Santa Maria Nebaj
Encyclopedia
Santa Maria Nebaj is a municipality
in the Guatemala
n department
of El Quiché. Santa Maria Nebaj is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal
and San Gaspar Chajul
. Native residents speak the Mayan Ixil language
.
There is a nearby pre-Columbian
archaeological site
of the Maya civilization
, called Nebaj
.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n department
Departments of Guatemala
||Guatemala is divided into 22 departments :#Alta Verapaz#Baja Verapaz#Chimaltenango#Chiquimula#Petén#El Progreso#El Quiché#Escuintla#Guatemala#Huehuetenango#Izabal#Jalapa#Jutiapa#Quetzaltenango#Retalhuleu#Sacatepéquez...
of El Quiché. Santa Maria Nebaj is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal
San Juan Cotzal
San Juan Cotzal is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. San Juan Cotzal is part of the Ixil Community, along with Santa Maria Nebaj and San Gaspar Chajul....
and San Gaspar Chajul
Chajul
Chajul is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. Chajul is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal and Santa Maria Nebaj. The Ixil region is isolated by beautiful mountains and has maintained its rich Ixil Mayan traditions and language...
. Native residents speak the Mayan Ixil language
Ixil
Ixil is a Mayan language. It is the primary language of the Ixil Community -- the three villages of San Juan Cotzal, Santa Maria Nebaj, and San Gaspar Chajul -- in the highlands of Guatemala. Possibly it is three different languages.-Grammar:...
.
There is a nearby pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
of the Maya civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, called Nebaj
Nebaj
Nebaj is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the western Guatemala highlands....
.