What is "taguzgalpa"

Taguzgalpa is a region or district located in northeastern Honduras, known historically through Spanish sources, and heir to a longer and richer archaeological tradition. It was usually called a "Province" in Spanish sources, and its internal social organization is unclear. Spanish missionary sources put its location as roughly the northeastern quarter of Honduras, bounding on the Wanks River, the interior jurisdiction of Olancho, and the coast as far as Trujillo as well as the Bay Islands of Honduras. It appeared on the Dutch map of Montanus in 1671 with an alternate spelling of "Tigu zigalpa."

It was frequently confused in nineteenth century travel literature with Tegucigalpa, the present capital of Honduras, and it is possible that both words share the same root. However, a study of the location information of the two places in the original sixteenth and seventeenth century sources shows that they are not in the same place, and are both mentioned, in different areas in the same texts. In his classic study of indigenous names in Honduras,Alberto Membreño wrote, "For a long time it was believed that [Tegulcigalpa] was a corruption of Taguzgalpa and that it meant “mountain of silver.” [Tegulcigalpa] did not form a part of Taguzgalpa, and when this province was conquered, Tegulcigalpa already existed. Don Pedro de Alvardo wrote Teguycegalpa in the repartimiento of 1536." Membreño gives the etymology of Taguzgalpa as "tlalli, earth, cuztic, yellow, calli, house, and pan, in. This province is so called because there is a great deal of gold on its surface and in the sands of its rivers; and it refers to the tradition that the Mexicans went to Taguzgalpa to take that metal to Moctezuma."