Matlatzinca is a name used to refer to different
Indigenous ethnic groups in the
Toluca Valley
The Toluca Valley is a valley in central Mexico, just west of the Valley of Mexico (Mexico City), the old name was Matlatzinco. The valley runs north–south for about , surrounded by mountains, the most imposing of which is the Nevado de Toluca V ...
in the
state of México
The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name o ...
, located in the central highlands of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The term is applied to the ethnic group inhabiting the valley of Toluca and to their language,
Matlatzinca.
When used as an
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
, Matlatzinca refers to the people of Matlatzinco. ''Matlatzinco'' was the Aztec (Nahuatl) term for the Toluca Valley. The political capital of the valley was also referred to as “Matlatzinco”; this was a large city whose ruins are today known as the archaeological site of
Calixtlahuaca. In Prehispanic times the Toluca Valley was the home to speakers of at least four languages:
Otomi,
Matlatzinca,
Mazahua, and
Nahuatl
Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
. Thus speakers of any of these languages could be called “Matlatzinca” if they resided in the Toluca Valley. When the Aztec native historical sources or the Spanish chroniclers refer to “the Matlatzinca” it is often not clear where they mean speakers of the Matlatzinca language, the peoples of the Toluca Valley, or even the inhabitants of Calixtlahuaca.
Language
The Matlatzinca language is part of the
Oto-Pamean subgroup of the
Oto-Manguean
The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean () languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean languages, Ma ...
language family, which also includes
Otomi,
Mazahua,
Pame and
Chichimeca Jonaz. Linguistically the term “Matlatzinca” refers to speakers of the Matlatzinca language. In ancient, historical and modern times, the Matlatzinca language was spoken in the Toluca Valley of central Mexico, west of the Valley of Mexico. The Matlatzinca language has two subgroups or dialects that are mutually unintelligible: one called
Ocuiltec or Tlahuica and Matlatzinca proper. While originally one language they are now so removed that they are often considered separate languages. Matlatzinca is severely endangered and now only spoken by around 100, mostly elderly people in San Francisco Oxtotilpa and Ocuiltec/Tlahuica spoken by between 50-100 in Ocuilan municipio in the villages San Juan Atzingo and Santa Lucía del Progreso.
References
*
Cazés, Daniel (1965) El pueblo matlatzinca de San Francisco Oxtotilpan y su lengua.
*García Castro, René (1999) Indios, territorio y poder en la provincia matlatzinca: la negociación del espacio político de los pueblos otomianos, siglos XV-XII. CIESAS, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and El Colegio Mexiquense, Mexico City and Toluca.
*García Castro, René (2000) Los grupos indígenas del valle de Toluca. ''
Arqueología Mexicana'' 8(43):50-55.
*García Payón, José (1974) La zona arqueológica de Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca y los matlatzincas: etnología y arqueología (primera parte), edición facsimilar de la de 1936, preparada por Mario Colín. Biblioteca Enciclopédica del Estado de México vol. 29. Estado de México, Toluca.
*Quezada Ramírez, María Noemí (1972) Las matlatzincas: época prehispánica y época colonial hasta 1650. Serie Investigaciones vol. 22. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
*Sugiura Yamamoto, Yoko, Patricia Martel and Sandra Figueroa (1997) Atlas Etnográfico de la Cuenca Alta del Río Lerma: Otomíes, Mazahuas, Matlatzincas y Nahuas en los 32 municipios. Gobierno del Estado de México, Toluca.
{{Indigenous peoples of Mexico
Matlatzinca