Puente de Ixtla is a city in the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a separate en ...

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 Cue ...

. It stands at . The city serves as the

municipal seat A municipal seat or ''cabecera municipal'' is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a municipality or civil parish with other villes or towns subordinated. The term is used in Brazil, Colombia,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 small ...

''its'' (obsidian) and ''tla'' (abundance), meaning "Place where obsidian abounds".http://www.realmexico.info/2013/11/puente-de-ixtla.html (December 20, 2018)

History

Puente de Ixtla belonged to the seigniory of

Cuauhnahuac Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

and was thus tributary of the

Aztecs 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 ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

. Prehispanic ruins have been found near the Church of San Mateo Apostol. A stone bridge was constructed over the Rio Chalma and the village became a place of required passage for the caravans from

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Legend has it that members of the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

secretly buried a treasure in a cave near the '' ranchería'' (English: settlement) of Cacahuananche in 1767, the year the religious order was expelled from Nueva España. A strong earthquake on April 7, 1845, did considerable damage in Puente de Ixtla and may have been responsible for the flooding of the village of Tequesquitengo, Jojutla. With the creation of the Morelos in 1869, Puente de Ixtla was one of the already existing municipalities. July 12, 1871: annexation of the villages of Xoxocotla, Tehuixtla and of the hacienda of San Jose Vista Hermosa; later, Xoxocotla was attached to the municipality of Jojutla. The town Xoxocotla is scheduled to become an independent municipality on January 1, 2019.https://www.diariodemorelos.com/noticias/habr%C3%A1-partir-de-2019-4-municipios-ind%C3%ADgenas-en-morelos (December 20, 2018) Between 1913 and 1914 the population of Puente de Ixtla was evacuated because of the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

.http://www.inafed.gob.mx/work/enciclopedia/EMM17morelos/municipios/17017a.html (December 20, 2018) One of the marks of the revolution is missing in the belfry of the Church of ''San Mateo'', which was collapsed by a cannonball.https://www.balneariosenmorelos.com.mx/index.php?q=puente_de_ixtla (December 20, 2018) On Monday, April 26, 1920, President

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

, traveling from

Iguala Iguala (), known officially as Iguala de la Independencia, is a historic city located from the state capital of Chilpancingo, in the Mexican state of Guerrero in southwestern Mexico. Geography The city of Iguala stands on Federal Highway 95 ...

, met Francisco Cossio Robelo from Cuernavaca in Puente de Ixtla. This essentially ended the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

in the south of Mexico. The Puente Chalma over the Chalma River along the Cuernavaca-Iguala tollway collapsed on July 26, 2014. Two cars fell into the river and three people were injured. Morelos suffered significant damage in the September 7, 2017 earthquake, and seventy-four people were killed in the September 19 earthquake. 23,000 buildings were damaged in the state, including 293 homes destroyed and 816 damaged in Puente de Ixtla. Mario Ocampo Ocampo of ''Juntos Haremos Historia'' (Together we will make history coalition) was elected Presidente Municipal (mayor) in the election of July 1, 2018. When City Hall failed to pay MXN $1,3000,000 (US $66,540) to a disabled police officer in September

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, an administrative court judge (''Tribunal de Justicia Administrativa'') ordered the mayor, trustee, and councilors to all step down for three years. The state of Morelos reported 209 cases and 28 deaths due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Mexico in February 2020. Ho ...

as of April 27, 2020; four cases were reported in Puente de Ixtla. Schools and many businesses were closed from mid March until June 1. On June 2, Puente de Ixtla reported 74 confirmed cases and 13 deaths from the virus; the reopening of the state was pushed back until at least June 13. One hundred seventy-five cases were reported on December 27, 2020. On February 24 Puente de Ixtla became the second municipality (after

Temixco Temixco is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It stands at in the west-northwest part of the state. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The municipality rep ...

) in Morelos to vaccinate senior citizens (60+). The ''Brigada Nacional de Búsqueda'' (National Search Brigade), composed of relatives of missing persons, found human remains along the Cuernavaca-Iguala tollway in Puente de Ixtla in July 2020 while on its first excursion into Morelos. The municipality has been under the scourge of several violent gangs, and many people are afraid of reporting them to the police.

Points of Interest

*Puente de Mampostería 16th-century (Masonry bridge). The town gets its name from this bridge built to accommodate trade along the Acapulco-Mexico City route. *Clock tower of the church ''Purísima Concepción''. The church has a fiesta on December 8. *Church of ''San Mateo Ixtla''. There are archaeological ruins next to the church. The feast is September 21. *Church of

Xoxocotla, Morelos Xoxocotla () is a town located in the southern part of the state of Morelos, about 30 km south of the state capital Cuernavaca. The name comes from the Nahuatl language, ''Xoxo-oco-tlan'': “place where there are green pines". Formerly p ...

. The town is scheduled to become an independent municipality on January 1, 2019. *''Apotla'' waterpark in Xoxocotla. Swimming pool, water slide, waterfall, bat cave, campground, adventure activities, grills. *''Deportivo Casa de Campo'' sports center in Puente de Ixtla. Olympic pool, wading pool, campground; basketball & volleyball courts, soccer field. *''Los Amates'' waterpark next to ''Rio Tendeme'' in San Miguel Hidalgo, Puente de Ixtla. Pools, playground, hanging bridge, green areas, campground, cabins, fast football, volleyball & basketball courts. There is a 200-meter zip line and a small zoo that offers pony and dromedary rides.

Hacienda de San José Vista Hermosa

This 16th-century hacienda founded by

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

is now a luxury restaurant/hotel with 105 rooms. Established in the 16th century, the hacienda was sold by Pedro Cortés Ramírez de Arellano, grandson of the conqueror, in 1621, to Fray de Dios Guerrero. In the early 18th century, the hacienda was sold to ''Gabriel Yermo'' who in 1820 sold it to ''Manuel Vicente Vidal'', being owned by this family until 1910, when the

broke out.

Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...

took over the hacienda, burned alcohol, and distributed sugar among the peasants. The hacienda was restored and the hotel opened in 1945. Villagers and local authorities in Tequesquitengo, Jojutla claim that the village was flooded by the Mosso brothers, who – according to Alfonso Toussaint – owned the San José Vista Hermosa hacienda in the mid-19th century (Mentz, et al, Haciendas de Morelos, Instituto de Cultura de Morelos, National Council for Culture and the Arts, Mexico, 1997), forming Lake Tequesquitengo.

Sierra de Huautla

Established in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, the

Sierra de Huautla Biosphere Reserve The Sierra de Huautla is a mountain range and biosphere reserve in central Mexico. Located in southern Morelos, the Sierra de Huautla is a southern extension of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt range into the Balsas Basin. The dry forests of Sier ...

(REBIOSH) covers 59,031 hectares (145,869 acres) in the

Balsas River Basin The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Alt ...

of the municipalities of Puente de Ixtla,

Tlaquiltenango Tlaquiltenango is a city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It is south of Mexico city and southeast of Cuernavaca, the state capital via Mexican Federal Highway 95D. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with wh ...

, Amacuzac,

Tepalcingo Tepalcingo is a town in the Mexican state of Morelos. It at . The name Nahuatl root ''tekpa-tl'' (flint), ''tzintli'' (saves honor), ''tzinco'' (back of an individual), so in sum it means ''tekpatzinko'' "down or behind the flints". Tepalcingo li ...

, Jojutla. Its rough topology varies from 700 to 2,240 meters (2,297 to 7,349 feet) above sea level in the Balsas Basin and constitutes a rich reservoir of endemic species to Mexico. There is a broad range of ecosystem, including low deciduous forest, gallery vegetation, and pine and oak forests. 939 species of plants, 44 species of butterflies, 71 species of mammals, 208 species of birds, 53 species of reptiles, 18 species of amphibians, and 14 species of fish have been noted. Among the species of animals are

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

s, short-horned Baronia butterfly, beaded lizard,

military macaw The military macaw (''Ara militaris'') is a large parrot and a medium-sized macaw that gets its name from its predominantly green plumage resembling a military parade uniform. It is native to forests of Mexico and South America and though conside ...

, roufus-backed robin, Balsas screech owl, Pileated flycatcher, mountain lion,

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwe ...

margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wild ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the ...

, and

jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi'') is a wild cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central and South America east of the Andes. The jaguarundi is a medium-size ...

References

External links