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 ...
: "old place") is a rural
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in
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 ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
Geography
Huehuetla is located in northern Puebla on its border with
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
. The southern exclave of San Juan Ocelonacaxtla is separated from the rest of the municipality by Caxhuacan and Ixtepec. The main part of the municipality also borders
Olintla
Olintla is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla in south-eastern Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United St ...
and
Hueytlalpan
Hueytlalpan (municipality) is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla in south-eastern Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and bo ...
in the west and the Veracruzian municipalities of
Coxquihui
Coxquihui is a municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located in montane central zone of the state, about 95 km from Xalapa, the state capital. It has a surface of 86.37 km2. It is located at .
Geography
The municipality is delimit ...
and
Zozocolco de Hidalgo
Zozocolco de Hidalgo is a municipality located in northwest of the Mexican state of Veracruz, about from the state capital Xalapa. It has a surface area of and is located at .
Name
The name comes from the , which means "In the potter of cl ...
in the east. San Juan Ocelonacaxtla additionally borders the Pueblan municipalities of
Tuzamapan de Galeana
Tuzamapan de Galeana is a town and municipality in the state of Puebla in eastern Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United Sta ...
Sierra Norte de Puebla
The Sierra Norte de Puebla is a rugged mountainous region accounting for the northern third of the state of Puebla, Mexico. It is at the intersection of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra Madre Oriental, between the Mexican Plateau a ...
, Huehuetla's topography is quite rugged, with hills topping above sea level descending to river valleys less than above sea level. The municipality is located in the Tecolutla River basin. The main river in the municipality is the Tehuancate, which flows through it from west to east. The Tehuancate drains into the Zempoala River, which also forms the southeastern boundary of the Ocelonacaxtla exclave. Over half of the land in the municipality is used for agriculture, although the soils in the municipality are
leptosol
A Leptosol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a very shallow soil over continuous rock or a deeper soil that is extremely rich in coarse fragments (gravelly and/or stony). Leptosols cover approximately 1.7 billion hectares o ...
s and poorly suited for agriculture.
Huehuetla is located in a climatic transition zone between the temperate Sierra Norte and the hot
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
coast. Rain occurs throughout the year. Average temperatures range between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius and average annual precipitation is between 2900 and 3600 millimetres.
History
In
Pre-Hispanic
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European c ...
times, Huehuetla was inhabited by
Nahua
The Nahuas ( ) are a Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the Indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They comprise the largest Indigenous group in Mexico, as well as ...
and
Totonac
The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...
peoples. Spanish settlement of the area began in 1550: property titles were first given to settlers in 1574, in which the area was named San Salvador Huehuetla. Previously part of the district of
Zacatlán
Zacatlán (; Nahuatl: ) is a city and municipal seat of Zacatlán Municipality located in the Sierra Norte de Puebla region of Puebla in central Mexico. The area is known for its production of apples, other fruit, cider and fruit wines, which are ...
, Huehuetla was established as a free municipality in 1895.
Administration
The municipal government comprises one 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 countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
: ''síndico'') and eight trustees (''regidores''), six of whom are elected by
relative majority
A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast.
For ...
and two by
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
, headed by a president. The current president of the municipality is Ruben Vázquez Cabrera. San Juan Ocelonacaxtla elects an auxiliary board (''junta auxiliar'') whose functions are subject to the municipal authorities.
Demographics
In the 2010 Mexican Census, the municipality of Huehuetla recorded a population of 15,689 inhabitants living in 3361 households. It recorded a population of 18,803 inhabitants in the 2015 Intercensal Survey.
There are 14 localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also called Huehuetla, is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 1764 inhabitants in the 2010 Census. The Ozelonacaxtla exclave, located south of the municipal seat, recorded a population of 1326 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.
Culture
Huehuetla is located in the cultural region of
Totonacapan
Totonacapan refers to the historical extension where the Totonac people of Mexico dominated, as well as to a region in the modern states of Veracruz and Puebla. The historical territory was much larger than the currently named region, extending fr ...
. In the 2015 Intercensal Survey, 97.68% of people in the municipality identified themselves as
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...
. In the 2010 Census, 12,904 people or 82% of the population in Huehuetla reported speaking an indigenous language, of which 12,187 spoke
Totonac
The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...
. In the 2015 Intercensal Survey, 29.52% of the people reported speaking an indigenous language did not speak Spanish.
Sociolinguistic
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...
fieldwork done in Ozelonacaxtla indicates that Totonac language vitality in that community remains high. The Independent Totonac Organization (''Organización Independiente Totonaca'', OIT) is an indigenous social movement founded in 1989 that has played an influential role in promoting the revitalization of Totonac culture and advancing the interests of the Totonac people in the area.
Economy
The main economic activity in Huehuetla is agriculture: main crops include coffee and corn. The
gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...
of the municipality was unofficially estimated at 263.9 million
Mexican peso
The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...