Santo Domingo Petapa 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 ...

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 232.2 km², at an average altitude of 250 meters above sea level, and 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 ...

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 climate is hot and humid with summer rains.

Flora and fauna

Flora include mahogany, cedar, oak, pine, pine, and Nopo guanacaste, deer, pochote, chiviveta, beo, mamey, taro and cassava. Wild fauna include boar, badger, raccoon, armadillo, squirrel, wild cat and rabbit.

Demography

As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 7,583 of whom 2,696 spoke indigenous languages. A painting on cotton cloth from 1540 depicts the town and its neighbor

Guevea de Humboldt Guevea de Humboldt is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It in the north of the Tehuantepec District, which is in the west of the Istmo Region. History The name Guevea comes from the variant of the Zapotec language of t ...

. The picture records the history of the people from the time of their migration from

Zaachila Zaachila (the Zapotec name; Nahuatl: ''Teotzapotlan''; Mixtec: ''Ñuhu Tocuisi'') was a powerful Mesoamerican city in what is now Oaxaca, Mexico, from the city of Oaxaca. The city is named after Zaachila Yoo, the Zapotec ruler, in the late 14 ...

up to the Spanish conquest, and was designed to establish ancient property rights.

Economy

The main economic activity is coffee cultivation. The people also grow corn, beans, pineapple, citrus, melon and watermelon, raise cattle, horses, pigs and poultry, and engage in logging. The

Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region ( es, Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Región del Istmo, or UCIRI), is a farmer's cooperative in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was established in 1982 to assist in production, mark ...

, a cooperative founded in 1982, assists in production and distribution of the local products, notably coffee, under a fair trade label.

External links

References

{{Juchitán District Municipalities of Oaxaca