San Pedro Tapanatepec 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 southeastern

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 ...

. It is part of the

Juchitán District Juchitán District is located in the east of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, covering the southern part of a low-lying corridor through the mountains that separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific ocean. The dis ...

in the west of the

Istmo de Tehuantepec Istmo de Tehuantepec is the largest region of the state of Oaxaca, located in southwestern Mexico. Geography It covers the southern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the shortest route between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean before t ...

region. The town was founded on 23 April 1669, and became a municipality on March 15, 1825. The name means "broken hill". Before the arrival of the Spanish, the town was inhabited by

Zoque people The Zoque are an indigenous people of Mexico. They speak variants of the Zoque languages. This group consists of 41,609 people, according to the 2000 census. They live mainly in the northerly sector of Chiapas state, principally in the ''municipios ...

, and may have been part of the Xoconochco province of the Zapotec kingdom of

Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period ...

. The municipality covers an area of 544.78 km². The town is at an elevation of 40 meters above sea level. There is one river, the Novillero, which rises at El Potrerito in the Sierra Madre. The climate is warm, sub-humid with summer rains. Flora include mesquite, mango, sapodilla, lemon, tepezcohuite, pochote, low scrub and grassland. Wild fauna include wild boar, rabbit, coyote, deer, armadillo and iguana. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 13,647 of whom 609 spoke an indigenous language. Economic activity included growing corn, sorghum, sesame, watermelon, melon, mango and lemon, and raising cattle, goats, sheep, horses and poultry. Dairy farming is important in the community. The town also has facilities for canning fruit.

References

{{Juchitán District Municipalities of Oaxaca