| OCR Text |
Show 86 referring to Mexico, prepared by Dr. Miguel Leon-Pojtilla, Subdirector of the Inter-American Indian Institute. The Indian population, distributed in five great statistical and geographical zones of the Mexican Republic (North, Northern, Pacific, Central, Southern Pacific and Gulf), is analyzed with regard to the situation of each group within each zone. The author examines the situation and living conditions of these Indian groups, placing them in three fundamental categories: a) Groups of spontaneous acculturation, principally those who live in close contact with the great population centers; b) Groups of induced or planned acculturation which include those whose cultural and economic evolution has been scientifically planned with a view toward bringing about their active participation in national life; c) Groups of limited acculturation, including those which in one form or another have remained isolated, with an acculturation process carried out only in a very limited form. It is interesting to see the unequal geographic distribution of the Indian population in the Mexican Republic: while in the North and Northern Pacific zones those who speak Indian tongues total approximately 153,000 individuals, in the Central Zone there are close to 800,000, and in the zones of the Southern Pacific and the Gulf, taken together, there are more than 1,500,000 persons who speak native languages. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten, as is repeated constantly in this work, that in addition to these figures, which refer only to those who still speak Indian languages and dialects, there exist many other individuals who, because they preserve a high proportion of pre- Columbian cultural traits, deserve the classification of Indians and for this reason require the attention of Indianist organizations. At the end of this article there is a series of up to date bibliographical references concerning the principal Indianist bibliographies, works on ethnography and demography of the Mexican Indian population, linguistics, legal problems, as well as the activities of the various national and private organizations working to help the Mexican Indians. Dios Rosales, Juan de, "Indigenas de Guatemala," America Indigena, XIX, No. 2 (April, 1959), pp. 115-124. English summary: This article concerning the Indian population of Guatemala is the fourth in the series which is being offered as a preview of the "General Guide to the American Indian Population," with a view to giving a synthesized idea of the aboriginal inhabitants of each country of the Continent. Within the population of Guatemala it is the custom to differentiate between ladinos and Indians, properly speaking. The first group, although ethnically may often be considered as aborigines have passed through a certain acculturation process which has raised their standard of living. According to the 1950 census, the Indian population of Guatemala was 1,497,261 (53.6% of the total population) of which 7870 were monolingual and the remainder bilingual. |
