Tamaholipa

Tamaholipa was a settlement at the foot of the Sierra de Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. Its name, of Huastec origin, became associated with the mountain country and eventually with the wider region. Indigenous communities around the sierra cultivated maize and used the varied resources of its valleys and foothills.

In 1544 the Franciscan Andrés de Olmos established a mission at Tamaholipa after travelling north from the Pánuco region. He worked among people known as the Olives, whose settlements lay in and around the sierra. The mission formed an early Spanish foothold beyond the established settlements of the Huasteca. Its history reflects both missionary expansion and the persistence of Indigenous communities in the mountain country. The mission stood near water at the southern edge of the mountains.