Temascal is a town in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

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 ...

which is the seat of the

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 ...

San Miguel Soyaltepec Temascal is a town in the Mexican state of Oaxaca which is the seat of the municipality of San Miguel Soyaltepec. It is part of the Tuxtepec District of the Papaloapan Region. The name ''Soyaltepec'' means "hill of palm trees" in Náhuatl but the ...

. It is part of the

Tuxtepec District Tuxtepec District is located in the north of the Papaloapan Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Municipalities The district includes the following municipalities: *Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa * Ayotzintepec * Cosolapa * Loma Bonita * San Fel ...

of the

Papaloapan Region The Cuenca del Papaloapan Region is in the north of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico where the foothills of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca meet the coastal plain of Veracruz. The principal city is San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, the second largest in Oaxaca st ...

. The name ''Soyaltepec'' means "hill of palm trees" in

Náhuatl 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 smaller ...

but the area also carries the

Mazatec The Mazatec are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca and some communities in the adjacent states of Puebla and Veracruz. Language family The Mazatecan languages are part of the Popolocan family wh ...

name of Naxhingee which means “ragged hill”.

The town

The original town of San Miguel Soyaltepec was founded in 1500. The area saw a battle on 25 April 1865 where invading French forces were defeated by Colonel

Luis Pérez Figueroa Luis Pérez Figueroa (1833 - 1903) was a Mexican general who fought in the war of independence that followed the Second French intervention in Mexico, French intervention in Mexico. Military career Figueroa was born on 22 March 1833 in Salvatier ...

. For this reason, the name of the town was changed to Patriótica Villa de San Miguel Soyaltepec in 1868. The Presidente Miguel Alemán dam was completed in 1954, flooding the original town of San Miguel Soyaltepec and forcing the relocation of about 22,000 Mazatecs.

The municipality

The dam controls the lower

Río Papaloapan The Papaloapan River () is one of the main rivers of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Its name comes from the Nahuatl ''papaloapan'' meaning "river of the butterflies". In 1517, Juan de Grijalva's expedition spotted the river, naming it Río de Alva ...

which historically has had devastating floods, and generates 725 million kilowatts of electrical power. The dam’s artificial lake lends itself to various water sports such as fishing (

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

mojarra The mojarras are a family, Gerreidae, of fish in the order Perciformes. The family includes about 53 species found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions. They mostly inhabit coastal salt and brackish waters, although some occur in fre ...

and

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

) as well as boat tours to the islands of San Miguel Soyaltepec and Isabel María. The lakesides abound with birds, small mammals and reptiles. As municipal seat, Temascal has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Agua Escondida (Isla Agua Escondida), Arroyo Caracol, Arroyo Chical (Nuevo Arroyo Chicali), Arroyo de Enmedio (La Guadalupe), Arroyo Macín, Arroyo Tigre, Benito Juárez II (San Martín), Cabeza de Tigre, Cerro de Agua Platanar, Cerro Tepexcuintle, Cerro Verde, Colonia Cosoltepec, Colonia Ingeniero Raúl Sandoval Landázuri, Corral de Piedra, Corriente Ancha o Miguel Hidalgo, Cosolapa Caracol, El Capulín (La Nueva Pochota), El Carmen, El Dique, Emiliano Zapata, Isla de Málzaga, Isla del Viejo, Soyaltepec (Isla Soyaltepec), Isla la Patria Vieja, Islas Santa Julia, La Candelaria, La Luz, La Parcela (Armando Vásquez), La Reforma, La Reforma (La Reformita), Las Margaritas, Las Pilas, Loma Bonita, Los Nanches, Nueva Calería, Nueva Patria, Nuevo Buenavista, Nuevo Paso Nazareno (Chichicazapa), Nuevo Pescadito de Abajo, Nuevo Pescadito de Abajo Dos, Nuevo Pescadito de Enmedio, Nuevo Pescadito de Málzaga (La Breña), Pescadito de Arriba, Piedra de Amolar, Playa de Jícama, Playa Lecuona (Miguel Hidalgo), Rancho Norteño, Rancho Nuevo, Rancho Orozco, Rancho Valdez, Regino Malpica Vicente, Rincón Bonito, San Antonio Abad (Cerro Chango), San Antonio Cosolapa, and San Marcos.

References

* {{Tuxtepec District Populated places in Oaxaca