Panama was until 1903 a part of Colombia. British Honduras had its origin in the concessions given to English logwood gatherers and to the fact that pirates found refuge behind the coral reefs that line the shores. The English claim to the Mosquito Coast rested upon a similar flimsy basis, and was finally abandoned.
Languages.
The twenty distinct stocks of related languages formerly recognized in Mexico and Central America have now been greatly reduced. Of those that remain, some occupied small areas and had little in the way of dialectic variation, while others stretched over wide territories and were divided into many mutually unintelligible tongues, which, in turn, were subdivided into well-defined dialects. Several stocks are now approaching extinction through the substitution of Spanish. A number of languages, however, are still spoken by hundreds of thousands of natives.
The language having the greatest geographical extension within the area under consideration is the Mexican, or Nahuan, now consolidated with the Piman, Shoshonean, etc., in a great stock called the Uto-Aztecan. In its extent this stock may be compared to the Indo-Iranian of the Old World which comprises most of the modern and ancient languages of Europe as well as those of a large part of Asia. Within the United States are the numerous Shoshonean tribes found as far north as Idaho, reaching into California on the one hand and into Texas on the other. In southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico come the Piman group. East of the Sierra Madre are the Tarahumare and the Tepehuane. These languages are mutually unintelligible, although morphologically related, and all are subdivided into dialects. The relationship is proved through laborious comparison and analysis of the words and grammar, in the same way as the philologist proves that Persian, Greek, Russian, English and Welsh are all cognate tongues. Farther to the south are still other divisions of the stock; including the Huichol and Cora of the mountainous region north of Guadalajara and the Mexican or Aztecan of the Valley of Mexico and adjacent country. The Mexican language is still spoken by a million or more natives and is divided into a number of dialects. Properly the Aztecs are a single tribe whose chief city was Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexican City. They first appear on the page of history as the Mexitin, along with the closely related Chalca, Xochimilca, etc. The people of Central Mexico called their language Nahuatl, meaning “clear speech” and nicknamed their relatives to the south, Pipil, or “boys” because they spoke awkwardly. Mexican colonies were widespread before the coming of the Spaniards and during the Conquest the distribution of this nation was made still greater. The Mexicans, and especially the natives of Tlaxcala, accompanied the Spaniards on military expeditions against other tribes and as a consequence many place names in southern Mexico and Guatemala were translated into their language. There were, however, large groups of Indians of Mexican stock already located in southern Guatemala and in Salvador. Still farther south were the Niquirao of Nicaragua and a little-known group called the Sigua in Costa Rica.
The wide geographical distribution of Uto-Aztecan languages has an undeniable historical significance. The numerous tribes represent a very wide range in culture albeit nearly all are dwellers of arid or semi-arid regions. Some like the Paiute, are miserable “diggers” willing to eat anything that will support life; others like the Comanche are warlike raiders; more progressive tribes like the Hopi have adopted agriculture and developed interesting arts and customs; while the highest members of the group are among the most civilized nations of the New World. It seems clear that language can be used as a basis of classification over a much greater stretch of time than can other social habits summed up as “culture.” Particular phases of art, religion, and government develop and disappear, but the grouping of sounds used to express ideas remains as proof that peoples now far apart geographically, as well as in their habits and achievements, were once close together. The peculiar distribution of the Uto-Aztecan languages may indicate a general southward movement of the stock.
The second most important linguistic stock is the Mayan, now spoken by over half a million people. This stock has only one outlying member, namely, the Huasteca of northern Vera Cruz. The other twenty-one languages cover a continuous area in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and in the republic of Guatemala. The most important language of the group is the Maya proper, which is spoken by the natives of Yucatan and by the Lacandone Indians of the Usumacinta Valley. The Tzental, Quiché, Cakchiquel, Chol, and Chorti are other prominent languages.
In the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are the Zapotecan and Mixtecan stocks, which differ widely in sound and structure from the Mayan and Nahuan tongues that hem them in. West and east of the Valley of Mexico are, respectively, the Tarascan and Totonacan stocks, which show no great amount of subdivision. In Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica are several language groups that have never been carefully studied. It seems likely that some of these will be consolidated when words and grammatical structures are better known. The Chiapanecan languages were spoken in three localities on the Pacific side of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, while a fourth division occupied a small area far to the northwest on the banks of the Chiapas River. It is now believed that the Otomi group, as well as a number of minor languages, including the Mazatecan, belong in a single stock with the Chiapanecan. If this supposed connection should prove true a northern movement of the stock would be pretty surely indicated. Several members of the Subtiaban stock show the same south to north movement and here there is evidence that the migration took place some three centuries before the coming of the Spaniards. Parts of the Isthmian region were held by tribes having linguistic affiliation with South America and it is not unlikely that a considerable back flow from South America made itself felt along the Atlantic coast of Central America, if we may judge by ethnological features and by suggested linguistic connections.
The great Hokan stock has now been extended from California across northern Mexico to Texas, taking in the Seri and numerous other tribes of low culture. For the most part these tribes are extinct or at least have lost the ancient speech.
Ethnology.
To a less extent than the native languages the old-time customs still hold out against the tide of European influence. In regions not easily accessible on account of deserts, mountains, or tropical jungles, there are a number of Indian tribes that preserve in a large measure their ancient arts and ideas. But the study of these remnant peoples has not been very thorough.