When Mother Nature allowed man to occupy the earth - she created paradises
among the many wastelands of the continents. Laguna Catemaco was one of them
- a large lake teeming with fish, surrounded by forests of fruit bearing trees,
healthy soils to grow most anything in a warm climate, and game animals dying to
meet the locals.
Some allege Laguna Catemaco was the cradle of American civilization. The
immediate Catemaco area is so robbed of its archaeological inheritance that nothing
definite can be said about that, although many other nearby archaeological digs,
including Tres Zapotes, definitely prove occupancy to almost 2000 BC. Studies of
archaeological seed samples support farming of maize (corn) to almost 5,000 BC.
The Olmecs apparently were the originators of this early civilization and spread
from here to Guatemala and to the west coast of Mexico. Some contrary scholars
believe the move originated in Guatemala. The Olmec´s documented presence in
Los Tuxtlas disappears around 250 AD.
Mexico City´s Teotihuacan civilization then rose to dominate Mesoamerica,
specifically central Mexico including Los Tuxtlas. Although Teotihuacan lost its
dominance after 650 AD, numerous artifacts supporting that relationship are found
in Matacapan & Ranchoapan, communities very near Catemaco, and dated to the
450 - 1000 AD range.
There is then a gap in the Tuxtlas chronology and apparently little happend until the
arrival of the Mexicas (Aztecs) in 1466, the 11th year of the rabbit, when they
conquered an area called "Tochtepec", "Totzlan" or "Tuxlan" in southern Veracruz
and exacted tributes of cacao, cotton, precious feathers, gold, greenstones, and
rubber, as well as several staple foodstuffs, fruits, and fish.
The southern Tuxtlas through Coatzacoalcos remained independent and apparently
frequently warred with their northern neighbors until the Popolucas decisively
defeated the Aztecs at Cuilonia in the area of San Pedro Soteapan. The Aztecs
spoke Nahuatl, as probably did their antecedents from Teotihuacan. Their presence
is the source of many of the place names in Los Tuxtlas.
1519 starts Los Tuxtlas more legible history, when Hernan Cortez of Spain arrived
with the intent to conquer Tenochtitlan, the Aztec empire. He, 650 men, 16 horses,
some artillery and zillions of Mexican allies, completed that effort in 1522. While
visiting Coatzacoalcos, Cortes engaged a Nahuatl speaking girl friend, Malinche,
and made her the symbolic mother of Mexico´s future mestizos, although most likely
a prolific shipwrecked Spaniard from the Maya coast proceeded him.
The Spaniards, after their defeat of the last Aztec chieftain Cuauhtémoc,
distributed their spoils among themselves, including their leader Hernán Cortés who
in 1529 received title from Spain's Carlos V to the Marquesado del Valle de
Oaxaca, a 11,550 km² area (4,460 square miles, about the size of a small US
state), including minor dependencies in Los Tuxtlas.
This first post-conquest government in Los Tuxtlas included Santiago Tuxtla and
Cotaxtla (near Cordoba) and was said to include another 23 population points.
The origin of the Tuxtlas name is still nebulous. An early historian claims it was the
name for "wide deformed heads", (Tuztla - cabezas anchas), the Codex Mendoza
(an Aztec bark painting) relates the word to "Toxtla - a little yellow bird frequenting
the area", others lean towards "Toxtlan - place of rabbits", especially those of a
similar named Mexican city "Tuxtla Gutierrez".
Hernan Cortes and his descendents kept legally owning most of Los Tuxtlas until
Mexico´s independence in 1821, at which time the inheritors apparently abdicated
their ownership. Previously in 1567 a major lawsuit stripped the Cortes family of
many lands, possibly including some of Los Tuxtlas.
Around 1525 Cortes established the first sugar cane plantation near Santiago
Tuxtla and imported cattle began chewing on the Tuxtlas landscape. The same
year he also supposedly founded Santiago Tuxtla as a "Villa Española".
Allegedly "Ixtlan", just west of Volcano San Martin (aka Tiltepetl), was possibly
destroyed by an eruption ca. 1531 and caused its population to flee to what is now
known as San Andres Tuxtla.
Political jockeying in the 1500's and 1600's caused the Tuxtlas to be variously
governed by cities adjacent to Los Tuxtlas, Tlacotalpan and Acayucan.
In 1580 the name of Catemaco/Acatemaco makes its first appearance as part of a
treatise by the then mayor of Tlacotalpan. Conflicting sources relate the city´s
name to either the nahuatl term for "burned houses" or an inhabitant named
Catemaxca. Also in 1580 Spanish documents mention San Pedro Soteapan,
Mecayapan & Tatahuicapan as part of the province of Coatzacoalcos, canton of
Acayucan.
Although there are mentions of the native population in early historical documents,
the various plagues unknowingly introduced by the Spaniards had begun
exterminating most of the Indian populations to the point where the import of
African slaves became necessary to maintain sugarcane plantations begun by the
Spanish conquerors in the northern Tuxtlas.
At the start of the 18th century, more likely than not, many of the original inhabitants
had escaped to the mountain ranges of Los Tuxtlas, where even today, remnants
of Popoluca and Nahuatl speakers occupy entire villages. (Popoluca is alleged to be
a remnant language of the Olmecs).
among the many wastelands of the continents. Laguna Catemaco was one of them
- a large lake teeming with fish, surrounded by forests of fruit bearing trees,
healthy soils to grow most anything in a warm climate, and game animals dying to
meet the locals.
Some allege Laguna Catemaco was the cradle of American civilization. The
immediate Catemaco area is so robbed of its archaeological inheritance that nothing
definite can be said about that, although many other nearby archaeological digs,
including Tres Zapotes, definitely prove occupancy to almost 2000 BC. Studies of
archaeological seed samples support farming of maize (corn) to almost 5,000 BC.
The Olmecs apparently were the originators of this early civilization and spread
from here to Guatemala and to the west coast of Mexico. Some contrary scholars
believe the move originated in Guatemala. The Olmec´s documented presence in
Los Tuxtlas disappears around 250 AD.
Mexico City´s Teotihuacan civilization then rose to dominate Mesoamerica,
specifically central Mexico including Los Tuxtlas. Although Teotihuacan lost its
dominance after 650 AD, numerous artifacts supporting that relationship are found
in Matacapan & Ranchoapan, communities very near Catemaco, and dated to the
450 - 1000 AD range.
There is then a gap in the Tuxtlas chronology and apparently little happend until the
arrival of the Mexicas (Aztecs) in 1466, the 11th year of the rabbit, when they
conquered an area called "Tochtepec", "Totzlan" or "Tuxlan" in southern Veracruz
and exacted tributes of cacao, cotton, precious feathers, gold, greenstones, and
rubber, as well as several staple foodstuffs, fruits, and fish.
The southern Tuxtlas through Coatzacoalcos remained independent and apparently
frequently warred with their northern neighbors until the Popolucas decisively
defeated the Aztecs at Cuilonia in the area of San Pedro Soteapan. The Aztecs
spoke Nahuatl, as probably did their antecedents from Teotihuacan. Their presence
is the source of many of the place names in Los Tuxtlas.
1519 starts Los Tuxtlas more legible history, when Hernan Cortez of Spain arrived
with the intent to conquer Tenochtitlan, the Aztec empire. He, 650 men, 16 horses,
some artillery and zillions of Mexican allies, completed that effort in 1522. While
visiting Coatzacoalcos, Cortes engaged a Nahuatl speaking girl friend, Malinche,
and made her the symbolic mother of Mexico´s future mestizos, although most likely
a prolific shipwrecked Spaniard from the Maya coast proceeded him.
The Spaniards, after their defeat of the last Aztec chieftain Cuauhtémoc,
distributed their spoils among themselves, including their leader Hernán Cortés who
in 1529 received title from Spain's Carlos V to the Marquesado del Valle de
Oaxaca, a 11,550 km² area (4,460 square miles, about the size of a small US
state), including minor dependencies in Los Tuxtlas.
This first post-conquest government in Los Tuxtlas included Santiago Tuxtla and
Cotaxtla (near Cordoba) and was said to include another 23 population points.
The origin of the Tuxtlas name is still nebulous. An early historian claims it was the
name for "wide deformed heads", (Tuztla - cabezas anchas), the Codex Mendoza
(an Aztec bark painting) relates the word to "Toxtla - a little yellow bird frequenting
the area", others lean towards "Toxtlan - place of rabbits", especially those of a
similar named Mexican city "Tuxtla Gutierrez".
Hernan Cortes and his descendents kept legally owning most of Los Tuxtlas until
Mexico´s independence in 1821, at which time the inheritors apparently abdicated
their ownership. Previously in 1567 a major lawsuit stripped the Cortes family of
many lands, possibly including some of Los Tuxtlas.
Around 1525 Cortes established the first sugar cane plantation near Santiago
Tuxtla and imported cattle began chewing on the Tuxtlas landscape. The same
year he also supposedly founded Santiago Tuxtla as a "Villa Española".
Allegedly "Ixtlan", just west of Volcano San Martin (aka Tiltepetl), was possibly
destroyed by an eruption ca. 1531 and caused its population to flee to what is now
known as San Andres Tuxtla.
Political jockeying in the 1500's and 1600's caused the Tuxtlas to be variously
governed by cities adjacent to Los Tuxtlas, Tlacotalpan and Acayucan.
In 1580 the name of Catemaco/Acatemaco makes its first appearance as part of a
treatise by the then mayor of Tlacotalpan. Conflicting sources relate the city´s
name to either the nahuatl term for "burned houses" or an inhabitant named
Catemaxca. Also in 1580 Spanish documents mention San Pedro Soteapan,
Mecayapan & Tatahuicapan as part of the province of Coatzacoalcos, canton of
Acayucan.
Although there are mentions of the native population in early historical documents,
the various plagues unknowingly introduced by the Spaniards had begun
exterminating most of the Indian populations to the point where the import of
African slaves became necessary to maintain sugarcane plantations begun by the
Spanish conquerors in the northern Tuxtlas.
At the start of the 18th century, more likely than not, many of the original inhabitants
had escaped to the mountain ranges of Los Tuxtlas, where even today, remnants
of Popoluca and Nahuatl speakers occupy entire villages. (Popoluca is alleged to be
a remnant language of the Olmecs).
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Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico
History of Los Tuxtlas
History of Los Tuxtlas
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