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.ISBN0804733171.
Schwartz NB, ed. (1990).Forest Society: A Social History of Petén, Guatemala. The Ethnohistory Series. Philadelphia, Penn.: University of Pennsylvania Press.JSTORstable/j.ctv4s7k6r.
Tanaka-McFarlane Y (August 2018).Documenting Belizean Mopan: An Exploration on the Role of Language Documentation and Renewal from Language Ideological, Affective, Ethnographic, and Discourse Perspectives (PhD thesis). Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University.OCLC1077076621. ProQuest 10827467.
Thompson JE (1988) [first published 1972 by Benex Press].The Maya of Belize: Historical Chapters Since Columbus (reprint of 1st ed.). Benque Viejo, Belize: Cubola Productions.ISBN9686233032.OL1792198M.
von Houwald G (1984). "Mapa y Descripción de la Montaña del Petén e Ytzá: Interpretación de un documento de los años poco después de la conquista de Tayasal".Indiana.9:255–278.doi:10.18441/ind.v9i0.255-271.
