This chapter talks about the history of the indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast. It focuses on the modern-day geographical territory of Veracruz. The jurisdiction of Misantla seems to be the most extensive area of Totonac speech. The Gulf Coast populations were devastated by the Spanish presence, a combination of disease, Spanish atrocities, and enslavement and deportation to the Antilles, although the impact was by no means homogeneous throughout the region. The process of evangelization in the Gulf Coast region and indigenous responses to Catholicism during the colonial period is poorly studied. The eighteenth century witnessed considerable economic growth in Mexico, a characteristic of which was the incorporation of peripheral regions into a wider market economy, and an increase in the power of the colonial state. Such growth resulted in increased conflict between Spanish and indigenous communities, and the Gulf Coast is no exception, although the conflict was confined to particular zones.