6 - The Copán Realm, Its Colonies and Allies (CE 600–800)

Summary

This chapter describes the political formation that took shape at Copán and how that center’s rulers sought to secure their regional preeminence by establishing a network of colonies and allies at varying distances from the center. These extensive political arrangements come closest to approximating the traditional view of Southeastern societies as existing within the periphery of powerful lowland Maya cores. Nonetheless, what stands out in this account is the varied forms these relations of relative inequality took as local leaders and Copán’s lords negotiated the ever-shifting terms of their mutual dealings. Special attention is devoted to two Copán colonies, Quirigua in Guatemala’s Lower Motagua valley and El Paraíso in the western Honduran valley of the same name. Both were established by Copán’s rulers to accomplish specific, but different objectives. Their divergent histories highlight the limits of royal rule and the capacity of the colonized to shape their own destinies.