Huetamo is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the southeastern corner of the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

, in a region known as "

Tierra Caliente ''Tierra caliente'' is an informal term used in Latin America to refer to places with a distinctly tropical climate. These are usually regions from 0 to 3,000 feet above sea level.Zech, W. and Hintermaier-Erhard, G. (2002); Böden der Welt – Ein ...

" (meaning hot land). Of indigenous Purepecha Indian origin, the word "Huetamo" means "four chiefs" or "four came". The municipal seat is the city of San Juan Huetamo de Núñez. In 2015, the population of Huetamo was 41,973.

History

The region was independent around the 16th century. During this period of time,

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n slaves and indigenous people populated the region. Through time the people in the region became people of mixed race;

casta () is a term which means "Lineage (anthropology), lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish America, Spanish Empire in the Americas, the term also refer ...

s, mainly

Castizos ''Castizo''Pronunciation in Latin American Spanish: (fem. ''Castiza'') was a racial category used in 18th-century Spanish America to refer to people who were three-quarters Spanish people, Spanish by descent and one-quarter Amerindians, Amerindi ...

Mestizos ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

Mulatos ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

and Lobos – another name for

Zambos Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian, Indigenous Amerindian and West African people, African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the ...

. The French invaded

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in 1862, taking control of many large and wealthy

hacienda A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...

s in the Tierra Caliente region, such as Zirandaro, and Comburindio. However they were defeated by the Andalusian-styled "Terracalentanos". About 400 French soldiers were imprisoned in Zirandaro, but many later escaped or were released by the people. Most of the French soldiers that were freed married women in the same region. Zirandaro is known to have the greatest French heritage in the region. In 2014, the central Mexican government began a plan to construction in irrigation dam in Chigüero, a few miles north of Huetamo. As a result, archeologists began a salvage project in 2015 and 2016 in order to preserve the area affected by the dam's construction, as well as the surrounding irrigation zone. The Middle Balsas region had not been extensively studied prior to this and as a result, the

pre-Hispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European c ...

history of Huetamo was largely unknown. Based on

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

of excavated materials from 10 of the sites around the dam construction project, Englehardt et al. (2020) has proposed four distinct phases of the region. On December 7, 2021, Huetamo was hit by a 4.0 earthquake.

Notable People

Leo Santa Cruz Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

- Professional Boxer

Amalia Mendoza Amalia Mendoza García (10 July 1923 – 11 June 2001), nicknamed ''La Tariácuri'', was a Mexican singer and actress. "Échame a mi la culpa" and "Amarga navidad" were some of her greatest hits. Her best friend since her youth was Martha de Mi ...

- Mexican singer and actress

References

Municipalities of Michoacán 1553 establishments in the Spanish Empire {{Michoacán-geo-stub

History

Notable People

See also

References