Iximche

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General View of Iximché, Guatemala

Iximché is a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the western highlands of Guatemala. The site's name, Iximché, dervives from the mayan words ixim (maize/corn) and ché (tree), resulting in "Place of the Maize tree." Iximché was the main city of the Kaqchikel Maya people, founded in the Razumiat mountains by Kikab the great in A.D. 1470 and after the abandonement of Chaviar, (Chichicastenango). The city was governed by four lords, Tzotzil, Xahil, Tucuché and Acajal, who were in charge of all administrative and religious affairs, including war.

[edit] The site

The site’s central core is bounded on three sides by ravine walls and separated from the main residential area by an artificial creek. The site center consists of four large and two small plazas, each of which contained at least two temples. Along with elite palaces, there are two ballcourts, the larger of which is 40 m long and has zoomorphic shaped markers.

The site was largely preserved by the Spanish due to their alliance with the Kaqchikel against the K'iché. The Spaniards founded the first Capital in Guatemala 1 mile to the west in today's Tecpán Guatemala, Chimaltenango using the name that the tlaxcaltec Indians that came with them, gave to the city, (Cuautimalan or place of the trees), as Santiago de Goatemalan and the generalized the name for the Central America General Captaincy. The spaniards abandoned Tecpán in 1527, due to the continuous attacks from Iximché, and went to the Almolonga Valley to the east, in today's Ciudad Vieja, near Antigua Guatemala. The site has a museum with several pieces found there, including sculptures, and ceramics. It is open daily.

United States President Bush visited the site on March 12, 2007. Local Maya priests say that they will be conducting purifying rites after his visit to cleanse the area of "bad spirits" brought by the president, who they say persecutes their "migrant brothers" in the United States. "We reject this portrayal of our people as a tourist attraction," a spokesman,Morales Toj, said. (BBC News)

From March 26-30, 2007, Iximche was the site of the III Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala. The meeting's closing Declaration of Iximche committed delegates to a struggle for social justice and against neoliberalism and other forms of oppression.