The Yokot'an inhabit 21 towns in a large area known as "la Chontalpa" that extends across five municipalities of Tabasco: Centla, El Centro, Jonuta, Macuspana, and Nacajuca.
They had already begun to decline by the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, and are mentioned in the narratives of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Hernán Cortés.
The next year, Cortés's expedition reached Tabasco, and he met with Tabscoob and other chiefs, who supplied him the translator who later became known as Doña Marina or La Malinche.
According to Díaz, "Before we left, Cortés won the chiefs by his many kind words, telling them how our master, the Emperor, had many grand lords who gave him obedience and that they should also obey him ; that whatever they might need we would give them.
All the chiefs thanked him very much and declared themselves vassals of our great emperor, the first in New Spain to give obedience to His Majesty.In 1614, the first church was built in Nacajuca, then considered the center of the Yokot'an world.
Nacajuca was the only urban center to survive the colonial period, partly due to the introduction of animal husbandry, which limited the range of cultivation.
In the past, the manufacture of oyster-shell lime for mortar was an important economic activity, but the availability of mass-produced building materials has reduced demand to the point where its production is no longer profitable.
The "libre" ("free") fishermen use very simple "hoop and basket" technology and work in small groups led by an elected "boss".
The most important feasts are of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Immaculate Conception (December 8), and the Archangel Michael (September 29).
During the 1980s, the Catholic Church sought to decrease the influence of Protestant missionaries, who had established themselves in the region as stalwarts against alcoholism and la costumbre, or traditional Maya religious practices.
They gave Catholic studies of the Gospel, discouraged the making of ofrendas (dedications to saints upon the building or purchase of a new house).
This strong Catholic stance against la costumbre prompted a general withdrawal of the people from service to the Church and the decentralization of feast day celebration.
There is also a major alcoholism problem caused by difficulty adapting to mainstream Mexican society and the comparative wealth experienced by recent arrivals to the cities.