Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz is a town and

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 ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

in south-eastern

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 ...

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 467.4 km², and is situated at an average elevation of 1,600 meters. Miahuatlan 2010

Miahuatlán is part of the

Miahuatlán District Miahuatlán District is located in the south of the Sierra Sur Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Municipalities The district includes the following municipalities: *Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz *Monjas * San Andrés Paxtlán * San Crist� ...

in the south of the Sierra Sur Region.

Demography

As of 2005, the municipality had 6,708 households with a total population of 32,185, of whom 2,517 spoke an indigenous language.

Etymology

The name comes from the

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 ...

Miahuatlán: Miahua (ear of corn) and tlan (place or area). During the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

period the town was known as Miahuapan Miahuatlán, "Canal of the Corn Tassel".

Education

The city has 16 kindergartens, 12 primary schools, a technical high school, a general secondary school, and a regional university, Universidad de la Sierra Sur.

Infrastructure and media

It has a radio station, a television station, telephone service, telegraph and a post office.

History

The

Battle of Miahuatlán The Battle of Miahuatlán took place on 3 October 1866 in the vicinity of the current municipality of Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was fought between elements of the Mexican republican army under General Porfir ...

took place near the town on 3 October 1866, an important military action in which the Mexican republican troops defeated a larger force of troops of the

Second Mexican Empire The Second Mexican Empire (), officially the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists in conjunction with the Second French Empire. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second French i ...

. The battle is celebrated in an annual holiday on the date it took place. In March 1886, an area near Miahuatlán received of snow.Untitled article
. ''The Galveston Daily News''. 24 March 1886. p. 3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz Municipalities of Oaxaca