San Pablo Huitzo (commonly referred to as Huitzo) 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-western

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 ...

. The municipality covers an area of 63.80 km². It is part of the Etla District in the Valles Centrales region. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 5,242.

History

The area comprising Huitzo was inhabited as early as 1200

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. By 1400 AD a Zapotec village existed that was known by the name of ''Huijazoo'', a word that means ''Warrior Watchtower'' in the

Zapotec language The Zapotec languages are a group of around 50 closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages that constitute a main branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and which is spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highland ...

. In 1522 Spanish troops arrived and founded the current city, giving it the name ''Gueixolotitlan''. However, by 1700 the name ''Huitzo'' had been adopted by the populace. When the first

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

monks arrived to

evangelize In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in ...

the local population, they selected St. Paul the Apostle ''(San Pablo, in Spanish)'' as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the village and erected a church by the same name. The church is notable for a large number of 16th-century and other colonial-era ''santos'', statues of the saints.Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches: San Pablo Huitzo
Retrieved 2012-04-13 It was through the influence of the Catholic Church that the town arrived at its present name San Pablo Huitzo.

Modern day

Today Huitzo is a farming community noted for growing vegetables and flowers, with almost half of its population employed by farms or other agriculture-related ventures. Archaeological sites in the area consist of several tombs, walls, and similar Zapotec structures. Most of the sites are overgrown with vegetation, however they do attract some tourists and

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

References

Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

{{Authority control Municipalities of Oaxaca Zapotec sites Populated places established in 1522 1522 establishments in New Spain