Huaniqueo 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 approximately northwest 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 Huaniqueo 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 northern Michoacán at an elevation between . It borders the municipalities of

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

to the north, Chucándiro to the east, Morelia to the south, Coeneo to the southwest, and Jiménez to the northwest. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.3% of the state's area. As of 2009, the land cover in Huaniqueo consists of tropical forest (23%), temperate forest (21%), and grassland (17%). Another 36% of the land is used for agriculture and 1% consists of urban areas. Huaniqueo is drained by seasonal streams: about 94% of the municipality is in the basin of the Ángulo River, a tributary of 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 ...

, while the easternmost 6% is in the basin of

Lake Cuitzeo Lake Cuitzeo () is a lake in the central part of Mexico, in the state of Michoacán. It has an area of . The lake is astatic, meaning the volume and level of water in the lake fluctuates frequently. It is the second-largest freshwater lake in Mexic ...

. Huaniqueo has a temperate climate with rain in the summer. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .

History

In the

Purépecha language Purépecha (also ''P'urhépecha'' , tsz, Phorhé or ''Phorhépecha''), often called Tarascan, which is a pejorative term coined by Spanish colonizers ( es, Tarasco), is a language isolate or small language family that is spoken by some 140,000 ...

, Huaniqueo has been translated to mean either "place where corn is roasted" or "place of those who give or bring a sign". It is believed that the first settlement was of

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 ...

origin and was conquered by the

Tarascans Tarascan or Tarasca is an exonym and the popular name for the Purépecha culture. It may refer to: * the Tarascan State, a Mesoamerican empire until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, located in (present-day) west-central Mexico * the Purépecha p ...

by 1450. After the arrival of the Spanish, the place was given the name Santa Marta Huaniqueo after its patron saint. Huaniqueo was made a ''partido'' of Michoacán in 1825 and one of its original municipalities in 1831. On 23 April 1861, , governor of Michoacán, renamed the municipal seat Huaniqueo de Morales in honour of the parish priest Juan José Pastor Morales, a supporter of the struggle for Mexican independence.

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 María Trinidad Vázquez Herrera.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the municipality of Huaniqueo recorded a population of 7983 inhabitants living in 2369 households. The 2015 Intercensal Survey estimated a population of 8093 inhabitants in Huaniqueo. There are 27 localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat Huaniqueo de Morales is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 2566 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.

Economy

The main economic activity in Huaniqueo is agriculture. The municipality is responsible for 15% of Mexico's total

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

production, behind only Coeneo which accounts for 57%. There is low-level production of other crops and livestock for local consumption.

References

{{Michoacán, state=collapsed Municipalities of Michoacán 1825 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1825