indigenous peoples of mexico

Culture

2022

We explain what an indigenous or native people is and what are those that live in Mexico. In addition, the geographical areas they inhabit.

The total Mexican indigenous population is around 10 million people.

What are the indigenous peoples of Mexico?

We understand by Indigenous villages or native peoples, in the context of Latin America, to the different descendant communities of pre-Columbian American cultures that, despite centuries of Hispanization and religious conversion brought about by the European colonization of the continent, they still preserve their culture, his tongue and his traditions original.

In other words, our indigenous peoples are those sectors of the population Latin American countries that still identify with the pre-Columbian ancestral culture, rather than with the hybrid culture that the colonial era produced. In that sense, among the nations In Latin America, Mexico occupies a prominent place when it comes to this type of surviving indigenous cultures.

In Mexico, indigenous peoples are widely distributed throughout the territory national, although they tend to be concentrated in regions of the Sierra Madre (South, Eastern and Western) and in the Yucatan Peninsula, being Oaxaca and Yucatan the two States with the largest native population. The total indigenous population is around 10 million people (according to 2019 figures from INEE) in around 60 different ethnic groups.

The Condition Mexican recognizes its indigenous peoples in its constitutional text, declaring itself a multicultural nation. It also recognizes their native languages ​​as national languages ​​along with Spanish, although in practice they are much more restricted to community use and education bilingual.

However, in Mexico there is also, as in much of Latin America, a social tendency to discrimination of the citizens indigenous peoples, many of whom live in rural areas with difficult access, far from modern life and little (or no) political and economic participation in the State. Others, on the other hand, have integrated into the western and globalized world, although at the cost of sacrificing part of their traditional habits.

List of the main Mexican indigenous peoples

Next, we will detail the most important of the Mexican indigenous peoples, that is, those with the largest ethnic population (according to 1995 figures from the then National Indigenous Institute).

  • Nahuas. Located in central Mexico, with about 2,445,969 inhabitants.
  • Mayas. Located in the Yucatan peninsula, with about 1,475,575 inhabitants.
  • Zapotec. Located in the Central Valleys, the Sierra de Juárez and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with about 777,253 inhabitants.
  • Mixtecos. Located in the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca, with 726,601 inhabitants.
  • Otomies. Located in the central Mexican region, with about 646,875 inhabitants.
  • Totonacas. Located in the Sierra Madre Oriental region, with 411,266 inhabitants.
  • Tzotziles. Located in the state of Chipas, with about 406,962 inhabitants.
  • Tzeltales. Located in the state of Chiapas, with about 384,074 inhabitants.
  • Mazahuas. Located in the Toluca Valley, with about 326,660 inhabitants.
  • Mazatecos. Located in Oaxaca, in the Tuxtepec region, with about 305,836 inhabitants.
  • Huastecos. Located in the northern region of Veracruz and southern Tamaulipas, as well as partially Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí, with some 226,447 inhabitants.
  • Choles. Located in the state of Chiapas, with about 220,978 inhabitants.
  • Purepechas. Located on the Tarasca Plateau in the state of Michoacán, with about 202,884 inhabitants.
  • Chinantecs. Located in the state of Oaxaca, in the Tuxtepec region, with about 201,201 inhabitants.
  • Mixes. Located in the state of Oaxaca, in the Sierra de Juárez, with about 168,935 inhabitants.
  • Tlapanecos. Located in the mountains of the state of Guerrero, with about 140,254 inhabitants.
  • Tarahumara. Located in the Sierra Tarahumara in the state of Chihuahua, with about 121,835 inhabitants.
  • Mays. Located in the valleys of the Mayo and Fuerte rivers, between Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa, with about 91,261 inhabitants.
  • Zoques. Located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec between Veracruz and Oaxaca, with about 86,589 inhabitants.
  • Chontales. Located in the Chontalpa region of the state of Tabasco, with 79,438 inhabitants.
  • Popolocas. Located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec between Veracruz and Oaxaca, with about 62,306 inhabitants.
  • Chatinos. Located on the coasts of the state of Oaxaca, with 60,003 inhabitants.
  • Amuzgos. Located in the mountains of Guerrero, with 57,666 inhabitants.
  • Tojolabales. Located in the state of Chiapas, with 54,505 inhabitants.
  • Huichol. Located in the east and center of Nayarit, north of Jalisco, and south of Zacatecas and Durango, with about 43,929 inhabitants.
  • Tepehuanos. Located in Durango, with about 37,548 inhabitants.
  • Triquis. Located in the northwest of Oaxaca, with about 29,018 inhabitants.
  • Coras. Located in the northeast of the state of Nayarit, with 24,390 inhabitants.
  • Mames. Located in the state of Chiapas, with 23,812 inhabitants.
  • Yaquis. Located in the state of Sonora, with 23,411 inhabitants.
  • Huaves. Located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, state of Oaxaca, with 20,528 inhabitants.
  • Tepehuas. Located between Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz, with 16,051 inhabitants.
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