Zacualpan is one of the 125 municipalities in
the State of Mexico in
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's municipal seat and largest settlement is the town of Zacualpan. It's located to the South of the state sharing a border with the
State of Guerrero, 40 minutes from
Ixtapan de la Sal
Ixtapan de la Sal is a town and municipality located in the State of Mexico, Mexico. It is 60 km south of Toluca, the state's capital, and 120 km south of Mexico City by the Federal Road 55. The word ''Ixtapan'' comes from Nahuatl. The ...
, 1 hour and 50 minutes from the city of
Toluca
Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...
(the State's Capital), and 2 and a half hours from
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 ...
. The municipality covers an area of 305.5 km² (1.35% of the area of the State of Mexico). Zacualpan is delimited to the North by the municipalities of
Almoloya de Alquisiras
Almoloya de Alquisiras is a town and municipality, in Mexico State in 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 S ...
and
Coatepec Harinas
Coatepec Harinas is one of 125 municipalities in the State of Mexico, Mexico. The municipal seat is the town of Coatepec Harinas. The original name is "Coauhtepetl" which means 'serpent hill' in Náhuatl. Around 1825 because of a boom in flour p ...
, to the East by
Ixtapan de la Sal
Ixtapan de la Sal is a town and municipality located in the State of Mexico, Mexico. It is 60 km south of Toluca, the state's capital, and 120 km south of Mexico City by the Federal Road 55. The word ''Ixtapan'' comes from Nahuatl. The ...
and the municipality of
Pilcaya
Pilcaya is a town and municipal seat of the Municipality of Pilcaya in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, located from Mexico City, from Cuernavaca, from Toluca, from Taxco and from Ixtapan de la Sal. The name "Pilcaya" is from the Nahuatl word ' ...
(
Guerrero
Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
), to the West by
Sultepec
Sultepec is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipal seat is Sultepec de Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras. The municipality covers an area of 552.52 km².
The Spanish discovered silver lodes here in 1531, which started comm ...
, and to the South by
Pilcaya
Pilcaya is a town and municipal seat of the Municipality of Pilcaya in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, located from Mexico City, from Cuernavaca, from Toluca, from Taxco and from Ixtapan de la Sal. The name "Pilcaya" is from the Nahuatl word ' ...
,
Tetipac
Tetipac is a city and seat of the municipality of Tetipac, in the state of Guerrero, south-western Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the sout ...
, and
Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
(
Guerrero
Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
).
The official name of the capital of the municipality is Real de Minas Zacualpan. The capital of the municipality was the first mining town established in the American Continent and mining is still an important economic activity in the life of its inhabitants. Due to its mining roots, its colonial buildings, and its landscape, Zacualpan was named "Pueblo con Encanto" (A Town with Charm) between 2006 and 2009.
The Spanish opened silver mines here around 1540.
As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 13,800.
Etymology
The name of Zacualpan comes from the nahuatl words ''tzacualli'' (something that hides, stores, or conceals) and ''pan'' (on or above). The hieroglyph that represents the town's seal contains two figures: a 5-step pyramid and an open hand above it. In the Codex Mendoza, the meaning of this hieroglyph has been established as ''A place where valuable objects are stored''.
History
Zacualpan has a long history that goes back to the Pleistocene: the region was inhabited by large mammals such as mastodons, and perhaps some human nomads and hunters established their communities all around the southern region of the State of Mexico.
Prehispanic Period
The ''Couixcas'' arrived to the territory that nowadays is Zacualpan around the 12th century. When this group arrived there were already some settlements of ''Chontales'', ''Matlazincas'', and ''Mazatecas''. The migration of the ''Couixcas'' seems to have come from what nowadays is the state of Michoacan. For this reason, the oldest cities founded by the Couixca group are found to the west of the region:
Sultepec
Sultepec is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipal seat is Sultepec de Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras. The municipality covers an area of 552.52 km².
The Spanish discovered silver lodes here in 1531, which started comm ...
is older than Zacualpan and Zacualpan is older than the towns founded towards the region of Malinalco. After the Couixcas settled in the region, they coexisted with the already settled groups (Matlazincas, Chontales, Mazatecos, etc.) but became the dominant group.
Colonial Period
The first contact between the Couixcas and the Spaniards occurred in November, 1519:
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 ...
had sent a delegation under Gonzalo de Umbria and a group of Spaniards and guides provided by Moctezuma Xocoyotzin to survey the existing gold mines in the domain of Zacatula, (Zacatotlan). The shortest known path between Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Zacatula crossed what nowadays is Zacualpan. This route had been used since the beginning of the establishment of Teotihuacan by the toltecas coming from Tula between VII and X AC. Its main purpose was commerce between the villages and cities of the valley of Mexico and the Pacific coast.
The second contact between the Couixcas and the Spaniards happened at the beginning of 1520, when Cortes demanded a tax in gold and silver from all villages through the use of native tax collectors accompanied by Spaniards. This tax was destined to be sent back to Spain then under the reign of Charles V. In 1521, the governors of Matlazingo, Malinalco, and Couixco asked Cortes to make them his vassals
Around that time, it was forbidden and under penalty of death to establish Spanish towns in close contact with indigenous towns. Each new Spanish town was named ''Real de Minas'', and the purpose of these new towns was to exploit the mines found in the adjacent region. Under these conditions, the following Spanish towns were formed: San Esteban del Puerto, Nueva Villa Rica, Medellín Villa de Espíritu Santo, Real of San Lorenzo de Tetzicapan, Real of the Mines of Zacualpan, and the Real of San Salvador of Ayotuxco (also belonging to the mines of Zacualpan). Each ''Real'' had a nearby town inhabited by indigenous servants: the Real of Zacualpan had the town of Zotzocola; the Real of Ayotuxco had the town of Cuevillas, and the Real of Tetzicapan had the town of Coloxtitlan. The mines of Zacualpan were worked by indigenous slaves, African slaves, and indigenous workers that were forced to pay the taxes imposed by the Spaniards through their work.
In 1536, the King Charles V sent a group of German experts in mining techniques and metallurgy from the Fugger dynasty with the objective of teaching the Spaniards the newest mining and metallurgy techniques. These experts produced the first alloy of silver minerals in the Hacienda of Nombre de Dios. The first ''alloy haciendas'' where established in Zacualpan in 1562
Independence
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 ...
(1810-1821), the government in Zacualpan was in charge of Manuel de la Concha, who at one point, abandoned the town and came back between 1816 and 1817 under the protection of the lieutenant colonel Manuel Gomez Pedraza and the second lieutenant colonel Mateo Cuitly from the royalist army. At the same time, Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras conducted a guerrilla warfare in the region, establishing his headquarters in Zacualpan on March 12, 1821. He abandoned the region on June 2 and died during an ambush in Tetecala, Morelos. It is unknown who was left in charge of the government of Zacualpan (perhaps the task fell into the hands of is second-in-command Felipe Martinez).
Mexican Revolution to the Present
At the beginning of the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
, there were 17 small businesses in charge of the existing 40 mines. In 1919, the mine of El Alacran reached peak production and in 1927 consisted of 9 levels with a depth of 300 meters underground. In 1921, the mine of San Fernando reached a modest peak of production too
The census of 1930 reported that the population in Zacualpan had grown to 2,865 inhabitants with 25% of them dedicated to mining activities. By this time, no native dialects were spoken anymore.
References
Municipalities of the State of Mexico
Populated places in the State of Mexico
{{México-geo-stub