Rincón Chamula San Pedro is a

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 the Mexican

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

, located approximately north of the state capital of

Tuxtla Gutiérrez Tuxtla Gutiérrez, or Tuxtla, (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Mexico, Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, which is the most developed and populous in the state. A busy govern ...

. Unlike the

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

population of the surrounding towns, its population is mostly indigenous

Tzotzil The Tzotzil are an Indigenous Maya people of the central highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. As cited by Alfredo López Austin (1997), p. 133, 148 and following. As of 2000, they numbered about 298,000. The municipalities with the largest Tzotzil pop ...

Geography

The municipality of Rincón Chamula San Pedro is located in the Northern Mountains of Chiapas. It borders the municipalities of Ixhuatán to the north, Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacán to the east, Jitotol to the south, Rayón to the southwest, and

Tapilula Tapilula is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern 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 ...

to the northwest. The municipality covers an area of . The terrain of Rincón Chamula San Pedro is mountainous, ranging from in elevation. The forests that used to cover the entirety of the municipality have been replaced to a significant extent by farmland and rangeland. The climate ranges from temperate to tropical depending on the elevation, with rain falling year-round.

History

In the 17th century, the community of Rincón Chamula San Pedro was founded by Tzotzil who had been expelled from

San Juan Chamula San Juan Chamula is a municipality and township in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is situated some from San Cristóbal de las Casas. As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 76,941. Virtually the entire population of the munici ...

for religious reasons. It was attached to Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacán when that municipality was established in 1922. On 18 August 2017, the

Congress of Chiapas The Congress of the State of Chiapas () is the legislative branch of the government of the State of Chiapas. It was constituted for the first time after the state's accession to Mexico on 5 January 1825. The Congress is the governmental deliber ...

approved the separation of Rincón Chamula San Pedro and its neighbouring communities to create a new municipality. The decree establishing Rincón Chamula San Pedro and

Capitán Luis Ángel Vidal Capitán Luis Ángel Vidal is a municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located approximately southeast of the state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Its inhabitants are of Guatemalan origin and speak the Mam language. Geography The municipal ...

as new municipalities was gazetted on 6 September 2017.

Administration

In 2018, Rincón Chamula San Pedro elected its first municipal president, Reynaldo Girón Bautista.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the localities that now comprise the municipality of Rincón Chamula San Pedro recorded a total population of 7244 inhabitants, 5968 or 82% of which reported speaking an indigenous language,

being the main one spoken. Of the population that spoke an indigenous language, 58% also spoke Spanish. There are nine localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat named Rincón Chamula is designated as urban. It recorded a population of 5592 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.

Economy

Agriculture and animal husbandry are the major economic activities in Rincón Chamula San Pedro. The main crops grown are corn, beans, potatoes, and onions. At lower elevations, beef cattle and pigs are raised.

References

{{Chiapas, state=collapsed Municipalities of Chiapas 2017 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 2017