Xicochimalco

Xicochimalco was a fortified hill town on the wooded slopes of Cofre de Perote in central Veracruz, later known as Xico. Its Nahuatl name meant the nest of the bumblebee; Totonac villagers had long inhabited the area.

In 1454 Mexica settlers fleeing famine on the plateau arrived, and the town became a lordship subject to Moctezuma. Passing through in 1519, Hernán Cortés described a steep stronghold reached by a single stairway. Epidemics followed the conquest, and a painted land map of 1600 recorded the survivors' regrouping into colonial settlements.