Approximately 66,000 (INAH)–150,000 (Ethnologue 1990)
Regions with significant populations
Mexico (San Luis Potosí: Veracruz: Tamaulipas)
Languages
Wastek, Spanish
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Maya peoples
The Huastec/ˈwɑːstɛk/ or Téenek[pronunciation?] (contraction of Te' Inik, "people from here"; also known as Huaxtec, Wastek or Huastecos) are an indigenous people of Mexico, living in the La Huasteca region including the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas concentrated along the route of the Pánuco River and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
There are approximately 66,000 Huastec speakers today, of which two-thirds are in San Luis Potosí and one-third in Veracruz,[1] although their population was probably much higher, as much as half a million, when the Spanish arrived in 1529.[2]
The ancient Huastec civilization is one of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Judging from archaeological remains, they are thought to date back to approximately the 10th century BCE, although their most productive period of civilization is usually considered to be the Postclassic era between the fall of Teotihuacan and the rise of the Aztec Empire. The Pre-Columbian Huastecs constructed temples on step-pyramids, carved independently standing sculptures, and produced elaborately painted pottery. They were admired for their abilities as musicians by other Mesoamerican peoples.
About 1450, the Huastecs were defeated by Aztec armies under the leadership of Moctezuma I; the Huastecs henceforth paid tribute to the Aztec Empire but retained a large degree of local self-government.
The Huastecs were conquered by the Spanish between 1519 and the 1530s. After the Spanish Conquest, many Huastecs were sold as slaves in the Caribbean by the Spanish.[3]
The first grammatical and lexical description of the Huastec language accessible to Europeans was by Fray Andrés de Olmos, who also wrote the first such grammars of Nahuatl and Totonac.
^INAH, p. 56
^Ariel de Vidas, p. 57
^Sandstrom, Alan R., and Enrique Hugo García Valencia. 2005. Native peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
The Huastec /ˈwɑːstɛk/ or Téenek [pronunciation?] (contraction of Te' Inik, "people from here"; also known as Huaxtec, Wastek or Huastecos) are an indigenous...
Huastec can refer to either: Huastecpeople, an indigenous group of Mexico Huastec language (also called "Wasteko" and "Teenek"), spoken by the Huastec...
Tamaulipas. The Huastecpeople were an early offshoot of the Maya peoples that migrated northwards. Surviving remains from the Huastec civilization include...
The Huastec (also spelled Wasteko or Huasteco) language, now commonly known by the endonym Téenek, of Mexico is spoken by the Téenek people living in...
in which the Huastecpeople had influence when their civilization was at its height during the Mesoamerican period. Today, the Huastecs occupy only a...
deepest sheer drop in the world. The cave has been known to the local Huastecpeople since ancient times. T. R. Evans, Charles Borland and Randy Sterns were...
substance that causes eye infections and swelling of the eyelids. The Huastecpeople of northern Veracruz and San Luis Potosí in Mexico used different parts...
the "Sea of the Sky", for the first time, subjugating the Huastecpeople and Totonac peoples and thereby gaining access to exotic goods such as cocoa,...
expanded into areas earlier occupied by Oto-Manguean, Totonacan and Huastecpeoples. Through their integration in the Mesoamerican cultural area the Nahuas...
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The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are groups of people native to a specific region that inhabited the Americas before the arrival of European settlers...
describes the likely fate of people who drank too much, including death by disease or accident. Exaggerated tales of the Huastecpeople characterized them as...
Flower war 1440–1458 Reign of Moctezuma I Subjugated the Huastecpeople and Totonac peoples 1458 Moctezuma I led an expedition into Mixtec territory against...
population of 19% indigenous people, mostly from the Totonac, Nahua and Teenek (Huastec) groups. The majority of the indigenous population is concentrated in the...
Tenek "tan-tuyik", which means "place of wax." Tantoyuca was founded by Huastecpeople in pre-Hispanic times. It was conquered by the Mexica Triple Alliance...
1440–1466, 1440–1469 CE) Subjugation of the Huastecpeople (c. 1445 – c. 1450 CE) Subjugation of the Totonac people (c. 1445 – c. 1450 CE) Flower wars (1454–1519...
Mayan language family. They are Wastek (Huastec) and Chikomuseltek (Chicomuceltec). Wastek (also spelled Huastec and Huaxtec) is spoken in the Mexican states...
population of 19% indigenous people, mostly from the Totonac, Nahua and Teenek (Huastec) groups. Afro-Mexicans were brought to Mexico during the slave trade. Afro-Mexicans...
Topoxte, both in Guatemala and Tamuin (reflecting the Maya origin of the Huastecpeoples). It is one of the 20 dominant species of the Maya forest. Of the dominant...
worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the Huastecs of Veracruz and Aztec (e.g., as illustrated in the Codex...
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