Texcaltitlán is a town and a municipality of the

State of Mexico The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mo ...

in Mexico. It is located 65 km from

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

on the high plains south of the

Nevado de Toluca Nevado de Toluca () is a stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The volcano and the area ...

volcano. The name Texcaltitlán comes 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 Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

: texcalli = “rock”; titla= "among", with the complete meaning as “among rocks”.

The town

The area now known as Texcaltitlán was settled at least as early as 800 AD, possibly as early as 300AD. It was dominated by the

Teotihuacán Teotihuacan (; Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as ...

civilization, then by the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

s and lastly, between 1250 and 1520 it was dominated by the

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

s. During the late

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...

, Texcaltitlán was an important town and was the head of the towns of

Temascaltepec Temascaltepec is a municipality located in the Ixtapan Region of the State of Mexico in Mexico. Temascaltepec has an area of 547.5 km2. It borders the municipalities of Valle de Bravo, Amanalco de Becerra, Tejupilco, San Simón de Guerrer ...

Tejupilco Tejupilco de Hidalgo is the seat of Tejupilco Municipality in the State of Mexico, Mexico. It is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) southwest of the state capital Toluca, along Federal Highway 34. The name Tejupilco comes from Náhu ...

, and

Tuzantla Tuzantla is a Municipalities of Mexico, municipality in the eastern part of the Mexico, Mexican Mexican state, state of Michoacán. The municipality has an area of 1,018.49 square kilometres (1.73% of the surface of the state) and is bordered to th ...

, as well as a number of communities that no longer exist such as Ciutepeque, Ocelotequepue, Yexvaca, Cuahtepeque, Oztotitipac, Tlapatlapan and Melamamaloya. After the Spanish Conquest, the area came under the governorship of Don Antonio de Caicedo. In the 18th century, the town suffered from outbreaks of the

black plague The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

leading the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

to build their church in nearby San Francisco Coaxusco, rather than in the town itself in 1775. The first church built in the town was built in 1789. During the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

, the town was sacked various times, with the principal targets being businesses, especially those tied to the nearby city of Toluca. Texcaltitlán's history for the rest of the 20th century consists of the modernization of its infrastructure and increasing economic ties with Toluca, the state capital. As of 2005, the town had a population of 2,361 people and is situated at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level. The church in the town of Texcaltitlán is surrounded by black battlements dating from the eighteenth century and wooden baroque-style altarpieces that are in the chapels of the communities of Santa Maria and San Francisco. Tuesday is market day in Texcaltitlán and is one of the oldest traditions of the municipality, which has been preserved from the time of the first settlers. Now it is one of the biggest in the State of Mexico.

The municipality

As municipal seat, the town of Texcaltitlán has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Acatitlán, Arroyo Seco, Carbajal, El Chapaneal, Chiquiuntepec (El Rincón, Rincón Castañeda), Gavia Chica, Hueyatenco, Jesús del Monte, Llano Grande, Noxtepec, Palmillas, San Agustín, San Francisco, San Miguel, Santa María, Texcapilla, Tlacotepec, Venta Morales (El Pedregal), Ejido Venta Morales (La Laguna), Yuytepec, Palo Amarillo, Las Tablas (Las Tablas San José), Rastrojo Largo, Las Paredes, Agua del Trébol, Ojo de Agua, Nueva Santa María, San José, Las Lágrimas, El Agostadero, Los Lirios and La Angostura. The current municipality was founded in 1861 and borders the municipalities of

Sultepec Sultepec is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipal seat is Sultepec de Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras. The municipality covers an area of 552.52 km². The Spanish discovered silver lodes here in 1531, which started comm ...

, Almoloya de Alquisiras,

Coatepec Harinas Coatepec Harinas is one of 125 municipalities in the State of Mexico, Mexico. The municipal seat is the town of Coatepec Harinas. The original name is "Coauhtepetl" which means 'serpent hill' in Náhuatl. Around 1825 because of a boom in flour p ...

and San Simón de Guerrero. It has a territory of 142.45 km². The total municipal population was 15,824 as of 2005.

Climate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Texcaltitlan Populated places in the State of Mexico Municipalities of the State of Mexico