Coatzacualco

Coatzacualco was a Nahua trading polity at the mouth of its river on the Bay of Campeche. Its Nahuatl name meant “where the serpent hides”.

By the early sixteenth century, its merchants traded cacao and textiles and competed with Mexica merchants from the garrison at Tochtepec. Though the two sides fought, the Mexica negotiated passage through Coatzacualco to Tabasco rather than conquering it. In 1522 Cortés sent Gonzalo de Sandoval to the estuary, where he founded Villa del Espíritu Santo beside the native capital and established colonial rule.