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Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of
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 ...
. It is divided into 60 municipalities and the capital city is
Tlaxcala City Tlaxcala, officially Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala and seat of the municipality of the same name. The city did not exist during the pre-Hispanic period but was laid out by the Spanish as a cente ...
. It is located in East-Central Mexico, in the altiplano region, with the eastern portion dominated by the
Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...
. It is bordered by the states of
Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
to the north, east and south,
México 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 ...
to the west and
Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le ...
to the northwest. It is the smallest state of the republic, accounting for only 0.2% of the country's territory. The state is named after its capital, Tlaxcala, which was also the name of the
Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
city and culture. The
Tlaxcalans The Tlaxcalans, or Tlaxcaltecs, are a Nahua people who live in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. Pre-Columbian history The Tlaxcaltecs were originally a conglomeration of three distinct ethnic groups who spoke Nahuatl, Otomi, and Pinome that compr ...
allied themselves with the Spanish to defeat the
Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
s, with concessions from the Spanish that allowed the territory to remain mostly intact throughout 300 years of colonial period. After
Mexican 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 ...
, Tlaxcala was declared a
federal territory A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...
, until 1857 when it was admitted as a state of the federation. Most of the state's economy is based on agriculture, light industry and tourism. The tourist industry is rooted in Tlaxcala's long history with major attractions being archeological sites such as
Cacaxtla Cacaxtla () is an archaeological site located near the southern border of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. It was a sprawling palace containing vibrantly colored murals painted in unmistakable Maya style. The nearby site of Xochitecatl was a more ...
and colonial constructions in and around Tlaxcala city.


Name

The name ''Tlaxcala'' pre-dates the state by centuries; it derives from the name of the capital city, which was also used to denote the territory controlled by this city in pre-Hispanic times. According to some historians, the name comes from an ancient word (), which meant 'crag'; however, an alternative etymology stems from the
Nahuatl 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 ...
word which means 'place of
corn tortilla In North America, a corn tortilla or just tortilla (, ) is a type of thin, unleavened flatbread, made from hominy, that is the whole kernels of maize treated with alkali to improve their nutrition in a process called nixtamalization. A simple do ...
s'. The Aztec glyph that referred to this place has both elements, two green hills and two hands holding a corn tortilla. The letter 'x' in the name reflects the
voiceless palato-alveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some Speech, spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound #Voiceless palato-alveolar frica ...
/ʃ/, a historical phoneme present in Nahuatl and in Old Spanish. The conquistadors transcribed this sound using that letter in the Spanish language at the time of colonization and also when codifying the alphabets of the indigenous languages in the Americas for the first time. Due to the evolution of the coronal fricatives that took place in Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries, /ʃ/ transitioned into a
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
/x/ (similar to a strong 'H') at the beginning of a word or intervocalically, while it turned into a
voiceless alveolar fricative The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of fricative consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are at least ...
/s/ at the end of a syllable. Thus, the pronunciation of Tlaxcala at the time of the sibilant shift transitioned from to . However, the realization is also present due to
spelling pronunciation A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronounc ...
after the Spanish orthographic reform of 1815, which replaced the letter 'x' with 'j' in words that previously had /ʃ/ that transitioned into velar /x/, leaving the letter 'x' with the current pronunciation /ks/.


Coat-of-arms

The state's coat of arms is based on the coat of arms that was granted to the city in 1535. Its different elements have the following meanings: the red background represents courage; the castle symbolizes defensive power; the eagle with its open wings represents the spirit of vigilance; the border symbolizes protection and compensation; the green palms stand for victory, and the crowns are the symbol of royal authority. The letter ' refers to
Joanna of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...
, the mother of
Charles I of Spain Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...
; the letter ''K'' (for ''Karl'') represents the name of the king himself; and the letter ''F'' (for ''Felipe'') belongs to Philip, later Philip II of Spain. The human skulls and cross-bones represent those who died during the Conquest.


Geography


Political geography

The state of Tlaxcala is located slightly east of center of Mexico between 97°37′07″ and 98°42′51″W and 19°05′43″ and 19°44′07″N. It is bordered by the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Mexico State. It is the smallest state in terms of territory with only about , representing about 0.2% of the entire country. The state is divided into 60 municipalities, the largest of which are Tlaxcala,
Apizaco Apizaco is a city in Apizaco Municipality located near the geographic center of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, approximately 25 minutes by car from the state's capital city of Tlaxcala. The city gets its name from the Nahuatl language words "ā ...
,
Huamantla Huamantla () is a small city in Huamantla Municipality located in the eastern half of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The area has a long indigenous history, but the city itself was not founded until the early colonial period, in the 1530s. It is mo ...
,
Zacatelco Zacatelco () is a city and capital of Zacatelco municipality located south of the state of Tlaxcala. According to the population census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography 2010, the city has a population of 38.466 peopl ...
,
Calpulalpan Calpulalpan officially as Heroic City of Calpulalpan, is a mexican city, head and main urban center of the homonymous municipality, located to the west of the state of Tlaxcala. With 33 263 inhabitants in 2010 according to the population and hou ...
, Chiautempan and Tlaxco. The political heart of the state is its capital, Tlaxcala, even though it is not the state's largest city. Tlaxcala lies at the foot of the northwestern slope of La Malinche volcano in the
Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...
. It is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, founded as an organized civilization before the 15th century. The Spanish political entity was founded by
Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
between 1520 and 1525 and given the Spanish name of New City of Our Lady of the Assumption. Its economy is still based on the traditional enterprises of agriculture, textiles, and the commerce of products of native peoples such as the Otomí, especially on market days. Other important cities include Santa Ana Chiautempan, the most populous city in the state, Apizaco, noted for its textile production and Huamantla, a farming and cattle town.


Natural geography and climate

Tlaxcala is a land-locked state situated on 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 average altitude for the state is 2,230 meters above sea level, making it a bit higher than the Valley of Mexico just to the southwest. The western part of the state lies on the central plateau of Mexico while the east is dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental, home of the 4,461 meter La Malinche volcano. Most of the state is rugged terrain dominated by ridges and deep valleys, along with protruding
igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main The three types of rocks, rock types, the others being Sedimentary rock, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, metamorphic. Igneous rock ...
formations. This ruggedness, along with large-scale weather phenomena such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, gives the state a complex climate. Overall rain patterns for the state are about in the summer rainy season and in the winter. Locally, however, this varies dramatically between the drier plateaus and valleys and the wetter mountains. Variations in altitude produce sub-climates between semi-tropical to temperate, with frosts likely in the higher elevations during the winter. Temperate forests of pine, fir (''
Abies religiosa ''Abies religiosa'', the oyamel fir or sacred fir, (known as in Spanish) is a fir native to the mountains of central and southern Mexico (Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre del Sur) and western Guatemala. It grows at high altitudes of ...
''), evergreen oak (''
Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description An evergreen tr ...
'') and junipers (''
Juniperus communis ''Juniperus communis'', the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the coo ...
'') dominate the mountain highlands while the flatlands, with their drier climate, are characterized by agaves and prickly pear cactus (''
Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word f ...
''). The state has no major lakes or large rivers. The principal water sources are the Atoyac-Zahuapan basin and the reservoir of the Atlangatepec dam.


Economy


Agriculture

Much of Tlaxcala's economy is based on agriculture, livestock and forestry. Principle crops for the state are maize and barley, along with important quantities of wheat, beans, animal feed and potatoes, using about 60% of the state's land. Although the state has 15 dams and 483 wells to provide water for agriculture, 88% of the state's agriculture is dependent on the summer rainy season, leaving it vulnerable to climatic phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña. Most livestock raised in the state is beef cattle and dairy cows along with the renowned fighting bulls. Other important animals are pigs, sheep, horses, poultry and bees. About 35,842 hectares, or 6.7% of the state is dedicated to livestock. Due to the limited surface water, there is no commercial fishing or fish-farming here. The state's forestry enterprises are located in the municipalities of Tlaxco, Terrenate,
Altzayanca Altzayanca Municipality is a municipality in Tlaxcala in south-eastern 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 ...
,
Calpulalpan Calpulalpan officially as Heroic City of Calpulalpan, is a mexican city, head and main urban center of the homonymous municipality, located to the west of the state of Tlaxcala. With 33 263 inhabitants in 2010 according to the population and hou ...
and
Nanacamilpa Nanacamilpa de Mariano Arista is a municipality in Tlaxcala in south-eastern Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North Am ...
, with about 35,842 hectares of land dedicated to this. However, the amount of land dedicated to forestry has been declining in recent years. To combat this, in 2007 2,484,687 trees were planted on about 2,477 hectares of land.


Industry and commerce

Light manufacturing has developed on a significant scale in the state, especially products produced for export outside the state.(comerico) These products include clothing, foam and plastic products, paper products, publishing, textiles and automobile works. Organized industria areas in the state include the Malinche Corridor, the Apizaco-Xalostoc-Huamantla Corridor, the Panzacola Corridor, the “industrial cities” of Xicohténcatli I, Xicohténcatli II and Xicohténcatli III, the industrial parks of Calpulalpan, Xiloxoxtla, Ixtacuixtla, and Nanacamilpa as well as the industrial areas of Velasco and Atlangatepec. Most commercial activity in the state occurs in the municipalities of Apizaco, Chiautempan, Tlaxcala, Huamantla,
San Pablo del Monte San Pablo del Monte is a municipality in Tlaxcala in south-eastern Mexico. See also *San Isidro Buensuceso San Isidro Buensuceso or San Isidro Buen Suceso is a town in the municipality of San Pablo del Monte, Tlaxcala, Mexico, on the southern sl ...
and
Zacatelco Zacatelco () is a city and capital of Zacatelco municipality located south of the state of Tlaxcala. According to the population census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography 2010, the city has a population of 38.466 peopl ...
. In the last economic census in 2003,
INEGI The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI by its name in es, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática) is an autonomous agency of the Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Stat ...
registered 21,307 commercial establishments in the state, most of these being small individually or family-owned enterprises. There are also fifty-nine
tianguis A is an open-air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico and Central America. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases e ...
(tent markets which are movable), seventeen municipal markets, eleven malls, twenty-six department stores and fourteen commercial centers of other types. In addition, the state is an important link between Mexico's major eastern port,
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
, on the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
, and
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, in the interior.


Tourism

Tourist attractions primarily consist of pre-Hispanic archaeological sites and colonial establishments, with examples of both religious and civil constructions. However, in comparison with the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala's archaeological and colonial sites are barely known. Tlaxcala's major attractions are the archaeological sites of
Cacaxtla Cacaxtla () is an archaeological site located near the southern border of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. It was a sprawling palace containing vibrantly colored murals painted in unmistakable Maya style. The nearby site of Xochitecatl was a more ...
,
Xochitécatl Xochitecatl is a pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican State of Tlaxcala, 18 km southwest of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala city.Hirth 2005 The major architecture dates to the Mesoamerican chronology, Middle Preclassic Perio ...
and Tizatlán, which were not fully investigated until the 20th century, unlike most sites within the state. When Hernán Cortés came,
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
n civilization here was considered to be in the
Post-Classic stage In the classification of the archaeology of the Americas, the Post-Classic Stage is a term applied to some Precolumbian cultures, typically ending with local contact with Europeans. This stage is the fifth of five archaeological stages posited b ...
, and the kingdom was filled with temples, palaces and grand plazas that impressed the Spaniards. Tlaxcala's two major archaeological sites are Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla. Xochitécatl was built between 300 and 400 A.D., and probably reached its peak between 600 and 800 A.D. There is evidence that occupation of the sites extends much further back in time than the early city’s known habitation. The ceremonial center is situated on a hill with four main structures called “The Spiral Building,” “The Volcano Base,” “The Serpent Pyramid” and “The Flower Pyramid.” The last is the most important, and is topped by two monolithic pillars. This pyramid is the fourth largest in Mexico (by base size), and the Spiral Pyramid is one of the few circular ones ever to be found. Cacaxtla was built later than Xochitécatl, between 600 and 900 A.D., and is the far larger of the two. It was only re-discovered in 1975, by farmers from the nearby town of San Miguel del Milago, who began discovering archaeological artifacts in the fields. The main attractions here are the murals, painted with pigments sourced from local minerals. Some of the best works include the Scorpion Man at the Venus Temple, Cacaxtli with corn plant at the Red Temple, the Battle Mural (which is 22 meters long, portraying 48 human figures), and the Bird Man and the Jaguar Man found in “Porch A.” Another interesting archeological site is called Tizatlán. This site does not contain pyramids; instead the buildings here are made of
adobe brick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been fi ...
, a very unusual construction material for this place and time. The site contains two stucco-covered altars with murals that follow the Borgia Group codex style with images of gods and important human figures, including gods such as Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Mayahuel and were the scene of human sacrifices. The state contains more than 1,000 archeological sites with only seven fully excavated and open to the public. The last of these is Ocotelulco, situated on a hill near the town of San Francisco Ocotelulco. It is a collection of dwellings with raised areas for ceremonial purposes. Its altar is similar to the one found at
Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ōmeteōtl, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providenc ...
, decorated with colorful frescos with images of
Quetzalcoatl Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
,
Xolotl In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine brothe ...
and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. These images are in the style of the Post-classic period and have been dated to about 1450. Tlaxcala is home to some of the earliest colonial architecture and art. The oldest church in Mexico, built in 1521 and the first monasteries, built by the
Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
, were built here in 1524. Many other churches and monasteries were built in the state in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Just about every municipality has colonial-era structures such as churches, municipal palaces and plazas but the best examples are in and around the city of Tlaxcala. The Temple and Ex-monastery of San Francisco, built in the early 16th century, is located about 14 km southeast of the capital city. Only the church retains its original function; the former monastery now houses a school. The State Government Palace is located in the city proper and was creating by conjoining the former mayor's house, the treasury and the state warehouse, which is architecturally held together with a
Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in ...
facade. The city's cathedral, called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built in the 16th century. Its main altar preserves a Baroque altarpiece with a depiction of the baptism of the Lord
Maxixcatzin MaxixcatlThe Nahuatl name is often used in the honorific form as Maxixcatzin. was the tlatoani (ruler) of the Nahua altepetl (city-state) of Ocotelolco at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Ocotelolco was one of the four towns ...
, with Hernán Cortés and
Malinche Marina or Malintzin ( 1500 – 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche , a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an interpreter, advi ...
as godparents. A bit later, the Basilica of Octolan was built in the 17th and 18th centuries to comply with a demand of the Virgin Mary who reportedly appeared before
Juan Diego Bernardino Juan Diego Bernardino (ca. 1456 – May 15, 1544) was one of two Aztec peasants alleged to have had visions of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531. Life Little is known of the life of Juan Bernardino. He lived in Tolpetlac, some nin ...
here in 1541. It is considered be the culmination of the
Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
in Tlaxcala. The state also contains 140
hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...
s, which vary in their state of conservation but some are promoted for tourism. Regional festivals here are known for dances featuring men in mustached masks (imitating Spaniards), large-plumed hats and colorful garb. This is especially apparent during
Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
, when over 4,000 folk dancers from different villages come to the capital to celebrate. In a village just north of the capital, in San Juan Totolac, every year they commemorate the departure of 400 families in 1591 who went north to colonize the land known as the Great Chichimeca, which primarily covers the northeast of modern Mexico. Streets in Huamantla are decorated with flowers in intricate designs on “La Noche que Nadie Duerme” (The Night No One Sleeps) in August. Many other festivals are in the state, many of which display the state's long tradition of bullfighting.
Ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
is relatively new here and much of it centers on La Malinche National Park, home to the La Malinche volcano, which is 4,461 m (14,636 ft) high. Here one can camp, mountain bike, horseback ride, rappel and climb the volcano itself. At the peak of La Malinche, it is possible to see the volcanos of
Popocatépetl Popocatépetl (; Nahuatl: ) is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. At it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after C ...
,
Iztaccíhuatl Iztaccíhuatl (alternative spellings include Ixtaccíhuatl, or either variant spelled without the accent) ( or, as spelled with the x, ), is a dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla withi ...
(in Puebla/Mexico State) and
Pico de Orizaba Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl = star, and = mountain), is an inactive stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of Alaska in the United States and Mount Loga ...
(
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
). Ninety five percent of those visiting Tlaxcala are from Mexico and most of these are from neighboring Puebla state. Foreign visitors are mostly German, French and Swiss who are interested in Mexican history.


Sex trade and human trafficking

Tenancingo, a town in Tlaxcala, is the beginning of a pipeline in an illicit, international trafficking trade, and considered to be the epicenter for sex trafficking in Mexico. Roots of the practice of sex trafficking date back to the 1960s. An unnamed Mexican charity told the BBC that it estimated of the 10,000 inhabitants of Tenancingo, 1,000 are sex traffickers.
Sexual exploitation Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...
,
human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
, and
pimping Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...
are a major source of income for the town, although an exact dollar amount is not known. These practices have been denounced by three
NGO's A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
. Modern-day investigations (as well as the 2014 documentary, “Pimp City: A Journey to the Center of the Sex Trade”) by the
US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
have revealed Tenancingo to be a hub for providing female sex slaves to the United States. According to the documentary, the entire political structure and police force of the town are implicated in human trafficking and the sex trade.


Demographics

Tlaxcala is the smallest and one of the most densely populated of the states of Mexico. The state comprises only 0.2% of the nation's territory, but had a population of 1,068,207 in 2005. Population density ranges from 50 people/km2 in the rural municipality of Atlangatepec to 269 people/km2 in the city of Tlaxcala. The largest population centers are Tlaxcala, Huamantla, Apizaco, San Pablo del Monte, Zacatelco and Chiautempan, whose 361,328 inhabitants represent over 33% of the state's population. However, the largest population increases are occurring in the municipalities of Tzompamtepec, Yauhquemecan, and Santa Isabel Xiloxoxtla. Of Tlaxcala's 60 municipalities, ten have a poverty index rating of “very low,” twenty-nine have a rating of “low,” seventeen have a ranking of “medium” and only four have a ranking of “high.” According to data through the II Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) with census date of June 12, 2010, the state of Tlaxcala until this year had a total of 1,169,936 inhabitants; of that number, 565,775 were men and 604,161 were women. The annual growth rate for the entity during the period 2005-2010 was 1.8%. The average size of households in the state is 4.3, while the national level is 3.9, according to the 2010 population census, however, by municipality varies from 3.8 to 5 persons per household. In the same year (2010) on average in the state of Tlaxcala 293 people per square kilometer, while nationally there are 57 people per square kilometer. Until that year 78% of the population lives in urban areas and 22% in rural, data also the II Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2010.


Major communities


History

The area known as Tlaxcala has officially been a number of different entities, from an indigenous kingdom during the
Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
era, a district of the colonial
Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
, a territory of the
Republic of 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 ...
, and finally a “free and sovereign" state in Mexico. Tlaxcalans consider their fight to remain a distinct entity a hallmark of their history, resisting in turn the Aztecs, the Spanish colonial government, the various monarchies and republics of an independent Mexico, and even the claims on its territory by its neighboring state of
Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
.


Pre-Columbian

Evidence of human occupation in what is now the state of Tlaxcala extends back to 12,000 BCE, with the earliest identified cultures being
Tzompantepec Tzompantepec is a town and municipality located in the eastern portion of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. It is located in the Central Mexican Plateau, almost entirely on the slopes of the La Malinche Volcano. The area was the earliest to be inhabi ...
(1700–1200 BCE), Tlatempa (1200–800 BCE), and Texoloc (800–400 BCE). The Toltecs also had a presence, but the first major native culture here was the Olmec Xicalanca. This civilization fell into decline after 900 AD and was replaced by a sub-group of the
Chichimeca Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that des ...
s. In the 14th century, the Chichimecas were driven out by the Tlaxcalans, a
Nahua 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 ...
people and the indigenous ethnicity that still dominates the state. The Tlaxcalans founded the city of Tlaxcala and then began to subdue the surrounding peoples. Eventually, the Tlaxcalan nation would evolve into a confederation of four sub-states called Tepectipac, Ocotelulco, Tizatlán and Quiahuixtlán. The pre-Columbian Tlaxcalan state developed roughly at the same time as another Nahua people, the
Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...
, were building the vast
Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...
with its capital at
Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...
. From the 14th century, these two nations were in near constant state of war. However, even though the Aztecs managed to build the largest empire in
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
, they never did conquer Tlaxcala. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, Tlaxcala was an independent enclave nearly completely surrounded by the Aztec Empire. This left Tlaxcala economically isolated, leaving it without goods such as cotton and salt. This and the constant warfare with the Mexica would give the Tlaxcalans reasons to ally with the Spanish.


Spanish era


Conquest

When
Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
and the Spanish landed on the
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
coast, they were greeted by the Totonacas, who were a subject people of the Aztecs and saw the Spanish as a way to free themselves of rule from Tenochtitlan. They allied with the Spanish, and when Cortés decided to go inland to Tenochtitlan, the Totonacas guided them to other subject peoples who would be willing to ally with them, including and especially the Tlaxcalans. However, after entering Tlaxcalan territory, the Spanish were met by a hostile Tlaxcalan force of 30,000. The Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish and their indigenous allies in a number of battles, with the Spanish inflicting heavy casualties on the Tlaxcalans despite their superior numbers. The Spaniards’ prowess in battle impressed the Tlaxcalan King Xīcohtēncatl Āxāyacatzin, who then not only allowed the Spanish to pass through his territory, but also invited them into the capital city of Tlaxcala. Cortés stayed in the city of Tlaxcala for 20 days and forged an alliance with the Tlaxcalans to bring down Tenochtitlan. Cortes added 6,000 Tlaxcala warriors to his ranks and arrived to Tenochtitlan in November 1519. They were received by Emperor
Moctezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin ( – 29 June 1520; oteːkˈsoːmaḁ ʃoːkoˈjoːt͡sĩn̥), nci-IPA, Motēuczōmah Xōcoyōtzin, moteːkʷˈsoːma ʃoːkoˈjoːtsin variant spellings include Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecu ...
, who understood the potential danger of a Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance. Despite initial friendliness, intrigue and siege of the capital followed, with the Aztec backlash sending Cortes’ very wounded army limping back to Tlaxcalan territory. The Tlaxcalan king gave the Spanish refuge but promised further assistance in the conquest of Tenochtitlan only under certain conditions including perpetual exemption from tribute of any sort, part of the spoils of war, and control of two provinces that bordered Tlaxcala. Cortés agreed. Cortes and the Tlaxcalans returned to Tenochtitlan in December 1520. After many battles, including street-by-street fighting in Tenochtitlan itself, the Aztec Empire fell in August 1521.


Colonial period

Historian
Charles Gibson Charles deWolf Gibson (born March 9, 1943) is an American broadcast television anchor, journalist and podcaster. Gibson was a host of ''Good Morning America'' from 1987 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2006, and the anchor of ''World News with Char ...
published (1952) a path breaking study of Tlaxcala, from the indigenous viewpoint. He particularly focused on ways that the Tlaxcalans shaped the polity's history for its own advantage, and how the four-part organization of the polity was maintained during the early colonial era. A particularly important source for the early colonial history of Tlaxcala is a set of records in the indigenous language of Nahuatl, now published as ''The Tlaxcalan Actas''. These town council records are a type of indigenous language source used by scholars in the field known as the
New Philology New Philology generally refers to a branch of Mexican ethnohistory and philology that uses colonial-era native language texts written by Indians to construct history from the indigenous point of view. The name New Philology was coined by James Lock ...
. James Lockhart drew on these materials in his study ''The Nahuas After the Conquest'' For the most part, the Spanish kept their promise to the Tlaxcalans. Unlike Tenochtitlan and other cities, Tlaxcala was not destroyed after the Conquest. They also allowed many Tlaxcalans to retain their indigenous names. The Tlaxcalans were mostly able to keep their traditional form of government. For 300 years of colonial
Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
rule, the Spanish mostly held true to the Tlaxcalans' conditions of 1520. One of the major cultural interventions, however, was the evangelization of the region. Franciscan friars arrived in 1524. They built monasteries and churches and renamed the city of Tlaxcala “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.” The first
archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
of New Spain was established here. Most of the conversion work was done by 1530. In 1535, the city of Tlaxcala received its
coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...
from the Spanish king. Unlike the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala was under the direct protection of the Spanish crown, part of its reward for its support in the Conquest. This shielded the Tlaxcalans from the worst of the oppression of the native peoples, which reached its peak in the 1530s. In fact, Tlaxcalan allegiance to the Spaniards became an enduring partnership. Tlaxcalan forces joined Spanish forces to put down revolts such as the Mixtón Rebellion and accompanied them to conquer places such as
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
and northern Mexico. In the late 16th century, Christianized and sedentary Tlaxcalans were recruited to settle and pacify the
Chichimecas Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that des ...
in what is now northeast Mexico. Tlaxcalans were used not only to fight but also to establish towns in villages in this nomadic people's territory, to be a kind of example to them. Over 400 Tlaxcalan families would move north, but not until they negotiated and won special concessions from the Spanish. They included orders called “mandamientos de amparo” to ensure that these families’ heirs would not lose the lands that were being granted to them. They also included freedom from tributes, taxes and personal service in perpetuity. These settlers were instrumental in pacifying this part of Mexico, and although these families eventually intermarried with the Chichimeca, they never completely lost their Tlaxcalan identity. During the colonial period, the Tlaxcalans were successful in keeping the concessions granted to them by the Spanish crown. In 1585, when the territory of Tlaxcala was formally established, it roughly had the same borders as the old kingdom of Tlaxcala. While the neighboring territory of Puebla had some authority over this territory, the city of Tlaxcala remained independently governed until Mexican Independence in 1821. However, the indigenous population who had been living in Tlaxcala were somehow reduced to a small minority. Tlaxcala in 1519 had a population estimated at 150,000 to 500,000, the larger estimate perhaps including allies, such as those in the adjacent Pueblo valley.. Downloaded from
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
.
According to Catholic Encyclopedia, in 1625 the formerly sizeable city of Tlaxcala had only 700 people. The decline in the population was due to epidemics, emigrations, and the construction of a canal which served the Mexican Valley.


Post-independence era

After victory in 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 the end of the
First Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire ( es, Imperio Mexicano, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, ...
with the
1824 Constitution of Mexico The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1824) was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new Fr ...
, on November 24, 1824, Tlaxcala was declared a
federal territory A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...
,
Tlaxcala Territory Tlaxcala Territory ( es, Territorio de Tlaxcala) was a territory of Mexico, from 1824 to 1857.https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx/www/bjv/libros/1/8/32.pdf The capital was Tlaxcala City. The territory was located in East-Central Mexico, in the ...
. Tlaxcala was finally admitted as a state of the federation on December 9, 1856. The state was subdivided into five provinces, but had roughly the same dimensions, but somewhat less than before. Later, the state was able to recover some of that lost territory when the region known as Calpulapan was reunited in the 1860s. The state was governed from 1885 to 1911 by Próspero Cahuantzi, one of the few Mexicans of indigenous origin to be a state governor.


Gastronomy

The cuisine of the state is similar to that of neighboring Hidalgo, Puebla and Federal District of Mexico City, featuring dishes such as
barbacoa Barbacoa () is a form of cooking meat that originated in the Caribbean with the Taíno people, who called it by the Arawak word ''barbaca'', from which the term "barbacoa" derives, and ultimately, the word 'barbecue". In contemporary Mexico, it ...
,
mixiote A mixiote is a traditional pit- barbecued meat dish in central Mexico; especially in the Basin of Mexico. It can also be prepared in an oven. It is usually made with mutton or rabbit, but chicken, lamb, and pork are also used. The meat is c ...
,
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. Tamale ...
s, tacos,
quesadilla A quesadilla (; ; Mexican diminutive of ''quesada'') is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla that is filled primarily with cheese, and sometimes meats, spices, and other fillings, and then cooked on a griddle or stove. Trad ...
s and more. The state is known for the use of a number of ingredients in these dishes. One of these is the use of a number of edible insects, many of which are considered delicacies, such as ''
escamoles Escamoles (; nah, azcamolli, from ''azcatl'' 'ant' and ''molli'' 'puree'), known colloquially as ''Mexican caviar'' or ''insect caviar'', are the edible larvae and pupae of ants of the species '' Liometopum apiculatum'' and '' L. occidentale var ...
'' (ant eggs) and maguey larvae, as well as others locally known as ''padrecitos,'' ''mecapales,'' ''toritos'' and ''tenanas''. Vegetable items include a wide variety of mushrooms (often harvested from the wild), squash flowers,
chilacayote ''Cucurbita ficifolia'' is a species of squash, grown for its edible seeds, fruit, and greens. It has common names including Asian pumpkin, black seed squash, chilacayote, cidra, fig-leaf gourd, and Malabar gourd. Compared to other domesticated ...
, xoconostle (a kind of cactus fruit),
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 is ...
and
epazote ''Dysphania ambrosioides'', formerly ''Chenopodium ambrosioides'', known as Jesuit's tea, Mexican-tea, ''payqu'' ''(paico)'', ''epazote'', ''mastruz'', or ''herba sanctæ Mariæ'', is an annual or short-lived perennial herb native to Central A ...
. Like neighboring Puebla,
moles Moles can refer to: *Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain *The Moles (Australian band) *The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound People *Abraham Moles, French engineer ...
are an important element, especially for dishes made for special occasions. Two local versions include ''mole prieto'' and ''mole de ladrillo.''


Education

The formal state educational system of the state accommodates only 53% of eligible schoolchildren. Almost all of the rest are schooled in pre-schools, indigenous educational systems and other centers. Primary and secondary education is mostly provided by the state Secretary of Education. Indigenous education is a system of preschools and primary schools which meet the cultural demands of indigenous populations of the state. These are largely located in the municipalities of Ixtenco, Contla de Juan C., San Pablo del Monte, Teolocholco, Tetlanohcan and la Magdalena. High school and vocational education is provided by state school systems named CBTIS, CETIS, CECYTE, CBTA, COBAT, and CONALEP. Most of these schools are of the vocational type. Higher education is provided by both public and prívate institutions, with the most important of these being the Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala (UAT), which also offers the widest range of majors. Other public universities and colleges include the Instituto Tecnológico de Apizaco, Instituto Tecnológico Agropecuario de Xocoyucan, Escuela Normal Estatal Lic. Benito Juárez, and the Universidad Tecnológica de Tlaxcala. Private institutions include the Universidad del Valle, Universidad de Calpulalpan, Instituto Tecnológico de Tlaxcala and UPAEP Tlaxcala. In addition to traditional centers of education there are state-run technical training centers, which are considered to be an educational priority for Tlaxcala. These centers train people with short courses with industrial or trade skills. Some of these centers include the Centro de Capacitación Tecnológica Industrial (CECATI) and the Instituto de capacitación para el Trabajo en Tlaxcala (ICATLAX). The state also has a library system with 129 public libraries located in 59 municipalities, with a collection of 588,758 volumes.


Media

Newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...
of Tlaxcala include: ''El Sol de Tlaxcala'', and ''Síntesis, El Periódico de Tlaxcala.''


See also

*
Estado de México The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...


References


External links

* *
Government of the State of Tlaxcala
{{Authority control States of Mexico Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt 1857 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1857