Tlaxco (

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 ...

: "place of the

ball game This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Ball games Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: *Bat-and- ...

") is a

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 ...

Tlaxcala 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. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

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 of Tlaxco is located in northern Tlaxcala on the border with

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� ...

and

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 ...

. From east to west on its northern side, it borders the municipalities of Ixtacamaxtitlán and

Chignahuapan Chignahuapan Municipality () is a town and municipality in Puebla in south-eastern Mexico. The municipality is the location of many touristic places very well known all over the state such as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which is th ...

in Puebla, and Almoloya and

Apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km². Overview As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was an important site in the Wa ...

in Hidalgo. From east to west on its southern side, it borders the Tlaxcalan municipalities of

Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

Tetla de la Solidaridad Tetla de la Solidaridad 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 America. ...

Atlangatepec Atlangatepec is a municipality in the Mexican state of 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 t ...

, Muñoz de Domingo Arenas, Hueyotlipan and

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Liberalism in Mexico, Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec peoples, Zapo ...

. Tlaxco is Tlaxcala's largest municipality: it covers an area of and comprises 14.40% of the state's area. Situated in the

Mexican Altiplano The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the US-Mexico border ...

, Tlaxco lies at an average altitude of above sea level. The western and central parts of the municipality are relatively flat, while the northern and eastern parts of the municipality feature more rugged terrain. The highest point in the municipality is the Cerro Peñas Coloradas located at with an elevation of above sea level. The Zahuapan River and its tributaries drain the central-eastern part of the municipality. There are also two reservoirs in the municipality, Lázaro Cárdenas in the extreme east and El Muerto in the west. Agricultural land comprises 65.43% of the municipality. Soils in the municipality include

cambisol A Cambisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a soil in the beginning of soil formation. The horizon differentiation is weak. This is evident from weak, mostly brownish discolouration and/or structure formation in the soil pr ...

fluvisol A fluvisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a genetically young soil in alluvial deposits . Apart from river sediments, they also occur in lacustrine and marine deposits. Fluvisols correlate with fluvents and fluvaquents o ...

lithosol Orthents are soils defined in USDA soil taxonomy as entisols that lack due to either steep slopes or parent materials that contain no permanent weatherable minerals (such as ironstone). Typically, Orthents are exceedingly shallow soils. They ar ...

gleysol A gleysol is a wetland soil (hydric soil) that, unless drained, is saturated with groundwater for long enough to develop a characteristic colour pattern. The pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish, or yellowish colours at surfaces o ...

s and

andosol Andosols are soils found in volcanic areas formed in volcanic tephra. In some cases Andosols can also be found outside active volcanic areas. Andosols cover an estimated 1–2% of earth's ice-free land surface. Andosols are a Reference Soil Grou ...

s. Tlaxco's climate is temperate sub-humid with the warmest months being March through May. June through September are the months with the most rain. Average annual precipitation ranges between 600 and 900 millimetres.

History

Although minor settlements have been found in the Tlaxco area dating back to the Texoloc phase or Middle

Formative period Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages. The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Gord ...

, sedentary settlement of the area properly began in the Tezoquipan phase or Late Formative period by proto-

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

peoples who share elements of the Tezoquipan culture. From 650 to 850 AD, northern Tlaxcala experienced a period of political instability known as the Acopinalco Complex, during which many different cultural groups competed for control over the area. By 900 AD a group of

Huastec Huastec can refer to either: *Huastec people, an indigenous group of Mexico *Huastec language (also called "Wasteko" and "Teenek"), spoken by the Huastec people * Huastec civilization, the pre-Columbian ancestors of the modern day Huastec people S ...

Otomi The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

people had prevailed, and subsequent cultural homogenization resulted in formation of the Tlaxco culture which would later become associated with the city of Tliliuhquitepec.

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 = , ...

had arrived in Tlaxco by 1614, which was then part of the municipality of

. After 1820 Tlaxco began to exist as a separate administrative division of Tlaxcala, with only minor interruptions. By the end of the 19th century, Tlaxco had become an important centre for the production of

pulque Pulque (; nci, metoctli), or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous co ...

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

visited Tlaxco in January 1894 and inaugurated the municipal palace. The modern municipality of Tlaxco was established on 29 August 1945 with the publication of the Organic Law of Municipalities in the State of Tlaxcala. In 1956 a highway linking

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 ...

and

via Tlaxco was completed.

Administration

The municipal government comprises a president, a councillor (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''síndico''), and seven trustees (''regidores'') elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. The current president of the municipality is Gardenia Hernández Rodríguez.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the municipality of Tlaxco recorded a population of 39,939 inhabitants living in 9356 households. It recorded a population of 42,536 inhabitants in the 2015 Intercensal Survey. There are 155 localities in the municipality, two of which are classified as urban: *Tlaxco, the municipal seat, which recorded a population of 14,806 inhabitants in the 2010 Census, and was designated a ''

pueblo mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

'' by Mexico's

Secretariat of Tourism The Mexican Secretary of Tourism ( es, Secretaría de Turismo, ''SECTUR'') is the government department in charge of the nation's tourism promotion and development. The Secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and is a member of th ...

in 2015; and *San José Atotonilco, which had 3220 inhabitants in 2010.

Economy

The main economic activity in Tlaxco is agriculture. The

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

of the municipality was unofficially estimated at 1176.1 million

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: MXN) is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 16th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use dollar sign, its sign, "$". ...

s in 2010.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Tlaxcala 1945 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1945 Pueblos Mágicos