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Nicarao (cacique)

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Macuilmiquiztli
Monument to Macuilmiquiztli in Nicaragua.
Monument to Macuilmiquiztli in Nicaragua.
Born1485
Nicānāhuac
Died1540
Nicaragua
Known forResisting the Spanish conquest of Nicaragua

Nicarao, or Macuilmiquiztli (Nahuatl Makwilmikistli: macuil "five", miquiztli "death") was the name of a ruler of the Nicarao, a Nahua group that inhabited the land they called Nicānāhuac,[1][2][3][4][5][6] located in present-day western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.[7][8][9] Based on research done by historians in 2002, it was discovered that his real name was Macuilmiquiztli, meaning "Five Deaths" in the Nahuatl language.[10][11][12][13] Macuilmiquiztli governed the Nicarao from his capital Kwawkapolkan, which is Nahuat for place of the acorns or capulines of the forest. It was located in what is today the department of Rivas in southwestern Nicaragua.[14][15]

Background

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Christopher Columbus, on his 4th and last voyage in 1502, explored the eastern coast of what is now known as Nicaragua but did not venture to its western coast, nor did he come into contact with any indigenous people. In 1522, the Spanish conquistador Gil González Dávila left Panama with 100 men, beginning the first incursion into the western regions of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. When they arrived in southwestern Nicaragua, they encountered a Nahuat-speaking chiefdom, and with the help of Tlaxcallan translators, González Dávila was able to have a discourse with the tribe's cacique, who was referred to by the name Nicarao, although his real name was Macuilmiquiztli.[16] Macuilmiquiztli initially welcomed the Spanish and their Tlaxcallan translators. However, González Dávila and his small army used the opportunity to gather gold and baptize some of the Nahuas along the way. Realizing the threat that the Spanish imposed, Macuilmiquiztli waged war against the invaders, and Nicarao warriors forced Dávila and his men to retreat to Panama.[17][18][19]

Territorial map showing the boundaries of "Cuauhcapolca" (Quauhcapolca) just west of Lake Nicaragua in the sixteenth century before the arrival of the Spaniards.

The territory or cacicazgo ruled over by Nicarao was situated in the isthmus of what is now known as Nicaragua's Rivas Department, next to Lake Nicaragua, and it extended southward to what is now known as the Guanacaste Province in northwestern Costa Rica. The tribe's capital city or principal settlement was called Kwawkapolkan,[20][21][22][23] though it has sometimes been referred to in history books as Nicaraocallí,[23] and it is believed to have been situated near the modern lake port of San Jorge.

According to a once-popular theory, the name "Nicaragua" was derived from a portmanteau of the name Nicarao and the Spanish word agua which means "water", due to the presence of two large lakes and other bodies of water in the country.[24] However, this theory is considered to be outdated by most historians due to the fact that the cacique's real name was Macuilmiquiztli and not Nicarao. In addition it had also been discovered that the Nicaraos called the land Nicānāhuac, which most historians now believe is the true etymology of "Nicaragua". It is a combination of the words "Nican" (here),[25] and "Ānāhuac", which in turn is a combination of the words "atl" (water) and "nahuac", a locative meaning "surrounded". Therefore the literal translation of Nicanahuac is "here surrounded by water", fitting the theory that the etymology references the large bodies of water in and around the country, the Pacific Ocean, lakes Nicaragua and Xolotlan, and the rivers and lagoons.[26][27][28][29][30][31]

Name controversy

[edit]

In 2002, through the research done by two Nicaraguan historians working independently of each other, it was discovered that the true name of the cacique was actually Macuilmiquiztli, which meant "Five Deaths" in the Nahuatl language.[16][23][32][33]

It is not known how the name Nicarao came to be associated with the cacique Macuilmiquiztli. It is possible that the Spanish conquistadors derived the name Nicarao based on the ethnicity of his tribe, which was composed of Pipil-Nicarao people, who were a branch of Nahuas. Andrés de Cereceda, the treasurer of González Dávila's expedition,[23] wrote in his log the names of the caciques of the villages where gold was collected. In the vicinity of Costa Rica's Gulf of Nicoya, they found the largest indigenous village they had visited, which was ruled by a cacique named Chorotega. Since then, linguistic sources have used the name of that cacique as an eponym, "Chorotega people ", to encompass a number of villages which had cultural and linguistic similarities despite being physically separated.

References

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  1. ^ "Origin of the names of the Latin American countries".
  2. ^ "The curious story of the origin of the names of Latin American countries".
  3. ^ "Nicaragua".
  4. ^ "Nahuatl Dictionary".
  5. ^ "Etymology of Nicaragua".
  6. ^ "Nicaraguan place names" (PDF).
  7. ^ "The Kingdom of this world".
  8. ^ "The Aboriginals of Costa Rica".
  9. ^ "Las culturas indígenas y su medioambiente".
  10. ^ "Nicarao"
  11. ^ "Encuentro"
  12. ^ Sánchez, Edwin (October 3, 2016). "De Macuilmiquiztli al Güegüence pasando por Fernando Silva" [From Macuilmiquizli to Güegüence through Fernando Silva]. El 19 (in Spanish). Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  13. ^ Silva, Fernando (March 15, 2003). "Macuilmiquiztli". El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  14. ^ McCafferty and McCafferty 2009, p. 186.
  15. ^ "Cocibolca y Xolotlán: Relectura de sus toponimias indígenas" (PDF).
  16. ^ a b Sánchez, Edwin (September 16, 2002). "No hubo Nicarao, todo es invento" [There was no Nicarao, it's all invented]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish).
  17. ^ "Fruit and Axes of Gold Consuming Indigenous Heritages in Nicaragua".
  18. ^ "The Testimonies and Origins of the Nicaraos" (PDF).
  19. ^ "Who Were the People of Greater Nicoya".
  20. ^ "Cocibolca y Xolotlán: Relectura de sus toponimias indígenas" (PDF).
  21. ^ Paul Healy; Mary Pohl (1980). Archaeology of the Rivas Region, Nicaragua. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-88920-094-4.
  22. ^ Erika Dyck; Christopher Fletcher (October 6, 2015). Locating Health: Historical and Anthropological Investigations of Place and Health. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-317-32278-8.
  23. ^ a b c d "Encuentro del cacique y el conquistador" [Encounter of the cacique and the conqueror]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). April 4, 2009. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  24. ^ Sánchez, Edwin (October 16, 2016). "El origen de "Nicarao-agua": la Traición y la Paz" [The origin of "Nicarao-agua": Betrayal and Peace]. El Pueblo Presidente (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  25. ^ "Nahuatl Dictionary: Nican".
  26. ^ "Origin of the names of the Latin American countries".
  27. ^ "The curious story of the origin of the names of Latin American countries".
  28. ^ "Nicaragua".
  29. ^ "Nahuatl Dictionary".
  30. ^ "Etymology of Nicaragua".
  31. ^ "Nicaraguan place names" (PDF).
  32. ^ Sánchez, Edwin (October 3, 2016). "De Macuilmiquiztli al Güegüence pasando por Fernando Silva" [From Macuilmiquizli to Güegüence through Fernando Silva]. El 19 (in Spanish). Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  33. ^ Silva, Fernando (March 15, 2003). "Macuilmiquiztli". El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved April 12, 2017.


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