Indigenous peoples of Mexico facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Indigenous peoples of Mexico

Notable Indigenous Mexicans: Cuauhtémoc, Benito Juárez Francisco Luna Kan Cajemé, Comandante Ramona
Total population
25,694,928 (self-reported) or 40-65 million by estimation (including sole Spanish speakers)
Regions with significant populations
Yucatán, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Veracruz, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Puebla, Michoacan
Languages
Nahuatl, Yucatec, Tzotzil, Mixtec, Zapotec, Otomi, Huichol, Totonac and another 54 living languages along the Mexican territory, as well as Spanish
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic, with Amerindian religious elements, including Mesoamerican religion)
Related ethnic groups
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of Mexico are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

The number of indigenous Mexicans is judged using the political criteria found in the 2nd article of the Mexican constitution. The Mexican census does not report racial-ethnicity but only the "cultural-ethnicity" of indigenous communities that preserve their indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs, and cultures.

According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, in 2015, 25,694,928 people in Mexico self-identify as being indigenous of many different ethnic groups, which constitute 21.5% of Mexico's population.

At the time of Spanish conquest in the late 15th century, the indigenous population of Mexico has been estimated at about 25 million, and has therefore only reached this figure again over 500 years later.

History of the indigenous peoples

Pre-Columbian Civilizations

The pre-Columbian civilizations of what now is known as Mexico are usually divided in two regions: Mesoamerica, in reference to the cultural area in which several complex civilizations developed before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and Aridoamerica (or simply "The North") in reference to the arid region north of the Tropic of Cancer in which few civilizations developed and was mostly inhabited by nomadic or semi-nomadic groups. Mesoamerica was densely populated by diverse indigenous ethnic groups which, although sharing common cultural characteristics, spoke different languages and developed unique civilizations.

One of the most influential civilizations that developed in Mesoamerica was the Olmec civilization, sometimes referred to as the "Mother Culture of Mesoamerica". The later civilization in Teotihuacán reached its peak around 600 AD, when the city became the sixth largest city in the world, whose cultural and theological systems influenced the Toltec and Aztec civilizations in later centuries. Evidence has been found on the existence of multiracial communities or neighborhoods in Teotihuacan (and other large urban areas like Tenochtitlan). The Maya civilization, though also influenced by other Mesoamerican civilizations, developed a vast cultural region in south-east Mexico and northern Central America, while the Zapotec and Mixtec culture dominated the valley of Oaxaca, and the Purepecha in western Mexico.

Colonial Era

A 16th century manuscript illustrating La Malinche and the contact of Spaniards and Aztecs.

By the time of the arrival of the Spanish in Mesoamerica, many of the diverse ethnic civilizations (with the notable exception of the Tlaxcaltecs and the Tarascan Kingdom of Michoacán) were loosely joined under the Aztec empire, the last Nahua civilization to flourish in Central Mexico. The capital of the empire, Tenochtitlan, became one of the largest urban centers in the world, with an estimated population of 350,000 inhabitants. During the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the conquistadores, only ten to the millions of indigenous peoples, used the ethnic diversity of the country and exploited the discontentment of the subjugated groups, making important alliances with rivals of the Aztecs. While the alliances were decisive to their victory, the indigenous peoples were soon subjugated by an equally impressive empire. Wars and forced labor were accompanied by the spread of European diseases previously unknown in the New World. Pandemics wrought havoc, killing between 90% and 95% of the pre-contact population according to some estimates.

At first, the colonial system imposed a system of castes, in which the indigenous peoples were marginalized. Nevertheless, a cultural symbiosis took place: the indigenous peoples adopted and syncretized Roman Catholicism, and a new ethnic group was born: the mestizo, of mixed European and indigenous ancestry.

Independence from Spain

Tzotzil Maya women from San Juan Chamula, Chiapas.

As the New Spain got independence from Spain, its citizens decided to name the new country after its capital city, Mexico City. Mexico declared the abolition of slavery and the equality of all citizens under the law. Some indigenous individuals integrated into the Mexican society, like Benito Juárez of Zapotec ethnicity, the first indigenous president of a country in the New World.

The greatest change, however, came about as a result of the Mexican Revolution, a violent social and cultural movement that defined 20th century Mexico. The Revolution produced a national sentiment that the indigenous peoples were the foundation of Mexican society. Several prominent artists promoted the "Indigenous Sentiment" (sentimiento indigenista) of the country, including Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera. Throughout the twentieth century, the government established bilingual education in certain indigenous communities and published free bilingual textbooks. Some states of the federation appropriated an indigenous inheritance in order to reinforce their identity.

In spite of the official recognition of the indigenous peoples, the economic underdevelopment of the communities, accentuated by the crises of the 1980s and 1990s, has not allowed for the social and cultural development of most indigenous communities. Thousands of indigenous Mexicans have emigrated to urban centers in Mexico as well as in the United States. In Los Angeles, for example, the Mexican government has established electronic access to some of the consular services provided in Spanish as well as Zapotec and Mixe. Some of the Maya peoples of Chiapas have revolted, demanding better social and economic opportunities, requests voiced by the EZLN.

The government has made certain legislative changes to promote the development of the rural and indigenous communities and the preservation and promotion of their languages. The second article of the Constitution was modified to grant them the right of self-determination and requires state governments to promote and ensure the economic development of the indigenous communities as well as the preservation of their languages and traditions.

Demographics

Indigenous people from all parts of Mexican state of Oaxaca, participate wearing traditional clothes and artifacts, in a celebration known as Guelaguetza.

Definition

The number of indigenous Mexicans is judged using the political criteria found in the 2nd article of the Mexican constitution. The Mexican census does not report racial-ethnicity but only the cultural-ethnicity of indigenous communities that preserve their indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs, and cultures.

Languages

The Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Languages recognizes 62 indigenous languages as "national languages" which have the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Data Processing (INEGI), approximately 5.4% of the population speaks an indigenous language – that is, approximately half of those identified as indigenous. The recognition of indigenous languages and the protection of indigenous cultures is granted not only to the ethnic groups indigenous to modern-day Mexican territory, but also to other North American indigenous groups that migrated to Mexico from the United States in the nineteenth century and those who immigrated from Guatemala in the 1980s.

Statistics

Huichol woman and child

According to the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CDI) there are 14,850,000 indigenous people reported in Mexico in 2010, which constitute 13% of the population in the country.

The absolute indigenous population is growing, but at a slower rate than the rest of the population so that the percentage of indigenous peoples is nonetheless falling. The majority of the indigenous population is concentrated in the central and southern states, that are generally the least developed, and the majority of the indigenous population live in rural areas.

Some indigenous communities have a degree of autonomy under the legislation of "usos y costumbres", which allows them to regulate some internal issues under customary law. Mexico is cool

According to the CDI, the states with the greatest percentage of indigenous population are: Yucatán, with 59%, Quintana Roo with 39% and Campeche with 27% of the population being indigenous, most of them Maya; Oaxaca with 48% of the population, the most numerous groups being the Mixtec and Zapotec peoples; Chiapas has 28%, the majority being Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya; Hidalgo with 24%, the majority being Otomi; Puebla with 19%, and Guerrero with 17%, mostly Nahua people and the states of San Luis Potosí and Veracruz both home to a population of 15% indigenous people, mostly from the Totonac, Nahua and Teenek (Huastec) groups.

The majority of the indigenous population is concentrated in the central and southern states. According to the CDI, the states with the greatest percentage of indigenous population are:

• Yucatán, 59%
• Oaxaca, 48%
• Quintana Roo, 39%
• Chiapas, 28%
• Campeche, 27%
• Hidalgo, 24%
• Puebla, 19%
• Guerrero, 17%
• San Luis Potosí, 15%
• Veracruz, 15%

Culture

Indigenous people from all parts of Mexican state of Oaxaca, participate wearing traditional clothes and artifacts, in a celebration known as Guelaguetza.

The Mexican Indigenous communities are enriched on celebrations, traditional costumes, oral heritage, medicine, literature, architecture and music by gender-separated groups. It includes parades of indigenous walking bands, native food, and statewide artisanal crafts, such as Pre-Hispanic-style textiles. Each costume and dance usually has a local indigenous historical and cultural meaning.

The Guelaguetza is an indigenous cultural event in Mexico that takes place in the city of Oaxaca, other similar celebration is the Atlixcayotl in Atlixco, Puebla. While this celebrations have attracted an increasing number of tourists, are primarily of deep cultural importance for the indigenous peoples of the country and is important for the survival of these cultures. Xantolo is other indigenous cultural event in The Huastecas (Hidalgo, Veracruz and San Luis Potosí) celebrated with Day of the Deaths.

Notable people

Colonial period figures

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  Cuauhtémoc, king and military leader. (Nahua)

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  Francisco Tenamaztle, military leader. (Caxcan)

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  Conín, military leader. (Otomi)

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  Juan Diego, religious figure. (Nahua)

Indigenous Mexicans

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  Geronimo, military soldier. (Apache)

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  Tomás Mejía Camacho, military soldier. (Otomi)

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  Cajemé, military leader. (Yaqui)

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  Benito Juárez, expresident. (Zapotec)

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  Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, writer and politician. (Nahua)

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  María Sabina, curandera and farmer. (Mazatec)

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  Francisco Toledo, activist, and pinter. (Zapotec)

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  Comandanta Ramona, activist, and military leader. (Tzotzil)

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  Adela Calva Reyes, activist, and writer. (Otomi)

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  Armando Manzanero, musician, singer and composer. (Yucatec Maya)

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  Macedonia Blas Flores, activist. (Otomi)

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  María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, activist and politician. (Nahua)

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  Marisol Ceh Moo, activist, and writer. (Yucatec Maya)

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  Carlos Salcido, soccer player. (Nahua)

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  Ricardo Osorio, soccer player. (Mixtec)

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  Yalitza Aparicio, actress and model. (Mixtec and Triqui)

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  Tenoch Huerta, actor and model. (Nahua)

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  Martín Tonalmeyotl, writer and photographer. (Nahua)

Images for kids

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  Mesoamerica and its cultural areas.

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  Juan Diego, hoja religiosa, etching by José Guadalupe Posada (pre-1895).

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  Cuarenta Casas, dwellings of the Mogollon culture.

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  Cemetery of San Juan Chamula.

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  A casta painting of 18th c. colonial Mexico by Ignacio Maria Barreda, 1777.

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  Comanchería in the 19th century.

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  Statue of Cajeme in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora.

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  "The Totonac Civilization," a mural by Diego Rivera in the National Palace celebrates Mexico's indigenous history.

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  Maya mother and child in Quintana Roo.

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  Cajemé, a prominent Yaqui military leader.

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  Francisco Luna Kan was governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982.

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  Welcome sign in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, with an Otomi language message reading Hogä ehe Nts'utk'ani ("Welcome to Ixmiquilpan").

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  Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a revolutionary indigenous autonomist organization based in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

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  Kickapoo dance in Comonfort, Guanajuato.

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  Women dancing in Tehuana costume, (costume of the Zapotec ethnic group that inhabit the Isthmus of Tehuantepec), in the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca.

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  Science and Indigenous education.

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  La Malinche, historic figure. (Popoluca)

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  Tzilacatzin, military soldier. (Otomi)

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  Francisco Toledo, activist, and painter. (Zapotec)

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  Natalio Hernández, activist, and writer. (Nahua)

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  Briceida Cuevas, writer. (Yucatec Maya)

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  Amaranta Gómez Regalado, activist and politician. (Zapotec)

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  Everardo Cristóbal, sprint canoeist. (Purépecha)

See also

In Spanish: Pueblos indígenas de México para niños