The Huave are an indigenous people of Mexico. The autodenomination term used by the Huave themselves is Ikoots/Kunajts (the first person inclusive pronoun, thus meaning 'Us'), or Mareños (meaning 'Sea People in Spanish).[1] They have inhabited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for more than 3000 years, preceding the Zapotec people in settling the area. Today they inhabit several villages (most notably San Mateo del Mar, in the Tehuantepec District, and Santa María del Mar, San Dionisio and San Francisco del Mar, in the Juchitán District) on the sandspits of the Pacific Ocean and trade marine products with inland neighbors. According to the 2000 census, 13,687 people declared themselves to be Huave speakers, however, many non-speakers still identify as Huaves/Mareños. Their language is called Huave, or ombeayiüts/umbeyajts, depending on the dialect.
The Huave, also spelled Huavi, or Wabi, Mesoamerican Indian peasants of the Pacific coast of the Valley of Oaxaca. The exact relationship of the Huave language to other Mesoamerican languages is a matter of scholarly dispute. Fishing and agriculture are the main subsistence activities, but the Huave also depends on markets in nearby towns to meet their needs for staple foods and manufactured goods. Patrilocal family units occupy thatched-roof huts that make up compact villages. All male members of the community enter at the escalafón, a system of civil and religious office holding.