This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations.(January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article is part of a series on the
Maya civilization
People
Society
Languages
Writing
Religion
Mythology
Sacrifice
Cities
Architecture
Astronomy
Calendar
Stelae
Art
Textiles
Trade
Music
Dance
Medicine
Cuisine
Warfare
History
Preclassic Maya
Classic Maya collapse
Spanish conquest of the Maya
Yucatán
Chiapas
Guatemala
Petén
Mesoamerica portal
v
t
e
The Kowoj [koʔwox] (also recorded as Ko'woh, Couoh, Coguo, Cohuo, Kob'ow and Kob'ox, and Kowo) was a Maya group and polity, from the Late Postclassic period (ca. 1250–1697) of Mesoamerican chronology. The Kowoj claimed to have migrated from Mayapan sometime after the city's collapse in 1441 AD.[citation needed] Indigenous documents also describe Kowoj in Mayapan and linguistic data indicate migrations between the Yucatán Peninsula and the Petén region.
A specific variant of temple assemblage, in a C-shaped plaza, defines the location of the Kowoj in both Mayapan and Petén. These assemblages were the exemplary centers of the Ko'woj. The temple assemblages also communicated a prestigious connection with Mayapan and differentiated the Kowoj from their Itzá neighbors in the Petén Basin region. Temple assemblage with raised shrine lies at a right angle to a western facing temple rather than facing into it. This specific variant appears at central Petén sites including Zacpetén, Topoxte, and Muralla de Leon, all of which lie within the reconstructed Ko'woj social boundaries. Ceremonial architecture outside these boundaries follows a very different pattern. For example, Late Post Classic Itzá ceremonial groups do not appear to include formal temples. The residences at Zacpetén are tandem-shaped structures standing in patio groups. Tandem residences include a front room and back room, the former has a plastered and occasionally painted surface while the latter has an earthen floor. Household production activities are concentrated in the back room, while socializing and ritual performances were focused upon the front room.
Their main cities were Zacpeten, on the Salpetén lake, Ixlu, between Petén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, and Topoxte on the Yaxha lagoon, that was abandoned prior to their conquest in 1697 AD, being the Ko'woj and the Itzá, the last cultures to be conquered in Mesoamerica.
The Kowoj [koʔwox] (also recorded as Ko'woh, Couoh, Coguo, Cohuo, Kob'ow and Kob'ox, and Kowo) was a Maya group and polity, from the Late Postclassic...
example, Maya groups in the Petén area, including the Itza at Tayasal and the Kowoj at Zacpeten, remained independent until 1697. Some Mesoamerican cultures...
second polity in importance was that of their hostile neighbours, the Kowoj. The Kowoj were located to the east of the Itza, around the eastern lakes: Lake...
upon Lake Petén Itzá. The Kowoj were the second in importance; they were hostile towards their Itza neighbours. The Kowoj were located around the eastern...
after the collapse of the city in the fifteenth century. These people, the Kowoj Maya, brought their distinctive pottery and constructed typical Mayapan...
Rice, Prudence M. (2009). "The Kowoj in Geopolitical-Ritual Perspective". In Prudence M. Rice; Don S. Rice (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics...
OCLC 165478850. Rice, Prudence M. (2009). "Who were the Kowoj?". In Prudence M. Rice; Don S. Rice (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics in late...
into the drainage of the Yaxhá and Sacnab lakes. This area was formerly Kowoj territory and was aggressively occupied by the Itza in the 1630s. Don and...
Location: Central America Spain Independent Maya, including: Itza people Kowoj people Kejache people Yalain people Lakandon Chʼol people Manche Ch'ol people...
Prudence M. (2009a). "The Kowoj in Geopolitical-Ritual Perspective". In Rice, Prudence M.; Rice, Don S. (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics...
Rice (2009). "Introduction to the Kowoj and their Petén Neighbors". In Prudence M. Rice; Don S. Rice (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics...
the Spanish sphere of influence. The last independent Maya kingdoms – the Kowoj and the Itza people – were finally defeated in 1697, as part of the Spanish...
Post-Classic period is represented by regional kingdoms, such as the Itza, Kowoj, Yalain and Kejache in Petén, and the Mam, Ki'che', Kackchiquel, Chajoma...
city in early 1696, nine of the temples had recently been burnt during a Kowoj Maya attack and subsequently rebuilt; during the attack many houses had...
Andrew (2009). "The Linguistic Context of the Kowoj". In Prudence M. Rice; Don S. Rice (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics in late...
Rice, Prudence M. (2009). "The Kowoj in Geopolitical-Ritual Perspective". In Prudence M. Rice; Don S. Rice (eds.). The Kowoj: identity, migration, and geopolitics...
been identified as Saklamakhal, also spelt Saclemacal, a capital of the Kowoj Maya. The site has over 150 structures, the majority of which in the site...
conquered Nojpetén, capital of the Itza Maya, and Zacpetén, capital of the Kowoj Maya. Due to Guatemala's location in the Pacific American coast, it became...
Post-Classic AD 900–1519 Maya Itzá, Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Tayasal, and Kowoj Topoxte, Toltec, Purépecha, Mixtec, Totonac Early Post-Classic AD 900–1200...
history dating as far back as the Middle Preclassic. As the capital of the Kowoj Maya, it was the largest of the few Postclassic Mesoamerican sites in the...
Global Information
