| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Unknown, no longer distinct group | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mexico (Guerrero) | |
| Languages | |
| Cuitlatec | |
| Religion | |
| Mesoamerican religion |
TheCuitlatec (alternativelyCuitlateco,Cuitlateca) were anIndigenous people of Mexico.[1] They lived in theRío Balsas andCosta Grande regions ofGuerrero state in Mexico's Pacific coast region. Their nativeCuitlatec language is generally considered to be alanguage isolate.[2] Cuitlatec is considered extinct as a linguistic group and ethnic identity, the last speaker of the language having died in the 1960s.
The name Cuitlatec is a derogatoryNahuatl exonym, the rootcuitlatl carrying the vulgar meaning of "excrement". However, this also been interepreted as "gold people", given that gold was named in Nahuatlteocuitlatl, or "divine excrement". TheRelaciones geográficas described the Cuitlatec as an agricultural people with advanced social organization and a religion with complex ritual and cosmology, but also as warlike, being accustomed to bribes, and being more troublesome for the colonists than the neighboringPurépecha.
The oral tradition of the Cuitlatec ofSan Miguel Totolapan recounted a migration of unspecified date fromAtoyac de Álvarez.[3] In the late postclassic period (1250-1521 AD), the most important town of the coastal Cuitlatec was called Mexcaltepec. Although its precise location is unknown given that it was abandoned by 1580, it was supposedly located in the mountains inland from Atoyac de Álvarez.[4] Mexcaltepec was the center of a regionally important polity, described byFray Juan de Torquemada as spanning 80 Spanish leagues along the coast and having 150,000 families.[5] Among the subject towns of Mexcaltepec wereAcapulco, Citlaltomagua, Coyaco, and Tecpantepec.[6]
Most of the Cuitlatec communities in the Balsas basin were subjugated by the expandingPurépecha Empire.
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