The municipal seat is in Villa de San Miguel Uspantán with a population of 2,800. The birthplace of Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum, a community named Laj Chimel, is located Uspantán not far from the municipal seat. Completion of paving on the road in fromChichicastenango has brought a small tourist boom to the town.
The municipality includes the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site ofChitinamit, believed to be Jakawitz, the first capital of the K'iche' Maya
