Popoloca

The Popolocas are an Oto-Manguean people of the Tehuacán valley and the dry southern Puebla highlands, whose languages form the Popolocan branch closest to Mazatec. Popoloca is a Mexica label for unintelligible, non-Nahuatl speech, carrying the mocking sense of stutterer; their ancient city of Tepexi el Viejo anchored a network of local señoríos.

Mexica expansion under Itzcóatl and his successors broke their power: Moctezuma I took Tlacotepec and Tzinacatepec, Ahuitzotl took Acatepec and Caltepec, and Moctezuma II overcame Tehuacán and Tepexi el Viejo. Only Cuthá under Xopanatl remained independent, while the rest paid tribute in lime, dyed mantles, deer hides and spear-shaft cane. Some Popoloca rulers kept their privileges by aiding the Spanish conquest, and Franciscans built the first convents at Tepeyacac in 1529 and Tecamachalco around 1540.