Huautla

History

Little is known with certainty about the early history of the Mazatec people. One account, based on old annals, holds that they descend from Nonoalca-Chichimec groups who left Tula in the early 12th century and founded towns near Huautla. Another says the Mazatecs were already living here, having arrived from the east around the year 890, and were independent until the Nonoalca-Chichimecs subdued them in 1170. Around 1300 they freed themselves and formed two lordships, a lowland one to the east and a highland one to the west that included Huautla. The town itself is thought to have been founded by Mazatecs sometime between 1120 and 1375.

The name probably comes from the Nahuatl Cuauhtlan, "place of eagles" or "forest." The "de Jiménez" honors general Mariano Jiménez, who in 1864 became the first governor of Oaxaca to visit the region and granted Huautla the title of villa. It was declared a city in 1926.

In the mid-20th century the mushroom ceremonies of María Sabina (1894-1986) brought the town international attention. She was harshly criticized at the time for exposing Mazatec culture to outsiders, but is now a revered figure. Huautla joined the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2015.