History of Los Tuxtlas
Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz
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
Some allege Laguna Catemaco was the cradle of Mesoamerican 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 1500 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.
Timeline
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, more or less completed that effort
in 1522. While possibly visiting nearby 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 on 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 which included Los Tuxtlas.

This first post-conquest government in Los Tuxtlas was in Santiago Tuxtla  and was said to soon have included another
23 population points.
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
Veracruz and exacted tributes of cacao, cotton, precious feathers, gold, greenstones, and rubber, as well as several
staple foodstuffs, plus 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.

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 Tuxtla (aka Tiltepetl), was possibly destroyed by an eruption ca. 1531
and caused its population to flee to what is now known as San Andrés 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).
Spanish Colonialization
1519 - Cortes lands in Mexico.
1520 - First cattle land at Tampico, coast of Gulf of Mexico.
1520 - First smallpox epidemic hits Mexico´s native population.
1521 - First African slaves sold in Mexico.
1523 - First sugarcane plantations in Los Tuxtlas.
1524 - First catholic missionaries arrive.
1525 - Santiago Tuxtla is founded, presumably including the Catemaco area.
1529 - Hernan Cortes is awarded the area as part of the Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca.
1530 - San Martin Volcano erupts. (disputed)
1530 - Tzacoalco (forerunner of San Andres) is founded (disputed) by natives from nearby Ixtlan
1531 - First Virgin of Guadalupe appears near Mexico City.
1542 - Indian slavery abolished.
1580 - San Andres Tzacaoalco and Catemaco are mentioned as estancias  of Santiago Tuxtla.

1622 - Fray Antonio Vazquez De Espinosa mentions witches in Veracruz
1664 - Volcano San Martin Tuxtla eruption evacuates many Santiago Tuxtla residents to San Andres Tuxtla.

1714 - People from San Andres form  "Pesqueria", forerunner of Catemaco.
1718 - A Oaxaca priest arrives in Catemaco carrying the statue of the Virgen del Carmen.
1718 - San Andres becomes a pueblo, separating it from Santiago, and controlling Catemaco.
1774 - The Catemaco municipio is formed ?.
1793 - San Martin Volcano erupts.
Prehistory to Columbus
40,000 BC - First Eurasians cross the Bering landbridge to North America.
20,000 BC - First North Americans arrive in Mexico.
8,000 BC - First agriculture in Mexico.
3,000 BC - First agriculture record in Los Tuxtlas.

1,400 BC or earlier - Olmecs occupy area around Tres Zapotes, which stays occupied till around 1,000 AD.
400 BC - 300AD - Olmec culture flowers at Tres Zapotes.
100 BC? - Teotihuacan founded

400 - 1000 - Teotihuacan people occupy a massive community at Matacapan, 15 km from Catemaco.

1325 - Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) founded by Aztecs

1465? - Aztec Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina (1440-1469) conquers the south central Veracruz area.
1492 - Columbus finds America.
Mexican Independence
1810 - Start of 10 year war of independence from Spain
1823 - With a population of 1100, Catemaco is recognized as a village.
1825 - As results of Mexican independence, territorial limits are defined throughout Mexico.
1825 - mentions Canton de Santiago Tuxtla as part of Acayucan.
1826 - San Andres Tuxtla including Catemaco secedes from Santiago Tuxtla and forms municipio.
1830 - San Andres Tuxtla is declared "villa" (town).
1831 - Mecayapan municipio is formed.
1831 - San Pedro Soteapan municipio is formed.
1827 - Mexico abolishes slavery
1825 - San Andres Tuxtla becomes its own Canton (called municipio nowadays)
1850 - Santiago Tuxtlas is named "ciudad" (city).
18?? - Catemaco separates from San Andres Tuxtla and becomes its own municipio
1867 - First Tuxtlas Olmec head mentioned.
1874 - El Ensayo Sobre El Derecho Administrativo Mexicano reports the population of Los Tuxtlas:
San Andrés 10,317,  Santiago 9224, Catemaco 2298,
Mecayapan 1,457, Soteapan 1,630 y Pajapan con 817.
1881 - Catemaco village is raised to town status, El pueblo de Catemaco, del Cantón de los Tuxtlas.
1887 - The first bridge crossing the Rio Grande de Catemaco  is built.
1889 - Pajapan is carved out of Mecayapan.
1893 - San Andres Tuxtla is named "ciudad" (city).
Twentieth Century
1911 & 1916 - Catemaco & San Andres Tuxtla city halls are burned during revolutionary upheavals and
most historic documents are destroyed.
1913 - First railroad train arrives in San Andres Tuxtla
1917 - Emiliano Zapata issues "La Proclama De Los Tuxtlas" in support of the Mexican revolution.
1914 - Mexico publishes first labor law
1923 - First Cebu bulls arrive in Tampico
1923 - Hueyapan de Ocampo is formed from Acayucan.
1932 - San Andrés Tuxtla renamed Los Tuxtlas
1934 - Ejido laws go into effect after being published in 1918
1938 - City of Los Tuxtlas renamed San Andr'es Tuxtla.
1938 - Laguna Catemaco Valley is declared a national reserve

1953 - The carretera federal  from Lerdo to Acayucan is completed.
1966 - Catemaco achieves city status
1974 - Santiago Tuxtla is declared "ciudad colonial" (colonial city).
1979 - Dengue fever arrives in Los Tuxtlas
1979 - San Martin Volcano is declared a national reserve
1980 - The Sierra de Santa Marta is declared a national reserve
1990 - tollroad Tinajas - Minatitlán, with exit to Santiago Tuxtla and Los Tuxtlas.
1992 - Last railroad train leaves San Andres Tuxtla
1997 - Tatahuicapan de Juarez municipio is carved out of Mecayapan.
1998 - The Reserva de la Biosfera Los Tuxtlas is created

2004 - Broadband internet arrives in Catemaco
2005 - first tuxtlas.com webpage
2005 - First modern department store opens in San Andrés (Soriana)
Essentially, because of its geographic isolation, stuck between several major rivers (Papaloapan and Coatzacoalcos)
and the Gulf of Mexico without a functional port and not near any major city except via a 23 day oxcart ride to Mexico
City or a week´s boat or horse ride to Veracruz, the Tuxtlas wallowed in their solitude and the indigenous habitants
assimilated their invadors ranging from  Spanish colonist's  to French invaders and  to imported African slaves while
regularly getting slammed by major health crisis. A mystical culture bred off them which culminated in the present day
"jarochos" and of course the "brujos". (Catemaco´s reputed witches).

The arrival of a railroad in 1913 along with the large population shifts during Mexico´s revolution against dictator Porfirio
Diaz and the ensuing civil war beginning in 1910 then forcefully dragged the Tuxtlas into the modern age. Land
distribution schemes originating in the revolutionary constitution of 1917 but not fully applied till 1934 then opened the
area to an influx of mestizos from elsewhere in Mexico. This influx exploded after the building of a paved road in the
mid 1950´s connecting Los Tuxtlas to Veracruz city and Acayucan which allowed huge land grants to impoverished
mostly Mexican mestizos from elsewhere in the country to settle into the fringes of Los Tuxtlas.

From 1950 to 2000, Catemaco´s population increased 512% to 45,383, Los Tuxtlas increased 312% to 383,416.
Because of Mexico gargantuan efforts of population control, the area has finally stabilized its population after decades
of uncontrolled growth.
Olmec presence
Dieoff of the indigenous population
links