An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

Teotihuacán and Aztec trade routes, which either turn north or south along the river’s
course. The Tesechoacan region, immediately east of Tuxtepec, is identified as the
eastern boundary of the documented Aztec tribute region (Berdan 1996).
The seclusion of the region may have been reinforced by natural geographical
features. Sanders (1971) discusses large tracts of swampy savannahs and perpetually
waterlogged areas that prevented contiguous occupations. An extensive 30 to 40 km
marshland begins at the confluence of the Tesechoacan and Playa Vicente Rivers and
extends eastward. This marshland area, which may have acted as a natural barrier to
overland travel, expanded during the annual inundations; its eastern limits are west of El
Marquesillo (see Grove 1996:15; INEGI 2003). The sociopolitical geography and
topographical features may have combined to insulate El Marquesillo from western
influence, while facilitating interaction with polities to the east.
Spanish Contact and Colonial Periods (c. 1524-1821)
Early Spanish chroniclers referred to the Sotovento veracruzano as a vast region
encompassing the low-lying floodplains of present-day southern Veracruz and western
Tabasco (Delgado-Calderón 2000) (Figure 3.12). This area was circumscribed
geographically by the Papaloapan River to the west, the Tonalá River to the east, the Gulf
to the north, and the Sierra Madre Mountains of Oaxaca and Chiapas to the south.
Following the Conquest, the initial Colonial political and economic organization
mimicked that of the Aztec Empire. Territorial divisions within the Spanish colonial
Sotovento corresponded with the recognized indigenous señoríos that were encountered
during appropriation of lands (see Figure 3.12). Cortés was aware that the region around
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