The Otomi People

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

The Otomi people are believed to have inhabited central Mexico starting in the 5^th millennium B.C. and may have been the first to colonize the area, predating the Aztecs and the Toltecs. They were skilled farmers, domesticating maize, beans and other crops, and they developed complex societies.

They lived in prosperity but were poorly treated by their neighbors, making it difficult to disseminate their contributions to great cities such as the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacan (near Mexico City). When the city was destroyed by fire in the 6th century AD, Otomi life began to change. 

With the disappearance of Teotihuacan and the people who built it, large numbers of Nahuatl-speaking people started to enter the region of the Otomi, among these the Nahua, ancestors of the Toltecs and through them, the Aztecs. Otomi independence came to an end, but they were absorbed rather than wiped out and became subjects of the mighty Aztec empire.

Pyramid of the Sun and
the road of death in
Teotihuacan, Mexico

Otomi life changed again when the Spaniards arrived. The Otomi initially treated the Spaniards as their saviors and sought alliances to help defeat the Aztecs, helping the Spaniards as they moved against other indigenous peoples. However, the Otomi soon found they had replaced one overlord with another. The Spaniards started to apply force against them and by the beginning of the 18th century had begun to subjugate and virtually enslave all indigenous people. Many of the Otomi community fled this system of servitude, and relocated to more desolate, desert areas.

Today the Otomi people primarily reside in the central Mexican plateau, with significant populations surrounding Mexico City.

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In my upcoming book, The Falcon, the hero and heroine come in contact with an isolated Otomi settlement in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains.

The Falcon by Kristy McCaffrey
Wings of the West: Book 12

Coming July 3, 2026

Mexico

December 1899 

Josie Ryan’s connection to Texas runs deep, from the land to an almost preternatural kinship with the animals in the wild. This bond has led her to the edge of life and death, from saving a boy caught in a fire when she was eleven years old to being struck by lightning to a mountain lion attack that almost ended her life. The discovery of an abandoned falcon chick leads to a fierce attachment, but with only intuition to guide her, Josie struggles to train the wildest creature she’s ever encountered. When she learns of a man who could help, she’s determined to gain an introduction. 

Mateo Almirón, El Halconero—The Falconer—and Argentine gaucho, is tasked with delivering two prized purebred Criollo mares to Matt Ryan, a man whose reputation casts a long shadow. Years ago, Ryan saved the life of Mateo’s father, and the horses will settle the longstanding debt, but when the exchange goes wrong, Mateo is entrusted with protecting Ryan’s daughter, Josie. Now Mateo and Josie must hide in the mountains of Northern Mexico where stories abound of Josie’s mother, a woman who lived among the Comanche and rose from the dead. 

But in a place alive with superstition, Josie and her untamed falcon will give rise to a new legend …

Josie is the youngest child of Matt and Molly from THE WREN.

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Available for pre-order from Amazon, Nook, and Apple Books.

(It will also be available at Kobo, Google Play Books, and in paperback on release day.)

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