Tseltal belongs to the Mayan family, within the Cholan-Tseltalan branch, and forms a close subgroup with Tsotsil, from which it separated roughly a thousand years ago. Both languages descend from a Proto-Cholan-Tseltalan variety spoken in the highlands of Chiapas. Tseltal and Tsotsil are closely related sister languages that are not fully mutually intelligible.

The Tseltal people inhabit the Chiapas Highlands, in municipalities such as Oxchuc, Tenejapa, Cancuc, Chanal, and Amatenango del Valle, in southeastern Mexico. With more than half a million speakers, it is one of the most vigorous Mayan languages in Mexico. Tseltal culture is organized around the milpa, traditional religious offices (cargos), and a belief system integrating Mayan and Catholic elements.

After the Spanish conquest of Chiapas in the 1520s-1530s, Dominican friars evangelized the region and produced doctrinal materials in Tseltal written with the Latin alphabet. The Tseltal population suffered severe declines from epidemics and forced labor and was congregated into mission towns. In 1712 the Tzeltal Rebellion broke out in Cancuc, one of the largest Indigenous uprisings of the colonial period, driven by abuses and religious tensions.

Tseltal retains high vitality, with strong intergenerational transmission in many communities of the Chiapas Highlands. It is recognized as a national language under Mexican legislation and has bilingual educational materials, translations, and literary production. The 1994 Zapatista movement and subsequent Indigenous organizing reinforced the assertion of Tseltal identity and language in public life.