Chimalhuacán () ( Nahuatl for "place of those who have shields") is a city and

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 ...

located in the eastern part of State of Mexico,

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 lies just outside the northeast border of

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 ...

and is part of the

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico ( es, Zona metropolitana del Valle de México). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of the S ...

urban area.

The city

The city is practically coextensive with the municipality. The census of 2005 reported a population of 524,223 for the city and 525,389 for the municipality as a whole. Chimalhuacán was founded 1259 by three chiefs or

tlatoani ''Tlatoani'' ( , "one who speaks, ruler"; plural ' or tlatoque) is the Classical Nahuatl term for the ruler of an , a pre-Hispanic state. It is the noun form of the verb "tlahtoa" meaning "speak, command, rule". As a result, it has been variousl ...

named Huauxomatl, Chalchiutlatonac and Tlatzcantecuhtli. These chiefs and their people originated from Tula and Culhuacán. They spoke

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 d ...

and Mexica languages but with time their customs merged and

Náhuatl 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 small ...

became the dominant language. It became subject to Texcoco, and through that belonged to the

Aztec Triple Alliance The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled that area in and around the Valley of Mexi ...

in 1431. The Spanish town of Chimalhuacán was founded in 1529 and the Dominicans built a church and monastery here in 1563.

The municipality

Although the city takes up almost all of the municipality, Chimalhuacán, as the municipal seat, has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Colonia Nueva de Guadalupe la Palma, La Pista de los Corredores, Pista Aérea, Tlatel San Juan Xochiaca Parte Alta, and Zapotla. Chimalhuacan has a new park in the center of the municipality, Plaza Estado de Mexico Chimalhuacan, with a library, theater and other places for entertainment. The entry of the municipality has a monument to Chimalhucán, called Guerrero Chimalli, a 60-meter tall steel statue. The municipality has an area of 46.61 km² (17.996 sq mi). The adjacent municipalities are Nezahualcóyotl, Atenco, Texcoco, Chicoloapan, and La Paz. The city is the sixth largest in the state in population (after Ecatepec de Morelos, Nezahualcóyotl,

Naucalpan de Juárez Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is one of 125 municipalities located just northwest of Mexico City in the adjoining State of Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Naucalpan de Juárez, which extends into the neighboring municipal ...

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the 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 Mexico. The city f ...

, and

Tlalnepantla de Baz Tlalnepantla de Baz is one of 125 municipalities of the state of Mexico, north of Mexico City. The municipal seat and largest city in the municipality is the city of Tlalnepantla. ''Tlalnepantla'' comes from the Náhuatl words ''tlalli'' (land) ...

"La Degolladora"

During September 2015, a series of attacks on the citizens of Chimalhuacan began. The attacker was nicknamed "La Degolladora" ("The Decapitator") by local and international press due to the use of knives to injure and kill people randomly.

″Loca Tristeza Mexicana″

Six members of the ″Loca Tristeza Mexicana″ band were arrested in March 2021 for two murders in 2020. Band members were heavily armed and in possession of drugs. They were also implicated in a kidnapping and murder of a local firefighter in 2018.

References

External links

Chimalhuacan, MexicoMunicipio de Chimalhuacán
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Chimalhuacan Populated places in the State of Mexico Municipalities of the State of Mexico