CHAPTER 7 MESOAMERICANS IN THE NEOCOLONIAL ERA 287A Pipil Movement in Central America
Nativist movements in Central America during the neocolonial period can be illus-
trated by a movement carried out by the Pipil Indians of Nonualco in El Salvador a
few years after independence (see the map in Figure 7.1 for places mentioned in
the account to follow).
Nonualco was an important province within the southeastern periphery of
Mesoamerica in pre-Hispanic times. Located in a valley of the central piedmont zone
southeast of present-day San Salvador, Nonualco probably exercised political con-
trol over the Jiquilisco Bay on the Pacific Coast. Its population was made up of over
5,000 Pipils (speakers of a Nahua language) and perhaps some Lencas as well (see
Chapter 11 for information on the Pipil and Lenca languages). Nonualcans pro-
duced maize, beans, and chiles; extracted fish, salt, and cotton as tribute goods from
their coastal subjects; and traded for other items such as cacao, honey, and obsidian.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, Nonualco had apparently been subjugated
by the Pipil city-state of Cuzcatlan, whose capital was near present-day San Salvador.
Nonualcans no doubt paid tributes to the Cuzcatlan rulers in the form of foods, in-
cluding fish, and cotton cloth.
Following the conquest, the Nonualcans were concentrated into several more
compact communities, among them Santiago, San Pedro, and San Juan Nonualco,
and were forced to pay tributes to Spanish encomenderos(overlords). During the six-
teenth century, cacao beans were one of the main tribute items paid by Nonualcans
to the Spaniards. The indigo plant, which produced a blue dye, soon replaced cacao
as the main commercial crop in the area, and the Nonualco Indians were forced to
provide labor on the Spanish and creole indigo plantations. These indigo estates
disrupted community life in Nonualco by encroaching on communal lands and drain-
ing off labor.
Toward the end of the Colonial period, the population of the three Nonualcan
communities numbered over 4,000 persons, about 700 of them mestizos. These com-
munities were surrounded by at least nine indigo and sugar-producing plantations.
Relations between the Indians and the plantations were tense, and in 1789, the Nonu-
alcans rose up in opposition to the low wages being paid by the indigo plantation own-
ers. The rebellion was quickly put down, however, by the Spanish authorities. Between
1812 and 1814 the Nonualcans again rebelled, this time to protest the reinstatement
of tributes by the Spanish Crown and the forced recruitment of Nonualco men into
the creole militias organized to help El Salvador sever its ties with Guatemala.
Despite the many disruptions, the Nonualco communities survived the colonial
period surprisingly well, and they confronted the postindependence liberal reforms
with many traditional institutions reasonably intact. The Pipil language was still widely
spoken, although Spanish had become the language of public discourse. The sys-
tem of ancient kinship-based districts (calpulli)continued to operate in the commu-
nities, some districts having over 200 members. Native leadership was still in place,
based in part on a continuation of the ancient noble and commoner status distinc-
tion. Lands had been lost to the indigo estates, but a significant portion of the com-
munal lands was preserved. Trade was flourishing, and the Nonualcans were
considered to be “rich” Indians.