Nahua of the State of Mexico - Orientation

Identification. Most of the communities in the state of Mexico in which Nahuatl is still spoken are located in three areas within the neovolcanic axis: on the western slope of the Sierra de Tlaloc to the northeast of the basin of the Valley of Mexico, on the western slopes of the volcanoes Iztaccihuatl and Popocatépetl to the southeast of the Valley of Mexico, and on the spurs of Montes de Ocuilan in the western part of the Valley of Toluca. Thus, these Nahua live in high mountain valleys and on slopes, where conifers are the most common type of vegetation. Although no municipios in the state of Mexico are registered as more than 30 percent Nahua speaking, in 1990 the total population of Nahua speakers stood at 26,927, or S.6 percent of the Indian population of the state.