Acala Chʼol

[1] The Acala should not be confused with the people of the former Maya territory of Acalan, near the Laguna de Terminos in Mexico.

[2] By the 17th century the Acala had two principal towns; Cagbalam had 300 multiple-family houses and Culhuacan had over 140.

[3] The Acala were allies of the Lakandon Chʼol, their immediate neighbours to the west, and the two peoples sometimes cooperated militarily.

[5] In 1555 the Spanish carried out a military expedition against the Acala in retaliation for their killing of Dominican friar Domingo de Vico and his companion Andrés López.

[6] The Spanish and their Christianised Qʼeqchiʼ Maya allies captured 260 Acalas, and hanged 80 of these; the rest were sold as slaves.

Map showing the territory inhabited by the Acala in the 16th century