Michuachapanco

Michuachapanco was a Huastec polity centred on Pánuco, on the lower Pánuco River by the Gulf of Mexico. The town headed a confederation whose lord bore the title Cuextecatl.

Around 1450 Moctezuma I’s armies defeated the Huastecs, who paid Aztec tribute while keeping local rulers. In 1521 local warriors repelled Francisco de Garay’s expedition at the Chila and Tamós lagoons. Hernán Cortés conquered the region in 1522 and founded Villa de Santiesteban del Puerto at Pánuco, later the provincial capital.