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Nahuas
 Flag of the Nahua people | |
 Nahua children in traditional clothes | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,694,189+ | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mexico Oaxaca, Morelos, Puebla, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Veracruz, Jalisco, Estado de México, Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Chihuahua, Durango, San Luis Potosi and Guerrero El Salvador Rivas, Chinandega, Managua, Nueva Segovia, Masaya, Matagalpa, Jinotega | |
| Languages | |
| Nahuatl, Nawat and Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Predominantly Roman Catholic with pre-Colombian influence), Aztec religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Pipil, Nicarao, Mexicaneros, Indigenous people of the Americas and Mestizo, Mexica, Tlaxcallans |
The Nahuas (/ˈnɑːwɑːz/ NAH-wahz[1]) are a Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.[2][3][4][5][6][7] They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico,[8][9] as well as the largest population out of any North American Indigenous people group who are native speakers of their respective indigenous language. Amongst the Nahua, this is Nahuatl. When ranked amongst all Indigenous languages across the Americas, Nahuas list third after speakers of Guaraní and Quechua.[10]
The Mexica (Aztecs) are of Nahua ethnicity, as are their historical enemies and allies of the Spaniards: the Tlaxcallans (Tlaxcaltecs). The Toltecs which predated both groups are often thought to have been Nahua as well. However, in the pre-Columbian period Nahuas were subdivided into many groups that did not necessarily share a common identity.
Their Nahuan languages, or Nahuatl, consist of many variants, several of which are mutually unintelligible. About 1.5 million Nahuas speak Nahuatl and another million speak only Spanish. Fewer than 1,000 native speakers of Nahuatl remain in El Salvador.[11]
It is suggested that the Nahua peoples originated near Aridoamerica, in regions of the present day Mexican states of Durango and Nayarit or the Bajío region. They split off from the other Uto-Aztecan speaking peoples and migrated into central Mexico around 500 CE. The Nahua then settled in and around the Basin of Mexico and spread out to become the dominant people in central Mexico. However, Nahuatl-speaking populations were present in smaller populations throughout Mesoamerica.
- ^ "Nahua". Dictionary.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Pueblos Indígenas de Honduras | Territorio Indígena y Gobernanza". Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ "9. Nahoas | Territorio Indígena y Gobernanza". Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
- ^ "Nicarao".
- ^ "2 Ways Nahuatl Helped Shape Nicaraguan Spanish".
- ^ "Do you know the origin of the word Guanacaste". 25 July 2018.
- ^ "Guanacaste is a practically autonomous ethnolinguistic area and different from the rest of the country". 22 July 2020.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - El Salvador". Refworld. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "Nahua Peoples | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Ethnologue (2021)
- ^ "Did you know Pipil is critically endangered?". Endangered Languages. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
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