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

River traffic was the primary method of transport from the late 16th through early
20 th century in southern Veracruz. Products and livestock were moved in and out of
collection depots or warehouses constructed along the San Juan River (Delgado-Calderón
1995, 1997a, 2000). Tlacotalpan was a major Spanish and Mexican convergence site
located at the confluence of the San Juan and Papaloapan Rivers, down stream from El
Marquesillo (Figure 6.11). Tlacotalpan acted as a commercial staging center for the
import and export of commercial products to and from the region (Delgado-Calderón
2000), a position it held during the prehispanic era as well (Berdan and Anawalt 1997;
Scholes and Warren 1965). Colonial period Mexicans imported merchandise to the Port
of Veracruz from Europe, Africa, and Asia that was redistributed to trade nodes such as
Tlacotalpan and, from there, transported to more remote parts of the Sotavento (see
Chapter 4, Spanish Contact and Colonial Periods). The recovered colonial and European
Figure 6.11. Illustration of riverine relationship between El Marquesillo and Tlacotalpan
300