The Otomi (/ˌoʊtəˈmiː/; Spanish: Otomí [otoˈmi]) are an Indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region.

Otomi is a term of Nahuatl origin that derives from otómitl,[8] a word that in the language of the ancient Mexica means "one who walks with arrows",[9] although authors such as Wigberto Jimenez Moreno have translated it as "bird arrowman".

[10] Like most sedentary Mesoamerican peoples, the Otomi traditionally subsisted on maize, beans and squash, but the maguey (century plant) was also an important cultigen used for production of alcohol (pulque) and fiber (henequen).

Maguey (century plant) is used to produce weaving fibers and “pulque”, a fermented unfiltered juice that played an important part in the Otomi's economy and nutrition.

Among the latter are the Otomi, settled in the Mexican Neovolcanic Axis along with the rest of the peoples that form part of the same Otomanguean branch: Mazahuas, Matlatzincas, Tlahuicas, Chichimecas.

[13] The Otomi currently occupy a fragmented territory that extends through the states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Tlaxcala, Puebla and Veracruz.

The areas with the highest concentrations of Otomi population are the Mezquital Valley, the Eastern Highlands, the Semi-desert at Peña de Bernal, Querétaro and the north of the state of Mexico.

Isolated from these large groups that concentrate around 80% of the total number of members of this indigenous people are the Otomi of Zitácuaro (Michoacán), those of Tierra Blanca (Guanajuato) and those that still remain in Ixtenco (Tlaxcala).

Many centuries ago, great cities such as Cuicuilco, Teotihuacan and Tula flourished in the territory occupied by the Otomi at the arrival of the Spaniards.

Even in the Aztec Triple Alliance that dominated, the so-called "Mexica Empire", Tlacopan inherited the domains of Azcapotzalco, with a majority Otomi population.

[14] Only in recent years has interest begun to appear in the role played by these people in the development of the cultures living in the Neovolcanic Axis, from the pre-colonial to the conquest.

The diversification of the languages and their geographic expansion from the valley of Tehuacán (currently in the state of Puebla)[15] must have occurred after the domestication of the Mesoamerican agricultural, composed of maize, beans and chili.

After the development of emerging agriculture, the proto-Otomanguean legion gave rise to two distinct languages that constitute the antecedents of the present-day eastern and western groups of the Otomi family.

Changes in political networks at the Mesoamerican level, disputes between small rival states and population movements resulting from prolonged droughts in northern Mesoamerica facilitated the arrival of new settlers in central Mexico.

This city constructed a large part of the population of the Mezquital Valley, although many of them continued to live to the south and east, in the state of Mexico and the Eastern Highlands.

Subsequently, when Spanish legislation was modified, the so-called Indian republics appeared, systems of political organization that allowed a certain autonomy of the Otomi communities with respect to the Hispanic-mestizo populations.

[21] Some Otomi families were forced to accompany the Spaniards in the conquest of the northern territories of Mesoamerica, occupied by the warlike Arido-American peoples.

For example, in San Luis Potosí, a total of 35 Otomi families were forcibly taken to occupy the periphery of the city and defend it from attacks by the nomadic people of the region in 1711.

[17] Around 1940–1950, government agencies had promised to assist the indigenous people by helping them gain access to better education and economic advancements but failed to do so.

[18] Since gaining independence, the Mexican government has adopted an adoring attitude towards the pre-Hispanic history and works of the Aztecs and Mayans; meanwhile, it has disregarded the living indigenous people, such as the Otomi who are depicted without the same prestige.

In certain parts of Mexico, such as Guanajuato and Hidalgo, prayer songs in Otomi are heard and elders share tales the youth who understand their native language.

According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (CDI), only 50.6% of the Otomi population speaks the native language of this group.

To some extent, this reduction of Otomi speakers is due to migration from their communities of origin and the urbanization of their ethnic territory, which imposes on them the need to coexist with an exclusively Spanish-speaking population for the most part.

The Castilianization of indigenous people in Mexico has long been understood as a subtractive process, that is, one that implies the renunciation of the use of the mother tongue in order to obtain linguistic competence in the Spanish language.