Contepec is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

, located east of the state capital of

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

Geography

The municipality of Contepec is located in the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

in northeast Michoacán at an altitude between . It borders the Michoacano municipalities of Epitacio Huerta to the northwest,

Maravatío Maravatío is a municipality in the Mexican state of Michoacán, representing 1.17% of its land area, or 691.55 km2. Etymology The modern word Maravatío comes from the Purépecha word Marhabatio, meaning a precious place or thing. Hist ...

to the west, and

Tlalpujahua Tlalpujahua (; formally Tlalpujahua de Rayón) is a town and municipality located in the far northeast of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is a former mining town, home of the Dos Estrellas Mine, which was the leading producer of gold ...

to the southwest, as well as the municipalities of

Amealco de Bonfil Amealco is a town in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name is thought to mean ''place of springs'' in Nahuatl. The municipality seat, also called Amealco, is located 63 km southeast of Santiago de Querétaro. Its elevation is 2,605 meters ...

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

to the northeast, and

Temascalcingo Temascalcingo is one of 125 municipalities in the State of Mexico, Mexico. The municipal seat is the town of Temascalcingo de José María Velasco. It is located in the northeast of the state. The temazcal was very common in Temascalcingo. The n ...

and El Oro de Hidalgo of the

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

to the east and southeast. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.6% of the state's area. Farmland covers 64% of Contepec. The mountains on the municipality's eastern border with Temascalcingo are protected as the Altamirano unit of the

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca) is a World Heritage Site containing most of the over-wintering sites of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly. The reserve is located in the Tran ...

, a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Tepuxtepec Dam is located on the

Lerma River The Lerma River ( es, Río Lerma) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near ...

which flows through the northern and western part of Contepec. Built from 1926 to 1950, the dam and its reservoir are used for hydroelectricity generation, flood control and irrigation. Contepec's climate is temperate with rain in the summer. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .

History

The place name Contepec derives from

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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

''comitl'', pot, and ''tepetl'', "hill". In pre-Hispanic times the area was inhabited by

Guamare The Guamare people were an indigenous people of Mexico, who were established mostly in Guanajuato and at the border of Jalisco. They were part of the Chichimecas, a group of a nomadic hunter-gatherer culture and called themselves Children of the Wi ...

and Pame indigenous peoples: epidemics caused their extinction in the area by the end of the 16th century. The area was repopulated in the 17th century by

Otomi The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

and Mazahua settlers. In the first half of the 19th century Contepec was part of the municipality of

Coroneo Coroneo is a Mexican city and municipality located in the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 122.90 square kilometres (0.40% of the surface of the state) and is bordered to the north and the east by the state of Querétaro, to t ...

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

. In 1857 it was separated from Guanajuato and incorporated as a municipality in Michoacán. Between 1935 and 1938 the municipal seat was located at Tepuxtepec. In 1962 the municipality of Epitacio Huerta was separated from Contepec.

Administration

The municipal government comprises a president, a councillor (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''síndico''), and seven trustees (''regidores''), four elected by

relative majority A plurality vote (in American English) or relative majority (in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all vote ...

and three by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. The current president of the municipality is Ruben Rodríguez Jiménez.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the municipality of Contepec recorded a population of 32,954 inhabitants living in 7723 households. The 2015 Intercensal Survey estimated a population of 34,193 inhabitants in Contepec. There are 74 localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also known as Contepec, is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 4184 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.

Economy

The main economic activities in Contepec are agriculture and livestock farming.

References

{{Michoacán, state=collapsed Municipalities of Michoacán 1857 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1857