Apa y Tepeapulco was a Spanish
corregimiento
''Corregimiento'' (; ca, Corregiment, ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purposes, ensuring districts were under crown control as opposed to local elites. A ''corregimiento'' was usually headed by a '' corr ...
during the colonial period in
new Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
(what is today
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
). It was located in south-eastern
Hidalgo
Hidalgo may refer to:
People
* Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility
* Hidalgo (surname)
Places
Mexico
* Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico
* Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila
* Hidalgo, Nuevo Le ...
consisting of the modern municipalities of
Almoloya,
Tepeapulco
Tepeapulco is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central Mexico.The municipality covers an area of 239 km².
As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 49,850.
During the Spanish colonial period it was part o ...
and at least some of
Tlanalapa.
The region was a frontier province of the
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...
.
Tepepolco was also part of this province, and it was a point of resistance to
Tlaxcallan
Tlaxcala ( 'place of maize tortillas') was a pre-Columbian city and state in central Mexico.
During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Tlaxcala allied with the Spanish Empire against the Aztecs, supplying a large contingent for and somet ...
invasions. It may have had a connection with
Huehue-ichocayan.
In 1527 the Franciscans established a parish at Tepeapulco.
The population was primarily Nahuatl and Otomi speaking prior to the Spanish incursion. By 1521 the Spanish power had been asserted over this area. It was made its own corrigimento in 1531. For a brief time around 1545 Tlanalapa was a separate unit but was reunited with Apa y Tepeapulco shortly later.
In 1787 when the government of New Spain was reorganized Apa y Tepeapulco was made a
subdelegacion retaining its old boundaries.
In 1792 the population consisted of 1,295 Spaniard (both peninsulares and creoles), 651 mestizos, 1,059 mulattos and at least 5,000 indios.
Sources
*Gerhard, Peter. ''Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
1531 establishments in New Spain
History of Mexico