Choapan

Choapan lay in the hilly Papaloapan country of southern Oaxaca, where the land broke into steep ridges and river valleys in hot, humid lowland. Popoloca and related communities farmed maize and beans in the valleys and collected timber and cacao from the forest. Before the Mexica conquest, the region's towns were part of the Tochtepec province, whose tribute lists included cloth, cacao and feathers sent to Tenochtitlan. Trails linked the valleys with the Gulf lowlands, carrying salt and cotton to the markets of the coast.