Cuautitlán (), is a municipality 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 ...

, just north of the northern tip of the Federal District (Distrito Federal) within 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 of Cuautitlán is the municipal seat and makes up most of the municipality. The name comes from

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 small ...

and means 'between the trees.'

City and municipal seat

In the Mexican national census of 2020, the municipality recorded an overall population of 178,847. The great majority of these inhabitants — some 117,995 people — resided in the urban confines of the city of Cuautitlán itself.

History

Cuautitlán as an urban center began in the mid-14th century, though its general area had long been settled before that. It was under

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( nci, Āzcapōtzalco , , from '' āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + '' -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern ...

before being conquered by the Triple Alliance, whereafter it became a province under the domain of Tlacopan, divided into four further sub-provinces. After the Conquest, Cuautitlán was evangelized 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 = , ...

. They constructed San Buenaventura monastery and established the brotherhood of the ''Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Cuautitlán''. Saint

Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, also known as Juan Diego (; 1474–1548), was a Chichimec peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of the Virgin Mary on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac an ...

(1474–1548) reputedly lived there with his wife Maria Lucia up to the time of her death in 1529. They lived there in a one-roomed mud house thatched with corn stalks. The house still survives in a good state of preservation. Cuautitlán gained city status in 1968. It is the birthplace of painter and sculptor

Luis Nishizawa Luis Nishizawa (February 2, 1918 – September 29, 2014) was a Mexican artist known for his landscape work and murals, which often show Japanese and Mexican influence. He began formal training as an artist in 1942 at the height of the Mexican mu ...

(1918-2014).

The municipality

As municipal seat, Cuautitlán has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Colonia Venecia, Ejido de Santa Bárbara, Ex-hacienda la Corregidora (La Corregidora), Fracción San Roque (El Prieto), Granja San Isidro, Hacienda San Mateo, La Chinampa, La Laguna, La Trinidad, Machero, Rancho Puente la Cruz, San Mateo Ixtacalco, Santa María Huecatitla, and Xaltipa (Jaltipa). The municipality has an area of 40.9 km² (15.8 sq mi).

References

External links

Sitio Oficial de Cuautitlán
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuautitlan Mexico City metropolitan area Populated places in the State of Mexico Nahua settlements