El Salvador Women Diamond Fashion Jewellery 57

El Salvador Women Diamond Fashion Jewelry. 

By Aamir Mannan.

Identification. The name Guatemala, meaning "land of forests," was derived from one of the Mayan dialects spoken by the indigenous people at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1523. It is used today by outsiders, as well as by most citizens, although for many purposes the descendants of the original inhabitants still prefer to identify themselves by the names of their specific language dialects, which reflect political divisions from the sixteenth century. The pejorative terms indio and natural have been replaced in polite conversation and publication by Indígena . Persons of mixed or non-indigenous race and heritage may be called Ladino , a term that today indicates adherence to Western, as 

opposed to indigenous, culture patterns, and may be applied to acculturated Indians, as well as others. A small group of African–Americans, known as Garifuna, lives on the Atlantic coast, but their culture is more closely related to those found in other Caribbean nations than to the cultures of Guatemala itself.