Motul is a small city in

Motul Municipality Motul Municipality (in the Yucatec Maya language: 'place of no overflowing') is one of the 106 municipalities in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It contains of land and is roughly east of the city of Mérida. History The founder of Motul was a ...

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 Yucatán, located some east of Mérida. The city serves as the municipal seat. In the census of 2005 the population of the town of Motul was 21,508 people, while the municipality had a population of 31,547, living on an area of 297.63 km² (114.92 sq mi).

History

Motul was a site of the

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, archit ...

, said to have been founded in the 11th century by a priest named Zac Mutul. The city was ruled by the Pech family. After the fall of Yucatán's central government in

Mayapan Mayapan (Màayapáan in Modern Maya; in Spanish Mayapán) is a Pre-Columbian Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west of ...

in the 1440s, the Pech ruled a regional kingdom called Cehpech with its capital in Motul. With the Spanish conquest of Yucatán,

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

Francisco de Montejo made Motul a Spanish colonial town. Motul has a Spanish colonial era

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

with interesting

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s. Motul was granted the status of a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

on 22 February 1872. Motul was the birthplace of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a former Governor of Yucatán who was assassinated in 1924. In his honor, the formal name of the city of Motul was changed to Motul de Carrillo Puerto. Motul is known as the place of origin of the popular dish ''

huevos motuleños ''Huevos motuleños'' () is a breakfast food which originated in the town of Motul (Yucatán). The dish is made with eggs on tortillas with black beans and cheese, often with other ingredients such as ham, peas, plantains, and hot sauce. In ad ...

'' (eggs Motul style).

References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Yucatán
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Motul, Yucatan Populated places in Yucatán Populated places established in the 11th century 11th-century establishments in Mexico