Soconusco in the context of "Suchiate River"

Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (c. 1466 – 29 June 1520), retroactively referred to in European sources as Moctezuma II, and often simply called Montezuma, was the ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire (also known as the Mexica Empire), reigning from 1502 or 1503 to 1520. Through his marriage with Queen Tlapalizquixochtzin of Ecatepec, one of his two wives, he was also the king consort of the altepetl.

The first contact between the indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign. He was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire when Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador, and his men seized the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. During his reign, the Aztec Empire reached its greatest size. Through warfare, Moctezuma expanded the territory as far south as Xoconosco in Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and incorporated the Zapotec and Yopi people into the empire. He changed the previous meritocratic system of social hierarchy and widened the divide between pipiltin (nobles) and macehualtin (commoners) by prohibiting commoners from working in the royal palaces.

Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez, simply known as Tapachula, is a city and municipality located in the far southeast of the state of Chiapas, Mexico, near the Guatemalan border and the Pacific Ocean. Economically, it is one of the most important cities in Chiapas; as capital of the agriculturally-rich Soconusco region, Tapachula also serves as a key port for trade between Mexico and Central America. The area was originally inhabited by the Mam, as a region under the control of the Mam state of Xelaju, but was first established as a city by the Aztecs in the 13th century. Most of its economic importance has come since the late 19th century, with the establishment of coffee plantations. This practice initiated a steady stream of migration and immigration into the area, which continues to this day, and has left the city with a significant Asian and German cultural presence. There is a large Mayan and Nahua population.

The Mam are an Indigenous Maya people in the western highlands of Guatemala and in south-western Mexico who speak the Mam language.

Most Mam (617,171) live in Guatemala, in the departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Quetzaltenango. The Mam people in Mexico (23,632) live principally in the Soconusco region of Chiapas.