The Maya of Toledo

Nearly 30,000 people live in the Toledo District today, and 64% of those claim Mayan heritage.The modern Maya of Toledo identify as either Kekchi or Mopan.They are scattered amongst approximately 30 small villages, including and Santa Anna, San Felipe, San Pedro Columbia, and Crique Sarco. However, the original Maya occupants of Toledo were called Manche Chol Maya and were concentrated in the Mayan cities of Lubaantun, Nim Li Punit, Pusilha, and Uxbenka.

These cities thrived in the Classic period of Maya civilization, from 250 - 900AD, and their ruins are still fascinating sites to visit.Ancient Mayan culture is credited with developing complex mathematics systems, creating a calendar that is more accurate than what we use today, amassing highly detailed information on astronomical movements, and many other achievements.The visitors’ centers at Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit house many interesting artifacts and examples of ancient Mayan art and craftsmanship.

For reasons that are still being debated, the city states of the Mayan civilization began to fall apart after 900AD.The Manche Chol Maya remained in Toledo, resisting rule by the Spanish, though many converted to Catholicism. Eventually the British colonists forced the Chols out of Toledo and into the highlands of Guatemala in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the late 19th and the 20th centuries, Kekchi and Mopan Maya families began migrating back to Belize.Many of the modern day Maya live in traditional thatch homes and practice the same subsistence farming techniques that their ancestors did, though outside influences will inevitably change life here.There has been a recent and positively received push to teach Mayan heritage and culture in schools, and to celebrate it through local festivals.