Tlalnepantla is the name of a city and a municipality in the Mexican state of

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

. The city reported a population of 3,872 inhabitants, while its municipality reported 7,166 inhabitants in the 2015 census. It is the least populous of the 17 municipalities that border Mexico City, bordering the capital city's southeastern

Milpa Alta Milpa Alta is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It lies in the southeast corner of the nation's capital, bordering the State of Mexico and Morelos. It is the least populated, second largest and most ...

borough. Tlalnepantla is located 57 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...

Name

The name Tlalnepantla means "In the middle of the lands" in

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 ...

, which may be interpreted as "In the middle of the mountains". According to Reyes and Robelo this town was originally called Tlalnepantla Kuauhtenko; this second place name means "On the shore of the eagles"; its etymology from ''Kuauh-tli'', "eagle"; ''ten-tli'', "shore or lip", and ''ko'', adverb of "place"; however, in the hieroglyph the sign of the tree is clearly seen between two parts of the earth. It is supposed to be related to the terrestrial meridian, nearly the same as the

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven (), also commonly called the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, is the cathedral church of the Catholic Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, Archdiocese o ...

The municipality

Towns and villages

The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are: Other communities include Fraccionamiento Calmil, Campo Aguacomulco, Bosques de Morelos, Campo Jazmín, and Fraccionamiento los Robles.

History

Ruins of settlements of

Nahuas The Nahuas ( ) are a Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the Indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They comprise the largest Indigenous group in Mexico, as well as ...

and Nahuatl-speaking

Tlahuicas Matlatzinca is a name used to refer to different Indigenous ethnic groups in the Toluca Valley in the state of México, located in the central highlands of Mexico. The term is applied to the ethnic group inhabiting the valley of Toluca and to thei ...

have been found since before the founding of Tlalnepantla. By the 1590s a town called Teocaltitla was established northwest about seven kilometers from the present municipal seat. Ruins of its church, including plaster, can still be seen. The ruins of the town of San Bartolomé ("Cohamilpa") are located about four kilometers west of Tlalnepantla. Ruins of the San Nicolás Tolentino neighborhood ("Teopancasholtitla"), founded in 1600, are located six kilometers from Tlalnepantla. San Felipe, also founded in the 1600s, is located five kilometers away. Tlalnepantla-Cuahutenco was formed by Fray Toribio and Fray

Juan de Zumárraga Juan de Zumárraga, OFM (1468 – June 3, 1548) was a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate and the first Bishop of Mexico. He was also the region's first inquisitor. He wrote ''Doctrina breve'', the first book published in the Western Hemisphe ...

between 1680 and 1690 by grouping the people into five "barrios"—San Pedro, San Felipe, San Nicolás, San Bartolo, Santiagoof—with about 800 people each. It took the simpler name Tlalnepantla in 1869. Construction of the convent and the parish of the Purification was begun by the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

in the 16th century and completed in 1791. The former monastery of the Precious Blood of Christ also dates from the same time. The church was burned during the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence (, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. It was not a single, coherent event, but local and regional ...

and was renovated in 1933. Tlalnepantla became a municipal seat in 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 ...

on October 11, 1848. It became part of

on April 17, 1869. A telephone line was established between 1880 and 1910 near Tenecuilco where President

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

had a hunting lodge. On one occasion, the president got lost, only to be saved by a local resident named Bonifacio Rodríguez. In gratitude for saving his life, the president gave Rodríguez his telephone number, which was quite useful later when Rodríguez was arrested in a drunken brawl. Ciriaco Espíndola, also from Tenecuilco, became Díaz's secretary from 1880-1900 and his brother Dolores Espíndola worked as administrator of the

Mexican Railway The Mexican Railway (''Ferrocarril Mexicano'') was one of the primary pre-nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in London in September 1864 as the Imperial Mexican Railway (''Ferrocarril Imperial Mexicano'') to complete an earlier p ...

. The ex-hacienda of Cuatepec or Coatepec was built during colonial times. 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 hacienda was looted and burned, then abandoned by its owner. The peasants divided the land and the community adopted the name of General Felipe Neri, a Zapatista who was killed by rival general Antonio Barona Rojas. The town's foundation is celebrated on February 8. The first carnaval in Tlalnepantla was organized by Pablo Lima in 1905; ''carnaval'' was suspended during the Revolution and started again in 1929. El Vigía, also called San Nicolás del Monte, was formed by uniting the barrios of San Miguel, San Francisco, San Pedro, and San Lucas. San Nicolás del Monte was isolated until Mexican Federal Highway 113 was built in 1973. The town changed its name to El Vigía in 1973 because during the Revolution it was used to warn people when enemy armies were approaching. El Pedregal was founded by Teofilo Pacheco in 1975. At least 340 homes were damaged during the

2017 Puebla earthquake The 2017 Puebla earthquake, also known as 19S, struck at 13:14 CDT (18:14 UTC) on 19 September 2017 with an estimated magnitude of 7.1 and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about south of the city of Puebla, Mexico. ...

, but no deaths or injuries were reported in the municipality. Rigoberto Espindola Gonzalez of the Panal was elected Presidente Municipal on July 1, 2018. The state of Morelos reported 209 cases and 28 deaths due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to hav ...

as of April 27, 2020; one case was reported in Tlatnapantla. Schools and many businesses were closed from mid March until June 1. On July 2, Tlalnepantla reported 33 infections and four deaths from the virus; the reopening of the state was pushed back until at least June 13. Tlalnepantla reported 19 cases, 18 recuperations, and two deaths from the virus as of August 31. Twenty/one cases were reported on December 27, 2020.

Notable people

*Fray Toribio and Fray Juan de Zumárraga – Founders of Tlalnepantla, about 1690 *Teofilo Pacheco – Founder of El Pedregal in 1975 *Ciriaco Espíndola – Secretary to President Porfirio Díaz, 1880-1900 *Pablo Lima – Organized the first ''carnaval,'' 1905 *Inés Chávez – Built the ''Deposito de Cuatizec,'' 1906-1908 *Benjamín Medina – Built 500 meters of highway from Tlalnepantla to Tierra Grande, 1931-1933 Municipal presidents (1958–present)

Geography

Location

Tlalnepantla is located in northern Morelos state, with

, Mexico City and Juchitepec, State of Mexico to the north;

Tepoztlán Tepoztlán () is a town in the central Mexican state of Morelos. It is located at in the heart of the Tepoztlán Valley. The town serves as the seat of government for the municipality of the same name. The town had a population of 14,130 inhabit ...

to the west, Tlayacapan to the east, and Totolapan to the east. It is located at 18°57'N and 98°14'W of Greenwich. With an average altitude of 2,060 meters above sea level, it is the third highest municipality in the state, exceeded only by Huitzilac (2,500 m) and Tetela del Volcán (2,200 m). ;Distance (by highway) *

(state capital) – (1 hour, 13 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 and Mexican Federal Highway 160 *

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

(

Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...

) – (1 hour, 54 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 and Mexican Federal Highway 150D *

Cuautla, Morelos Cuautla (, meaning "where the eagles roam"), officially La heroica e histórica Cuautla, Morelos (''The Heroic and Historic Cuautla, Morelos'') or H. H. Cuautla, Morelos, is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Morelos, about 104 kilome ...

– (46 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 *Tepoztlan, Morelos – (1 hour, 2 minutes) via Mexican Federal Highway 113 and Mexican Federal Highway 115D

Area

, which is 2.2% of the total territory of Morelos.

Relief

Most of the municipality is in the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks have snow all year long, and dur ...

. The highest peaks are: *Cerro de Otlayuca – *Volcán Ololica – *Cerro Tecaño – *Cerro de los Pilares – *Cerro Ometuzco – Approximately 16% of the total surface is rugged, 78% is semi-flat, and 0.5% is flat (mostly in the north, west, and southeast).

Water resources

There are no rivers or streams in Tlalnepantla. Rainwater is caught in the canyons and gullies of Cuatizec, Tlatenchi, Teshohuaca, and Tepeclapa. There is an average of of annual precipitation.

Climate

The climate in the municipality is temperate sub-humid, with an average annual temperature of and an average annual rainfall of . Tlalnepantla is one of the municipalities with the highest annual precipitation. At a height of , San Felipe Neri merits special attention. The climate is temperate sub-humid, with rainfall in summer, average annual temperature between , with a cool and long summer.

Flora

Flora consists mainly of

Temperate coniferous forest Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant life. In some, needle ...

: pine, oak, fir, ash, elm, tejocote (a fruit tree), and ocotillo (a shrub). There is a wide variety of medicinal plants such as squaw mint (for stomach pain), lemon balm (taken as tea), tochete (mint), tabaquillo, mullein (used to heal wounds), and

Valerian (herb) Valerian (''Valeriana officinalis'', Caprifoliaceae) is a perennial flowering plant native to Eurasia. It produces a catnip-like response in cats. Crude Extract, extracts of valerian root may have sedative and anxiolytic effects; however, the ...

(for rheumatism).

Fauna

Fauna includes

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

, skunk, Mexican volcano mouse, mountain lions, quail, coyote, wolf, wildcat,

cacomistle The cacomistle (; ''Bassariscus sumichrasti''), also spelled cacomixtle, is a primarily nocturnal, arboreal, omnivorous member of the carnivoran family Procyonidae (coatis, kinkajous and raccoons). Depending on the location, its preferred habi ...

(raccoon),

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

, ferret, rabbit, iguana, snakes, scorpion, chameleon,

roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and C ...

, and woodpecker. Hunting is prohibited in the forest.

Natural resources

Agricultural land and forests are the most important natural resources.

Soil

Most soils consist of

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

. Of the , (38%) are used for farming. Forest consists of or 61% of the land, while the rest is used for buildings.

Economy

The main economic activity of this is agriculture, of which 89% is the cultivation of prickly pears or

nopal ''Nopal'' (plural ''nopales'') is a common name in Spanish for ''Opuntia'' cacti (commonly referred to in English as prickly pear or tender cactus), as well as for its pads. The name ''nopal'' derives from the Nahuatl word for the pads of t ...

es. Both the fruit and the leaves are sold in Mexico City, Monterrey, Tijuana, and even the United States. Corn and tomatoes, which were once staple crops, now take second place to this cactus. Fruit trees were introduced by Spanish missionaries, and some fruit, particularly avocados, peaches, and pears are still gown today. Livestock are also raised. There is controlled logging of the forests and a significant amount of wood is exploited. There are some fields for growing Christmas trees.

Culture

Historical monuments

*Tlalnepantla **Churches and chapels: Ex-convent and Parish of

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

, Chapel of San Pedro, Chapel of San Felipe, Chapel of San Nicolás, Chapel of San Bartolo, Chapel of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, La Candelaria Church **Civil buildings ***Municipal Auditorium. This building has a mural representing the 33 municipalities of Morelos. It was painted in 1998, by students of the Quetzalcoatl junior high school. ***City Hall Building. *El Vigía: Church of San Nicolás *Felipe Neri **Church of La Concepción **Ex-Hacienda de Coatepec. This building is in ruins and is not used.

Holidays

*July 25: Santiago Apóstol *August 24: San Bartolo *May 1: San Felipe *May 31, 2020, and May 23, 2021: Pentecost (fifty days after

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

, celebrated in Tlalnepantla with a fair including games, bands,

amusement rides Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to ...

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to bucking, buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." ...

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

, and traditional food. *September 10: San Nicolás *September 15: Precious Blood of Christ, celebrated in barrio San Miguel

Music and dance

;Music There are four

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

s that regularly play at fairs in Tlalnepantla.

Tropical music Tropical music () is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean ...

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

s, and

Norteño music Norteño ( Spanish: "northerner") may refer to: * Norteño refers to the people originally from Northern Mexico in hispanic countries * By extension, Norteño refers to the people and the culture of Northern New Mexico (particularly north-centr ...

are also popular. ;Dance

Chinelos Chinelos are a kind of traditional costumed dancer which is popular in the Mexican state of Morelos, parts of the State of Mexico and the Federal District of Mexico City, especially the boroughs of Milpa Alta, Tlalpan, Xochimilco and Magdalena Co ...

began in Tlayacapan but are now popular at carnivals and fairs throughout the region. The Chinelos costume consists of four main items: a long flowing robe made of velvet which usually has a rectangular shape tunic, a mask, a large plumed hat, and gloves. The masks are made of mesh and feature an upturned beard and European features.

Food

Nopales were introduced to Tlalnepantla about forty years ago, and today they can form the basis of many local dishes: sandwiches of nopal, nopales with

cecina Cecina may refer to * Cecina (river), a river in Tuscany, Italy * Cecina (meat), a Spanish and Mexican culinary specialty made of beef * ''Cecina'' (gastropod), a genus of freshwater snails in the family Pomatiopsidae * Cecina, Tuscany, Italy * C ...

tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

s of nopal, and eggs with nopales, to name a few.

Mole Verde Mole (; from Nahuatl ''mōlli'', ), meaning 'sauce', is a traditional sauce and marinade originally used in Mexican cuisine. In contemporary Mexico the term is used for a number of sauces, some quite dissimilar, including ''mole amarillo'' or '' ...

, mole with chicken or

pumpkin seed A pumpkin seed, also known as a ''pepita'' (from the Mexican , 'little seed of squash'), is the edible seed of a pumpkin or certain other cultivars of squash. The seeds are typically flat and oval with two axes of symmetry, have a white outer ...

, and cecina with cheese are also traditional foods.

References

External links

*http://www.e-morelos.gob.mx/e-gobierno/DirMunicipios/tlalnepantla.htm *http://e-municipios.e-morelos.gob.mx/tlalnepantla.htm {{Authority control Municipalities of Morelos Populated places in Morelos Nahua settlements