Coatzacoalcos lies within the Olmec heartland. Excavations in 2008 for a tunnel underneath the Coatzacoalcos River indicate a substantial pre-Hispanic population.[3] By the time of the Spanish arrival the area was under Mayan influence. In 1522, Hernán Cortés ordered Gonzalo de Sandoval to fund a settlement near Guazacualco. Sandoval named it Villa del Espíritu Santo.[4]