Otatitlan

Otatitlán stood on the banks of the Papaloapan, among the settlements of the river’s fertile lowlands. Its Nahuatl name refers to otate, a kind of bamboo. Before the Spanish conquest it was a Popoluca settlement owing tribute to the Mexica, and its lordship had ties to nearby Chacalzingo, Tlacojalpan and Paniacupa.

After the conquest Juan de Limpias Carvajal held Otatitlán as an encomienda, collecting its tribute until his death in 1565; his son Fernando de Carvajal succeeded him and retained the grant until 1597. Around 1600 colonial authorities relocated the communities of Otatitlán, Puctlancingo and Tuxtepec to a site called Cacahuaxuchitlán, two leagues west of their original settlements. The reshaping of the riverside communities accompanied the Spanish policy of gathering indigenous populations into larger towns.