Who Are The Mayan People?

There are 7 billion people in the world. 600 million live in northern America. 125 million live in Mexico with 1.5 million living near the Cancun peninsula, and only around 2,000 of them are Itzan. The Itzan people are in grave danger of extinction, with only 1,983 natives left. Did you know that only 8 people in this whole world, speak itzan fluently?

But who are the Itza people? The Itzan are one of the few surviving tribes of the Mayan people but they are also shrouded in mystery. No one knows exactly what they believe or how they came to be there. There are a few legends but none tell of the Itzas descent from the Mayans. The Itzans survived Spanish conquest until 1697, almost 2 centuries after most Mayan tribes and people had been integrated into mission towns, fled, or been killed. The 1,983 people of itzan descent that remain, reside mainly in Guatemala, specifically in the town of San Jose. “San José is a crowded, nucleated town climbing up
Chichen Itza has countless carvings in it and not all were done by the Itza. There are hundred of initials carved into the top, base, and steps of the monument. The Itza people have, in recent years, become more active in conservation efforts made towards them.

How long can the itza people survive with only about 2,000 people and 8 fluent speakers in this ever-modernizing world? The itza are one of the last remaining descendants of the Mayan, one of the only ones to (barely) survive the conquest by the Spanish in 1697, the banning of their language and by association, their culture. Thanks to the itza population starting to reach out to the world along with scientists and historians, we have begun to restore and discover some of the itza cultures. But, because of the mystery behind the itza, we may never find out all of the many secrets their history