Tila is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

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 ...

in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern

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 ...

. As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 71,432, up from 58,153 in 2005. It covers an area of 705.5 km². As of 2010, the town of Tila had a population of 7,164. Other than the town of Tila, the municipality had 160 localities, the largest of which (with 2010 populations in parentheses) were Petalcingo (6,775), Nueva Esperanza (4,059), and El Limar (2,908), all classified as urban, and Chulum Juárez (2,137), Tocob Leglemal (2,067), Nuevo Limar (1,974), Shoctic (1,717),

Usipa Usipa (scientific name: ''Engraulicypris sardella'') is a "small sardine-like fish that occurs in large shoals". Because of its small size, it is commonly dried. Usipa is mostly eaten in Malawi and Mozambique along with nsima ugali. Dried usipa ...

(1,450), Cantioc (1,426), Joljá (1,303), Chulum Cárdenas (1,126), Jolsibaquil (1,103), Misija (1,087), and Unión Juárez (1,012), classified as rural.

History

Foundation

Tila was founded in 1564 by Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada. In 1677 was a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

, and the documents of that time express the abuses of a Catholic priest, Father Cuevas, "a man with racist frustrations", who physically punished the indigenous inhabitants. In 1712 there was organized in Tila an uprising against the Spanish authorities because of tax policies. In July 1829 the governor, Emeterio Pineda, granted Tila the category of "Villa". The postal service was founded in 1833. In 1920 formal discussions lasting 10 years were undertaken in Mexico City and in

Tuxtla Gutierrez Tuxtla may refer to: ;Cities and towns *Tuxtla Gutiérrez, capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas * San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz * Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz *Tuxtla Chico, Chiapas ;Other *Los Tuxtlas, region of Veracruz *Sierra de los Tuxtlas, mo ...

to create in Tila the category of ''ejidos'', or communal land. In 1930, Tila became an Ejido of Chiapas. Since then two main authorities have coexisted in Tila, represented by the Commissioner Ejidal and by the municipal president. In 2005 there was a conflict between representatives of both authorities that divided Tila politically between ''ejiditarios'' (indigenous owners of communal lands) and ''pobladores'' (new mestizo people who bought plots of land from former indigenous owners).

References

*Boletín del Archivo Histórico Diocesano. San Cristóbal de las Casas, September 1997. {{Authority control Municipalities of Chiapas Populated places established in 1564