Acatlán de Osorio is a city in the
Mexican state
A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...
of
Puebla
Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
. The shortened name Acatlán, is commonly used to refer to the municipality of which it is the seat, and to the city itself. It is at an elevation of 1,213 m (3,981 ft). In the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,341.
Name
The name "Acatlán" comes from a combination of two
Nahuatl
Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
words: ''acatl'', for "cane" or "reed", and ''tlan'', for "together" or "close". The name ''Osorio'' was in honor of Don Joaquín Osorio.
History
The Mixtecs who ruled this area prior to the Spanish incursion called it Yucuyuxi. Acatlán was the capital of a state that was tributary to the
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...
.
[Peter Gerhard, ''A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972) p. 42] In
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
, Acatlán was the seat of the
alcaldía mayor
An ''alcaldía mayor'' was a civil division of the government of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity ...
Acatlán y Piastla.
The modern city of Acatlán was founded on January 6, 1712, and built on the ruins of a town destroyed by an earthquake in 1711. It attained city status on April 3, 1883.
Notes
Sources
*Sánchez Rubio, Miguel Ángel
La Mejor Pagina Web de ciudad de AcatlanArchived
October 24, 2009) (Retrieved September 19, 2006).
Populated places in Puebla
Populated places established in 1712
{{Puebla-geo-stub