Zempoala is a town and one of the 84

municipalities of Hidalgo Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo is a Administrative divisions of Mexico#States, state in central Mexico divided into 84 municipalities of Mexico, municipalities. According to the 2020 Mexican Census, Hidalgo is the States of Mexico, 16th most populous st ...

, in central-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 the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The municipality covers an area of 319.78 km². The name Zempoala dervies 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 ...

roots "Cempoalli", meaning "twenty" and "tlan", meaning "place"; giving Zempoala the meaning of "place of twenties", referring to the market held every twenty days. As of 2020, the municipality had a total population of 57,906.

History

Zempoala was an important place in the prehispanic culture, inhabited by

Toltecs The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. T ...

and

Chichimecs 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 ...

, the latter arriving in the year 1120, guided by

King Xolotl Xolotl (or Xólotl; ) was a 13th-century Chichimec leader, a ''Tlatoani''. He was named after Aztec god Xolotl. Chichimeca is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the ...

. By 1167, Zempoala was head of the province, being ruled by King Xolotl's son, Nopaltzin. In 1430, the province fell to Texcoco. In 1540, the Spanish arrived to the area. Juan Pérez de Gama was the first ''

encomendero The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

'' of Zempoala. Between 1553 and 1570, the

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque The Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque, or Tembleque Aqueduct, is a Mexican aqueduct located between the towns of Zempoala, Hidalgo, and Otumba in the State of Mexico. The structure takes its name from a Spanish friar called Francisco de Tembleque. ...

was built between Zempoala and Otumba, which would be designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. Since 1 December 2020, the city of Zempoala was declared a "Pueblo Mágico".

Climate

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Hidalgo (state) Populated places in Hidalgo (state) Pueblos Mágicos