We explain what an indigenous or native people is and which ones live in Mexico. In addition, the geographical areas they inhabit.
What are the indigenous peoples of Mexico?
In Latin America, indigenous peoples or native peoples are the different communities descended from pre-Columbian American cultures that, despite the centuries of Hispanization and religious conversion that accompanied the European colonization of the continent, they still preserve a large part of their culture, their language and their original traditions.
Indigenous peoples are those sectors of the Latin American population that still identify with the ancestral pre-Columbian culture, rather than with the mestizo culture that produced the colonial era. Among Latin American nations, Mexico occupies a prominent place in terms of the survival of native cultures, as it is the country in America with the largest indigenous population.
In Mexico, indigenous peoples are widely distributed throughout the national territory although they tend to be concentrated in the regions of the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Yucatan Peninsula. Oaxaca and Yucatán are the two states with the highest percentage of indigenous population. Mexico's total indigenous population is around 12 million people (according to figures from the 2020 Population and Housing Census), distributed across around seventy different ethnic groups.
He State Mexican recognizes its indigenous peoples in its Constitution as it declares that Mexico is a multicultural nation. It also recognizes their native languages as national languages alongside Spanish, although in practice these languages are often restricted to community use and bilingual education.
However, in Mexico, as in much of Latin America, there is a social tendency towards discrimination against indigenous citizens, many of them inhabitants of rural and difficult-to-access areas, far from urban life and with little political participation in the State. Others integrated into modern life, although at the cost of abandoning part of their traditional habits.
See also: Indigenous peoples
List of the main Mexican indigenous peoples
Below, the most numerous Mexican indigenous peoples are detailed, that is, those with the largest ethnic population (according to 2015 figures gathered in the Atlas of the indigenous peoples of Mexico of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples).
- Nahuas. They are located in central Mexico and have 2,886,767 inhabitants.
- Mayans. They are located in the Yucatan Peninsula and have 1,646,782 inhabitants.
- Zapotecs. They are located in the Central Valleys, the Sierra de Juárez and the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and have 813,272 inhabitants.
- Mixtecs. They are located in the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca, and have 819,725 inhabitants.
- Otomi. They are located in the central Mexican region and have 667,038 inhabitants.
- Totonacas. They are located in the Sierra Madre Oriental region and have 438,756 inhabitants.
- Tsotsiles. They are located in the state of Chiapas and have 614,105 inhabitants.
- Tseltales. They are located in the state of Chiapas and have 689,797 inhabitants.
- Mazahuas. They are located in the Toluca Valley and have 360,231 inhabitants.
- Mazatecs. They are located in Oaxaca, in the Tuxtepec region, and have 358,829 inhabitants.
- Huastecos. They are located in the northern region of Veracruz, the south of Tamaulipas and the east of San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo, and have 255,190 inhabitants.
- choles. They are located in the states of Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche, and have 328,867 inhabitants.
- Purépechas. They are located in the Tarasca Plateau, in the state of Michoacán, and have 221,555 inhabitants.
- Chinantecos. They are located in the state of Oaxaca, in the Tuxtepec region, and have 211,760 inhabitants.
- Mixes. They are located in the state of Oaxaca, in the Sierra de Juárez, and have about 358,829 inhabitants.
- Tlapanecos. They are located in La Montaña in the state of Guerrero, and have 180,327 inhabitants.
- Tarahumara. They are located in the Sierra Tarahumara, in the state of Chihuahua, and have 113,129 inhabitants.
- Mays. They are located in the valleys of the Mayo and Fuerte rivers, in the south of Sonora and the north of Sinaloa, and have 108,180 inhabitants.
- Zoques. They are located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, between Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, and have 104,321 inhabitants.
- Tabasco Chontales. They are located in the state of Tabasco and have 57,792 inhabitants.
- Popolocas. They are located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Veracruz, and have 45,628 inhabitants.
- Chatinos. They are located on the coasts of the state of Oaxaca and have 69,663 inhabitants.
- Amuzgos. They are located in La Montaña in the state of Guerrero and have 75,953 inhabitants.
- Tojolabales. They are located in the state of Chiapas and have 74,924 inhabitants.
- Huichol. They are located in the east and center of Nayarit, the north of Jalisco and the south of Zacatecas and Durango, and have 71,450 inhabitants.
- Southern Tepehuans. They are located in Durango, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Zacatecas, and have 47,144 inhabitants.
- triquis. They are located in the northwest of Oaxaca and have 37,028 inhabitants.
- Coras. They are located in the northeast of the state of Nayarit and have 37,300 inhabitants.
- Moms. They are located in the state of Chiapas and have 27,050 inhabitants.
- Yaquis. They are located in the state of Sonora and have 35,132 inhabitants.
- Huaves. They are located on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the state of Oaxaca, and have 24,222 inhabitants.
- Tepehuas. They are located between Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz, and have 16,585 inhabitants.
Continue with: Cultural identity
References
- Government of Mexico. (sf). indigenous peoples. Cultural Information System. https://sic.cultura.gob.mx/
- National Institute of Indigenous Peoples. (2020). indigenous peoples. Atlas of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. https://atlas.inpi.gob.mx/
- Meyer, M.C., et al.. (2024). Ethnic Groups (Mexico). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
- Millán, S. (Coord.). (2018). The indigenous cultures of Mexico. National Atlas of Ethnography. National Institute of Anthropology and History.
- Zolla, C and Zolla Márquez, E. (2004). The indigenous peoples of Mexico, 100 questions. National Autonomous University of Mexico.
