Tultepec (,

Otomi The Otomi (; ) are an Indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an Indigenous people of the Americas who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguistically rel ...

: ) is a 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' ...

located in

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 ...

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 lies directly north of

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 ...

in the northeastern part of the State of Mexico, making it part of the

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City is the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of Mexico, municipalities of the State of Mexico and Hi ...

urban area. The name comes from

Náhuatl 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 pop ...

meaning 'hill of the '

tule ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the p ...

'. The census of 2005 reported a population of 57,586 for the city and 110,145 for the municipality as a whole. The municipality is known for its

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

industry.

The city

The area was first settled by the

Chichimeca Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajío region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the same meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" tha ...

s, followed by the

s in the seventh century. After the Spanish invasion, Tultepec was given to Alonso Ávila along with the current municipalities of

Zumpango Zumpango is a municipality located in the northeastern part of the state of Mexico in Zumpango Region. It lies directly north of Mexico City within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The municipal seat, Zumpango de Ocampo, lies near Lake Zumpango ...

Xaltocán Xaltocan was a pre-Columbian city-state and island in the Valley of Mexico, located in the center of Lake Xaltocan, part of an interconnected shallow lake system which included Lake Texcoco; this place is now inside the village of San Miguel Jalt ...

, Huehuetoca, Coyotepec, Teoloyucan and others, as part of the

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 ...

Cuautitlán Cuautitlán (, Otomi: ), is a municipality in the State of Mexico, just north of the northern tip of the Federal District (Distrito Federal) within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city of Cuautitlán is the municipal seat and makes up ...

. The modern town of Tultepec began to take shape around 1610 in the valley next to a small elevation called San Martín.

Franciscan 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 institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

s came to evangelize the new community, dedicating it to the Nativity of Holy Mary and constructing a temple in 1618. This temple, later a parish, was renovated between 1948 and 1955. The town and municipality boast of a number of musicians and painters including Hernesto Urbán Rodríguez (1894), Ricardo Vázquez Pineda (1894), Victor Manuel Urbán Silva (1894), Andrés Urbán (1870) and Prudenciano García (1880), as well as modern composers such as Victor Urbán Velasco, Gerardo Urbán Velásco, Francisco Vázquez García, Francisco Romero Linares, and J. Isabel Vázquez Solano. Better-known painters include Miguel Hernández Urbán, Joaquín González Romero, Margarito González Solano, Gregorio González Solano, and Albino Luna Sánchez. It is the home of a folk dance group that has toured the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Fireworks industry

In the past, when the town was still rural, the economy was based on products such as

pulque Pulque (; ), occasionally known as octli or agave wine, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, ...

, animal feed, salt and tequesquite as well as domestic fowl and other small animals, mostly to be sold in Mexico City. Nowadays, the

industry is the major industry in Tultepec. Every year, the town throws a weeklong festival with fireworks competitions among various producers. Many pioneers in pyrotechnics came from Tultepec, including Agustín, Miguel and Gregorio Fiesco (1880); José Solano Urbán (1900–1920), who revolutionized firework sets and castles; Felipe Reyes, who worked on the colors red and yellow around 1920; Ángel Guadalupe Flores, who around 1920 invented star fireworks and sparklers as well as several types of rockets; Cirilo Sánchez (1920), who worked on aerostatic balloons; as well as Tomás Romero, Ángel Urbán Rivero, Marcos Romero, and Felipe Fiesco, who innovated such items as the electric target, the spider bomb, and two-figure wheels between 1930 and 1934. The city and municipality hosts the annual National Pyrotechnic Festival.

2016 fireworks explosion

On 20 December 2016, at least 36 people were killed and 59 were injured when fireworks exploded at the San Pablito Market. Previous explosions in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012 had killed a total of 20 people.Mexico's 'capital of pyrotechnics' has experienced at least 8 fireworks explosions in the past 20 years
businessinsider.de, 21 Dezember 2016, retrieved 14 March 2017.

Municipality

As municipal seat, Tultepec has governing jurisdiction over the communities of Guadalupe, Rancho el Cuquío, Maite (Granja Maite), San Antonio Xahuento, Rancho San Joaquín, Santiago Teyahualco, Rancho la Virgen, Ejido Tultepec, Rancho Nodín, Paraje Trigo Tenco, Ejido de Teyahualco, Hacienda Real de Tultepec, Unidad CTM San Pablo, Barrio de San Martín, Ejido San Pablito (Paraje San Pablito), Colonia las Brisas, La Rinconada, La Saucera, Cajiga (Ejido de Tultepec), El Progreso, Colonia la Aurora and Fraccionamiento Paseos de Tultepec II. The municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Nextlalpan,

Melchor Ocampo Melchor Ocampo (4 January 1814 – 3 June 1861) was a Mexican lawyer, scientist, and politician. A zambo and a radical liberal, he was fiercely anticlerical, perhaps an atheist, and his early writings against the Catholic Church in Mexico gaine ...

, Tultitlán, Coacalco and

. Most of the area is a plain with small hills, the largest of which is called Otzolotepec. Temperatures range between 6 and 28 °C, but much of the local ecosystem has been destroyed due to urbanization. The territory surrounding the town of Tultepec used to be much larger. The current municipality took shape at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th when areas were split off to create the current municipality of Melchor Ocampo. The municipal palace was constructed in 1870. Tultepec municipality currently has an area of 19.02 km² (7.344 sq mi). Another major town in the municipality is Santiago Teyahualco. Outside the main town, there is still some agricultural activity including the raising of animal feed, beans, corn, wheat and

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

, and the raising of animals such as cattle and pigs, but agricultural land is shrinking. There are over 79 manufacturing establishments in the municipality including Asfalto Industria and Nacional Constructora. Communities involved in the manufacture of fireworks also serve as tourist attractions.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in the State of Mexico Mexico City metropolitan area Municipalities of the State of Mexico