Kejache

The Kejache (/keˈχätʃe/) (sometimes spelt Kehache, Quejache, Kehach, Kejach or Cehache) were a Maya people in northern Guatemala at the time of Spanish contact in the 17th century. The Kejache territory was located in the Petén Basin in a region that takes in parts of both Guatemala and Mexico. Linguistic evidence indicates that the Kejache shared a common origin with the neighbouring Itzas to their southeast and the Kejache may have occupied the general region since the Classic period (c. AD 250–900). The Kejache were initially contacted by conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1525; they were later in prolonged contact with the Spanish as the latter opened a route southwards towards Lake Petén Itzá.

Territory

The Kejache occupied a region that is now crossed by the border between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Campeche, in an area measuring approximately 40 by 100 kilometres (25 by 62 mi) extending from lakes Silvituk and Moku in Mexico southwards towards Uaxactun in Guatemala. The Kejache held a province that lay between the Itza kingdom centred on the city of Nojpetén and what, after the initial stages of the Spanish conquest, became the Spanish-held Yucatán to the north. The Kejache were bordered immediately to the north by the territory of the Acalan, a Chontal Maya people. The precise geopolitical extent of the Kejache is poorly understood, and no archaeological surveys of the Kejache territory have taken place. The Kejache territory consisted of a region of low hills with wide valleys that form swamplands during the rainy season, the region is also characterised by a number of small lakes, such as Lake Moku, Lake Silvituk and Chan Laguna.