The K’iche’ Nation’s Quadripartite and Communal Government

In this article, I investigate the government of the K’iche’ nation settled in Q’umarkaj in the Maya highlands of Guatemala during the Late Postclassic period (1250-1524 CE). Q’umarkaj (1400-1524 CE) was the principal K’iche’ civic-ceremonial center before the Spanish invasion in 1524. Although the literature on the K’iche’ is greater compared to that of other Maya highland groups, there are still many gaps, especially about their forms of government. One motivation for writing this text was to question the idea that in ancient times there was a deep social and physical division between the rulers and the ruled, that is, between the Ajawab’ ‘lords, rulers’ and the Alk’ajol ‘vassals or tributaries’ as some authors has stated. Ethnographic data of various K’iche’ communities show that Indigenous authorities exercise a communal government with the active participation of all members of a community, which allows its continuity and defense against external threats. I propose that the verb tzuquj ‘sustain’ or q’o ‘feed’ used to describe the relationship between patron deities, K’iche’ authorities, and the K’iche’ population, involved the practice of a communal government rather than the vertical and authoritarian government often associated with the ancient K’iche’ state.