Zumpahuacán is the municipal seat of Zumpahuacán Municipality. It is a town in the

State of Mexico 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 ...

. The name "Zumpahuacán" comes 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 ...

"Tzompanhuahcān", which means "place of coral trees" (''

Erythrina coralloides ''Erythrina coralloides'' (flame coral tree, naked coral tree) is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to eastern Mexico. It ranges from Tamaulipas south to Oaxaca, and some taxonomists believe it is also native ...

''). Another possible translation could be "place of the skulls of the sacrified". The main welcome sign as you enter the municipality uses this latter interpretation.

The town

Archeological, anthropological and linguistic studies date human habitation in the area to at least 8000 B.C. with the peoples here having cultural and linguistic links to cultures in what is now the state of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

and later, with cultures of the high central plains of Mexico. The original village was founded in what is now called Pueblo Viejo ("old village") or San Juan Viejo in Spanish and Quilocán ("place of edible herbs") in a flat area surrounded by rocky cliffs and near the Temozolapa River, seven km from the modern village. It is believed that this settlement was founded by 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 ...

s or

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, who were joined by Matlatzincas around 1300 to 1400 AD. The area was conquered and incorporated into the

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 ...

under the rule of

Axayacatl Axayacatl (; nci, āxāyacatl ; es, Axayácatl ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Biography Early life and background Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atot ...

between 1464 and 1467. The modern town was founded in 1550 when the village of Quilocán was moved to this location and renamed "San Juan Viejo" to evangelize the population under the rule of Alonso de la Serna. In 1565, under the supervision of Pedro Ponce de León constructed the parish church. Pedro Ponce de León may have been the grandson of Cuatlatlapatzin of Tlaxcala. The name was changed to Zumpahuacán in 1689 when authorities bowed to public pressure after a considerable redistribution of lands in the area. The town suffered an epidemic of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

in 1841 and

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

in 1850. Cholera almost wiped out the entire population. Zumpahuacán belonged to the municipality of

Malinalco Malinalco () is the municipalities of Mexico, municipality inside of Ixtapan Region, is a town and municipality located 65 kilometers south of the city of Toluca in the south of the western portion of the State of Mexico. Malinalco is southwest ...

until 1861, became part of Tenancingo. in 1875, the town separated into its city with Lucio Manuel Peña as the first municipal president. On 2 February 1894, Felipe Castañeda G. was executed by firing squad in the town. Though not famous for his acts, he was responsible for the "Proclamation of Zumpahuacán", which was a precursor to 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 ...

. This document was one of the first to disavow the government of

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 ...

, with the town later siding with the

Liberation Army of the South The Liberation Army of the South ( es, Ejército Libertador del Sur, ELS) was a guerrilla force led for most of its existence by Emiliano Zapata that took part in the Mexican Revolution from 1911 to 1920. During that time, the Zapatistas fough ...

. As of the 2005 INEGI census, the town had a population of 4,232 people.

The municipality

As municipal seat, the town of Zumpahuacán is the government of the following surrounding communities: Ahuacatlán (Guadalupe Ahuacatlán), Ahuatzingo, Tlapizalco (Guadalupe Tlapizalco), Colonia Guadalupe Victoria, San Antonio Guadalupe (San Antonio), San Gaspar, San Pablo Tejalpa, Santa Cruz Atempa, Santa Cruz los Pilares (La Loma), El Tamarindo, San Pedro Guadalupe(Despoblado), Santa María la Asunción, El Zapote, Colonia San Nicolás Palo Dulce (Palo Dulce), Santa Ana Despoblado, Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina de la Cruz), Santiaguito, San José Tecontla, La Ascensión, San Juan, Paraje San Gabriel (San Miguel), Amolonca, Guadalupe Chiltamalco, Llano del Copal (La Muñeca), San Miguel Ateopa, La Cabecera, Barrio de Santa Ana, San Mateo Despoblado, and Chiapa San Isidro. The total population of the municipality was 16,149 people as of 2005. The municipality has a total area of 201.54 km2. The original town of Quilocán lies 7 km from the municipal seat and remains an unexplored archeological site, although it has been subject to some looting in recent years. Zumpahuacán lies on a volcanic axis and has a large number of mountains, valleys, hills and depressions. Three of the most notable elevations are: Totsquilla at 2,800 meters above sea level, Santiago or San Miguel at 2,780 meters and Tlalchichilpa at 2,100 meters. Most of these elevations are due to the region's past volcanic activity. It is also part of the Balsas River watershed, which contains a number of natural freshwater springs and seasonally flowing ravines. Over 80% of the municipality's economic activity is based on agriculture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zumpahuacan Populated places in the State of Mexico Municipality seats in the State of Mexico