The First Highways · Episode 7 of 12 · 18 min
The Southern Anchor: Pipil, Nicarao, and Where Nahuatl Met the South
Nahuatl-speaking migrants moved a thousand miles south and became a hinge between Mesoamerica and South America. The Pipil of Cuscatlan and the Nicarao of Ometepe lived beside Chibchan peoples, trading obsidian and copper south and gold and Andean crops north. The relay was gradual rather than nonstop, and some traditional claims are flagged.
Who's who
- AhuitzotlTenochtitlan ruler said to have sent merchants to Central America around 1501
- William R. Fowler Jr.archaeologist who wrote the standard synthesis of Pipil-Nicarao culture
- Geoffrey McCaffertyco-directs the Santa Isabel excavations in Rivas
- Sharisse McCaffertyco-directs the Santa Isabel excavations in Rivas
- Gil Gonzalez DavilaSpanish explorer who reached the Nicarao in 1522
- Pedro de Alvarado+1 more episodeled the Spanish conquest of Cuscatlan
Where it happens
- Cuscatlan, El Salvadorprincipal Pipil polity
- Ometepe Island, Nicaraguasouthern outpost of Nicarao Nahuat speech
- Greater Nicoya, Nicaragua and Costa Ricameeting ground of Mesoamerican and Isthmo-Colombian traits
- Cihuatan, El SalvadorEarly Postclassic center used to test the migration story
Timeline
- 10th-12th centuriesmain Nahua migration into Central America
- c. 1200Nicarao move past the Pipil into Greater Nicoya
- 1501Ahuitzotl reportedly sends pochteca toward Central America
- 1522Gil Gonzalez Davila reaches the Nicarao
- 1524-1528Spanish conquer Cuscatlan and Pacific Nicaragua
Still debated
Written colonial accounts describe clear Nahua migrations, but excavations at Santa Isabel found material culture less Mexican than expected. The language is Nahua, yet how much population actually moved is unsettled.
← PreviousMesoamerica's Engine: Obsidian, Cacao, and the MarketNext →The Turquoise Trail: Chaco, the Macaws, and the Cacao Cups
