San Nicolás 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 Mexican

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

. It is located southeast of the state capital of

Chilpancingo Chilpancingo de los Bravo (commonly shortened to Chilpancingo; ; Nahuatl: Chilpantzinco ()) is the capital and second-largest city of the Mexican state of Guerrero. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people. The municipality has an area of ...

. It is named after its patron saint,

Nicholas of Tolentino Nicholas of Tolentino, OSA (, c. 1246September 10, 1305) known as the "Patron of Holy Souls", was an Italian Catholic Christian mysticism, mystic who is invoked as an advocate for the souls in Purgatory, especially during Lent and the month of ...

. Its creation from the municipality of Cuajinicuilapa was approved in 2021 and went into force on 21 May 2022.

Geography

The municipality of San Nicolás is located in the Costa Chica region of southeastern Guerrero. It borders the municipality of Cuajinicuilapa in Guerrero to the west, north, and east, the

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 ...

n municipality of

Santiago Tapextla Santiago Tapextla is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in southeastern Mexico and is the westernmost municipality in Oaxaca. The municipality covers an area of 128.8 km². It is located in the Jamiltepec District in the west of the Costa Region ...

to the southeast, and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the southwest. The municipality covers an area of . The municipality's Pacific coast serves as a critical nesting area for the leatherback turtle and is protected as the

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Playa Tortuguera Tierra Colorada. San Nicolás has a

subhumid temperate climate The subhumid temperate climate also called monsoon temperate climate, is a temperate climate sub-type with monsoon influence, that is a climate with dry winter and wet summer. Although the terms ''subhumid temperate climate'' and ''monsoon tempera ...

with rain in the summer. Average temperatures range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .

History

The municipality of San Nicolás is located on territory that was once part of the province of Quahuitlán, whose inhabitants spoke Quahteca or Cuahuiteca, which was probably a Mixtec dialect. Quahuitlán which was controlled by

Tututepec Tututepec (Mixtec languages, Mixtec: ''Yucu Dzaa'') is a Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican archaeological site. It is located in the lower Río Verde (Oaxaca), Río Verde valley on the coast of Mesoamerican geography#Oaxaca, Oaxaca. The city was the capita ...

until around 1497, when the area was conquered by the

Mexica Empire The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahua city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled that area in and around the Valley ...

Pedro de Alvarado Pedro de Alvarado (; 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, ''conquistador'', ''adelantado,'' governor and Captaincy General of Guatemala, captain general of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the c ...

conquered the area for Spain in 1522, and in 1548 the area was made an ''

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...

'' of

Tristán de Luna y Arellano Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1510 – September 16, 1573) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador of the 16th century.Herbert Ingram Priestley, Tristan de Luna: Conquistador of the Old South: A Study of Spanish Imperial Strategy (1936). http://pa ...

. In the late 16th century, Spanish cattle ranchers brought free and enslaved blacks and

mulatto ( , ) 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 ...

es to the area, from whom most of San Nicolás's present-day inhabitants are descended. In 2004, inhabitants of San Nicolás and nearby communities began an initiative to separate from Cuajinicuilapa and form a new municipality, citing a lack of resources for development in their area. On 31 August 2021 the Guerrero state legislature approved the formation of the municipality of San Nicolás comprising ten localities previously belonging to Cuajinicuilapa. The state constitutional amendment establishing the municipality was passed on 13 January 2022 and went into force on 21 May 2022.

Administration

San Nicolás held its first elections as an independent municipality in 2024. The municipal government of San Nicolás comprises a

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' ( English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines during the Spanish and American colonial periods; it is comparable to a mayor of the tow ...

, a councillor (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''síndico''), and six trustees (''regidores'').

Demographics and culture

In the 2020

INEGI The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI from its former name in ) is an autonomous agency of the Government of Mexico, Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information ...

Census, the localities that now comprise the municipality of San Nicolás recorded a population of 6984 inhabitants. The municipal seat, also named San Nicolás, recorded a population of 3249 inhabitants in the 2020 Census. The next most populous localities are and Punta Maldonado, which recorded populations of 1583 and 848 inhabitants respectively in the 2020 Census. Like the neighbouring Cuajinicuilapa, San Nicolás has been identified by cultural authorities, academics, and journalists as a centre of

Afro-Mexican Afro-Mexicans (), also known as Black Mexicans (), are Mexicans of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both free and enslaved Africans who arrived to Mexi ...

culture in Guerrero's Costa Chica. However, residents of San Nicolás self-identify as ''moreno'' (black Indians) and reject labels such as "black", "Afro-Mexican" and "Afromestizo". Since the late 1990s, a significant community of expatriates from San Nicolás has lived in the cities of

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina and the 91st-most populous city in the Uni ...

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

and Charlotte in the U.S. state of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Economy

The economy of San Nicolás is based on

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

farming: farmers grow corn for their own consumption, and sesame and fruit (e.g., mango, papaya and watermelon) for sale to regional markets. Seaside communities depend heavily on fishing.

Geography

History

Administration

Demographics and culture

Economy

References

Further reading