San Lorenzo Zinacantán ( /siˈnɑːnkɑːnˌtɑːn/) is a municipio (municipality) in the southern part of the Central Chiapas highlands in the Mexican state of Chiapas. 99.1% of its population is Tzotzil Maya, an indigenous people with linguistic and cultural ties to other highland Maya peoples. [1]
Zinacantán literally means “land of bats” and comes from the Nahuatl language. People in Zinacantán speak Tzotzil (a Mayan language) and they call their own land “Sots’leb”, that is, “land of bats” in their own languag
In pre-Columbian times before the Conquerors’ arrival, Zinacantán already had strong links with the Aztecs in the Central Zone of Mexico. Zinacantecans exchanged their products (especially salt, but by the 19th century also cacao, tobacco, and coffee) with Aztec traders.
The first missionaries who came to evangelize the native inhabitants in Zinacantán were the Dominican Friars. They settled in Zinacantan in the 16th century and built a wooden chapel to begin their mission. These missionaries left Zinacantán before they were expelled from Mexico by the government in the 17th century. They resumed their pastoral work in Zinacantan in 1976.
An important development in Zinacantán was the construction of the Pan American Highway, which significantly improved the mobility and prosperity of the Zinacanteco population, as it enabled them to easily transport goods to market such as maize and flowers.