The area known as Tamaulipas has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years. Several different cultures (north coastal, south coastal, lowlands, and mountains) have come and gone during that period.



Written story begins for the state of Tamaulipas as Americo Vespucio, in one of the letters he sent to Lorenzo de Me Medici, referred to this territory as the lands of Lariab, native word meaning lord or lords, which probably implies that it was how the local inhabitants, known as the Hustecas, called the newly arrived visitors, which in turn believed the term was referring to the land.

Tamaulipas was originally populated by the Olmec people and later by Chichimec and Huastec tribes.

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Between 1445 and 1466, Mexica (or Aztec) armies commanded by Moctezuma I Ilhuicamina conquered much of the territory and transformed it into a tributary region for the Mexica empire. However, the Aztecs never fully conquered certain mostly nomadic indigenous groups in the area.