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 Vo ...

in the

state of México The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, located in the central highlands of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. 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 Calixtlahuaca (from the Nahuatl, where calli means "house", and ixtlahuatl means "prairie" or "plains", hence the translation would be "plains-house-place") is a Postclassic period Mesoamerican archaeological site, located near the present-day ...

. In Prehispanic times the Toluca Valley was the home to speakers of at least four languages:

Otomi The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

, 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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

. 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 branch of the ...

language family, which also includes

, 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 ''Arqueología Mexicana'' (Mexican Archaeology) is a bimonthly journal published by Editorial Raíces and the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History). The first issue, devoted to Teo ...

'' 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