Tlalnepantla is the name of a city and a municipality in the Mexican state of Morelos. The city reported a population of 3,872 inhabitants, while its municipality reported 7,166 inhabitants in the 2015 census. It is the least populous of the 17 municipalities that border Mexico City, bordering the capital city's southeastern

Milpa Alta Milpa Alta is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It lies in the southeast corner of the nation's capital, bordering the State of Mexico and Morelos. It is the least populated, second largest and most rural of all the boroughs ...

borough. Tlalnepantla is located 57 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

Name

The name Tlalnepantla means "In the middle of the lands" in Nahuatl, which may be interpreted as "In the middle of the mountains". According to Reyes and Robelo this town was originally called Tlalnepantla Kuauhtenko; this second place name means "On the shore of the eagles"; its etymology from ''Kuauh-tli'', "eagle"; ''ten-tli'', "shore or lip", and ''ko'', adverb of "place"; however, in the hieroglyph the sign of the tree is clearly seen between two parts of the earth. It is supposed to be related to the terrestrial meridian, nearly the same as the

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven ( es, Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de la Bienaventurada Virgen María a los cielos) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Me ...

The municipality

Towns and villages

The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are: Other communities include Fraccionamiento Calmil, Campo Aguacomulco, Bosques de Morelos, Campo Jazmín, and Fraccionamiento los Robles.

History

Ruins of settlements of

Nahuas The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

and Nahuatl-speaking Tlahuicas have been found since before the founding of Tlalnepantla. By the 1590s a town called Teocaltitla was established northwest about seven kilometers from the present municipal seat. Ruins of its church, including plaster, can still be seen. The ruins of the town of San Bartolomé ("Cohamilpa") are located about four kilometers west of Tlalnepantla. Ruins of the San Nicolás Tolentino neighborhood ("Teopancasholtitla"), founded in 1600, are located six kilometers from Tlalnepantla. San Felipe, also founded in the 1600s, is located five kilometers away. Tlalnepantla-Cuahutenco was formed by Fray Toribio and Fray Juan de Zumárraga between 1680 and 1690 by grouping the people into five "barrios"—San Pedro, San Felipe, San Nicolás, San Bartolo, Santiagoof—with about 800 people each. It took the simpler name Tlalnepantla in 1869. Construction of the convent and the parish of the Purification was begun by the Augustinians in the 16th century and completed in 1791. The former monastery of the Precious Blood of Christ also dates from the same time. The church was burned during the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

and was renovated in 1933. Tlalnepantla became a municipal seat in the State of Mexico on October 11, 1848. It became part of Morelos on April 17, 1869. A telephone line was established between 1880 and 1910 near Tenecuilco where President Porfirio Díaz had a hunting lodge. On one occasion, the president got lost, only to be saved by a local resident named Bonifacio Rodríguez. In gratitude for saving his life, the president gave Rodríguez his telephone number, which was quite useful later when Rodríguez was arrested in a drunken brawl. Ciriaco Espíndola, also from Tenecuilco, became Díaz's secretary from 1880-1900 and his brother Dolores Espíndola worked as administrator of the

Mexican Railway The Mexican Railway (''Ferrocarril Mexicano'') was one of the primary pre- nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in London in September 1864 as the Imperial Mexican Railway (''Ferrocarril Imperial Mexicano'') to complete an earlier ...

. The ex-hacienda of Cuatepec or Coatepec was built during colonial times. During the Mexican Revolution the hacienda was looted and burned, then abandoned by its owner. The peasants divided the land and the community adopted the name of General Felipe Neri, a Zapatista who was killed by rival general Antonio Barona Rojas. The town's foundation is celebrated on February 8. The first carnaval in Tlalnepantla was organized by Pablo Lima in 1905; ''carnaval'' was suspended during the Revolution and started again in 1929. El Vigía, also called San Nicolás del Monte, was formed by uniting the barrios of San Miguel, San Francisco, San Pedro, and San Lucas. San Nicolás del Monte was isolated until

Mexican Federal Highway 113 Federal Highway 113 (''Carretera Federal 113'') is a Federal Highway of Mexico. The highway travels from Mexico City in the north to Oaxtepec Oaxtepec is a town within the municipality of Yautepec and the Cuautla metropolitan area in the easte ...

was built in 1973. The town changed its name to El Vigía in 1973 because during the Revolution it was used to warn people when enemy armies were approaching. El Pedregal was founded by Teofilo Pacheco in 1975. At least 340 homes were damaged during the

2017 Puebla earthquake The 2017 Puebla earthquake struck at 13:14 CDT (18:14 UTC) on 19 September 2017 with an estimated magnitude of and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about south of the city of Puebla, Mexico. The earthquake caused d ...

, but no deaths or injuries were reported in the municipality. Rigoberto Espindola Gonzalez of the Panal was elected Presidente Municipal on July 1, 2018. The state of Morelos reported 209 cases and 28 deaths due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to ha ...

as of April 27, 2020; one case was reported in Tlatnapantla. Schools and many businesses were closed from mid March until June 1. On July 2, Tlalnepantla reported 33 infections and four deaths from the virus; the reopening of the state was pushed back until at least June 13. Tlalnepantla reported 19 cases, 18 recuperations, and two deaths from the virus as of August 31. Twenty/one cases were reported on December 27, 2020.

Notable residents

*Fray Toribio and Fray Juan de Zumárraga – Founders of Tlalnepantla, about 1690 *Teofilo Pacheco – Founder of El Pedregal in 1975 *Ciriaco Espíndola – Secretary to President Porfirio Díaz, 1880-1900 *Pablo Lima – Organized the first ''carnaval,'' 1905 *Inés Chávez – Built the ''Deposito de Cuatizec,'' 1906-1908 *Benjamín Medina – Built 500 meters of highway from Tlalnepantla to Tierra Grande, 1931-1933 Municipal presidents (1958–present)

Geography

Location

Tlalnepantla is located in northern Morelos state, with

, Mexico City and Juchitepec, State of Mexico to the north;

Tepoztlán Tepoztlán () is a town in the central Mexican state of Morelos. It is located at in the heart of the Tepoztlán Valley. The town serves as the seat of government for the municipality of the same name. The town had a population of 14,130 inhabit ...

to the west,

Tlayacapan Tlayacapan () is the name of a town and a municipality located in the northeast part of Morelos state in central Mexico. It is located 60 km east from the state capital of Cuernavaca and about 1.5 hours south of Mexico City. It is a rural are ...

to the east, and

Totolapan Totolapan is a municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Morelos, surrounded by the State of Mexico to the north; to the south with Tlayacapan and Atlatlahucan; to the east and southeast with Atlatlahucan; and to the west with Tlaln ...

to the east. It is located at 18°57'N and 98°14'W of Greenwich. With an average altitude of 2,060 meters above sea level, it is the third highest municipality in the state, exceeded only by Huitzilac (2,500 m) and

Tetela del Volcán Tetela del Volcán or simply Tetela, is a town and municipal seat of the municipality of Tetela del Volcán in the Mexican state of Morelos. It is located on the slopes of the volcano Popocatépetl. . The city serves as the municipal seat for the ...

(2,200 m). ;Distance (by highway) *

(state capital) – (1 hour, 13 minutes) via

and

Mexican Federal Highway 160 Federal Highway 160 (''Carretera Federal 160'') is a Federal Highway of Mexico. The highway travels from Cuernavaca, Morelos in the west to Izúcar de Matamoros Izúcar de Matamoros is a city in Izúcar de Matamoros Municipality located in the ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

(

Zócalo The Zócalo () is the common name of the main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Sq ...

) – (1 hour, 54 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 and

Mexican Federal Highway 150D Federal Highway 150D is a toll highway connecting Mexico City to Veracruz City via Puebla City and Córdoba. It serves as one of the backbones of Mexico's toll road system. The road is primarily operated by Caminos y Puentes Federales, which ch ...

Cuautla, Morelos Cuautla (, meaning "where the eagles roam"), officially La heroica e histórica Cuautla, Morelos (''The Heroic and Historic Cuautla, Morelos'') or H. H. Cuautla, Morelos, is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Morelos, about 104 kilo ...

– (46 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 *Tepoztlan, Morelos – (1 hour, 2 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 and

Mexican Federal Highway 115D MFederal Highway 115D is a toll highway primarily located in the State of Mexico. It serves as a bypass of the cities of Amecameca and Nepantla in the State of Mexico for traffic traveling Mexican Federal Highway 115. The road is operated by Cami ...

Area

, which is 2.2% of the total territory of Morelos.

Relief

Most of the municipality is in the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

. The highest peaks are: *Cerro de Otlayuca – *Volcán Ololica – *Cerro Tecaño – *Cerro de los Pilares – *Cerro Ometuzco – Approximately 16% of the total surface is rugged, 78% is semi-flat, and 0.5% is flat (mostly in the north, west, and southeast).

Water resources

There are no rivers or streams in Tlalnepantla. Rainwater is caught in the canyons and gullies of Cuatizec, Tlatenchi, Teshohuaca, and Tepeclapa. There is an average of of annual precipitation.

Climate

The climate in the municipality is temperate sub-humid, with an average annual temperature of and an average annual rainfall of . Tlalnepantla is one of the municipalities with the highest annual precipitation. At a height of , San Felipe Neri merits special attention. The climate is temperate sub-humid, with rainfall in summer, average annual temperature between , with a cool and long summer.

Flora

Flora consists mainly of

Temperate coniferous forest Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant life. In some, needle ...

: pine, oak, fir, ash, elm, tejocote (a fruit tree), and ocotillo (a shrub). There is a wide variety of medicinal plants such as squaw mint (for stomach pain), lemon balm (taken as tea), tochete (mint), tabaquillo,

mullein ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

(used to heal wounds), and

Valerian (herb) Valerian (''Valeriana officinalis'', Caprifoliaceae) is a perennial flowering plant native to Europe and Asia. In the summer when the mature plant may have a height of , it bears sweetly scented pink or white flowers that attract many fly specie ...

(for rheumatism).

Fauna

Fauna includes

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, skunk, Mexican volcano mouse, mountain lions, quail, coyote, wolf, wildcat,

cacomistle The cacomistle (; ''Bassariscus sumichrasti'') is a nocturnal, arboreal and omnivorous member of the carnivoran family Procyonidae. Its preferred habitats are wet, tropical, evergreen woodlands and mountain forests, though seasonally it wil ...

(raccoon), opossum, ocelot, ferret, rabbit, iguana, snakes, scorpion, chameleon,

roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

, and woodpecker. Hunting is prohibited in the forest.

Natural resources

Agricultural land and forests are the most important natural resources.

Soil

Most soils consist of humus and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

. Of the , (38%) are used for farming. Forest consists of or 61% of the land, while the rest is used for buildings.

Economic activities

The main economic activity of this is agriculture, of which 89% is the cultivation of prickly pears or

nopal Nopal (from the Nahuatl word for the pads of the plant) is a common name in Spanish for ''Opuntia'' cacti (commonly referred to in English as ''prickly pear''), as well as for its pads. There are about 114 known species in Mexico, where it i ...

es. Both the fruit and the leaves are sold in Mexico City, Monterrey, Tijuana, and even the United States. Corn and tomatoes, which were once staple crops, now take second place to this cactus. Fruit trees were introduced by Spanish missionaries, and some fruit, particularly avocados, peaches, and pears are still gown today. Livestock are also raised. There is controlled logging of the forests and a significant amount of wood is exploited. There are some fields for growing Christmas trees.

Culture

Historical monuments

*Tlalnepantla **Churches and chapels: Ex-convent and Parish of Pentecost, Chapel of San Pedro, Chapel of San Felipe, Chapel of San Nicolás, Chapel of San Bartolo, Chapel of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

La Candelaria La Candelaria is the 17th locality of Bogotá, Colombia. A historic neighborhood in the city's downtown, it is the equivalent to the ''Old City'' in other cities. The architecture of the old houses, churches and buildings has Spanish Colonial, Ba ...

Church **Civil buildings ***Municipal Auditorium. This building has a mural representing the 33 municipalities of Morelos. It was painted in 1998, by students of the Quetzalcoatl junior high school. ***City Hall Building. *El Vigía: Church of San Nicolás *Felipe Neri **Church of La Concepción **Ex-Hacienda de Coatepec. This building is in ruins and is not used.

Holidays

*July 25: Santiago Apóstol *August 24: San Bartolo *May 1: San Felipe *May 31, 2020, and May 23, 2021: Pentecost (fifty days after

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, celebrated in Tlalnepantla with a fair including games, bands,

amusement rides Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people especially kids to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This ...

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." To recei ...

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

, and traditional food. *September 10: San Nicolás *September 15: Precious Blood of Christ, celebrated in barrio San Miguel

Music and dance

;Music There are four brass bands that regularly play at fairs in Tlalnepantla.

Tropical music Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republ ...

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

s, and

Norteño music Norteño (Spanish: "northerner") may refer to: * Norteño (music) is a style of Mexican music related to polka and corridos * Norteño refers to the people originally from Northern Mexico and Southwestern U.S. * Norteño (band) is a ''tango nuev ...

are also popular. ;Dance Chinelos began in Tlayacapan but are now popular at carnivals and fairs throughout the region. The Chinelos costume consists of four main items: a long flowing robe made of velvet which usually has a rectangular shape tunic, a mask, a large plumed hat, and gloves. The masks are made of mesh and feature an upturned beard and European features.

Food

Nopales were introduced to Tlalnepantla about forty years ago, and today they can form the basis of many local dishes: sandwiches of nopal, nopales with cecina,

tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tam ...

s of nopal, and eggs with nopales, to name a few.

Mole Verde Mole verde ("green mole") is a type of mole of the cuisine of Mexico. The main ingredients are pumpkin seeds and green chile, which bring color. Other ingredients may be green tomatoes, chile poblano, chile de árbol, tails onion, radish leaves ...

, mole with chicken or

pumpkin seed A pumpkin seed, also known in North America as a pepita (from the Mexican es, pepita de calabaza, "little seed of squash"), is the edible seed of a pumpkin or certain other cultivars of squash. The seeds are typically flat and asymmetrically ...

, and cecina with cheese are also traditional foods.

References

External links

*http://www.e-morelos.gob.mx/e-gobierno/DirMunicipios/tlalnepantla.htm *http://e-municipios.e-morelos.gob.mx/tlalnepantla.htm {{Authority control Municipalities of Morelos Populated places in Morelos Nahua settlements