Totonac

The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city which they claim to have built). Until the mid-19th century they were the world's main producers of vanilla. The Totonac people cultivated vanilla in Papantla, but faced competition when the French island of Réunion entered the market. This group of people also encountered conflicts over land ownership during the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as the privatization of communal land in Papantla became more of a concern to local elites.