Ixtepec (formally: Ciudad Ixtepec; previously known as Villa de San Jerónimo Doctor) is a small city, and

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' ...

of the same name, located in the state of

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

, in southeastern

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 ...

. It is part of the Juchitán District in the west of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region.

History

The name "Ixtepec" is derived 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 Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

and roughly translates to either "view of the mountain" or "face of the mountain."Its name was Iztepeque until 1935, when it was officially changed to Ciudad Ixtepec. The founding of the city was most likely in the 16th century as a Zapotec settlement shortly before the

Spanish Conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

. It remained an indigenous community until the 19th century, with its economy based on subsistence farming. In the early 20th century, the community grew in economic importance as its location made it attractive to foreign investment with the building of the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

, originally as a rail line.

Geography

The municipality has an area of 294.1 km² at an average elevation of 40 meters above sea level. The climate is warm, with rainfall of 950 mm annually mostly falling in the summer. Average temperature is 27.4 °C, ranging from 21.5 °C to 30.7 °C.

Climate

Communities

As municipal seat, Ciudad Ixtepec has governing authority over the following communities: *Cheguigo Juárez *Quinta Sección *Chivaguí *Colonia Alejandro Cruz Martínez *Colonia la Candelaria *Colonia Niza Luba *5 de Febrero *Llano Blanco *Imperio Jeromeño *Piedra Bola *El Carrizal (Chivaniza) *El Zapote *Guichilana *Guigobazaá *La Guadalupe *La Huana Milpería *La Providencia *La Rufa *Laguna Bacuela *Los Cascabeles *Los Laureles *Niza Shiga (Monte Grande) *Nizandá *Rancho Félix Enríquez Sangermán *Río Seco *Llano Grande *San Jerónimo

Economy

As of 2005, there were 6,481 households with a population of 24,181, of whom 4,667 spoke an indigenous language. Like Ixtaltepec, Juchitán and

Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre-Hispanic per ...

, Ixtepec has a significant native Zapotec population. Many indigenous traditions are still followed. Ixtepec used to be an important

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

center point, but nowadays no passenger train traffic runs through. However, a university has recently been constructed there. Economic activities include very limited agriculture on 972 hectares of irrigated land growing corn, sorghum, sesame and vegetables, 408 small farms raising cattle, pigs or goats, fish hatcheries for crappie, tilapia and red snapper, manufacture of bricks, school uniforms and home furnishings, and mining of black clay for making pots and figurines and adobe bricks.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Oaxaca