Tuxpan, Nayarit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Tuxpan (disambiguation).
Tuxpan is both a municipality and the municipal seat of the same located in the Mexican state of Nayarit. The population of the municipality was 31,202 (2002) in a total area of 474.3 km². The population of the municipal seat was 25,998 (2002).
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[edit] Origin of the Name
The name Tuxpan derives from the Castilianization of the Prehispanic name of the region known as Ayutuxpan, which means "Place or land of rabbits".
[edit] Location
tuxpan is located in the west of the state of Nayarit, between parallels 21º 52’ and 22º 01’ of latitude north and meridians 105º 12’ and 105º 27’ of longitude west; it borders in the north with the municipality of Rosamorada, in the south and west with Santiago Ixcuintla, and in the east with Ruíz. See map at [1]
[edit] Extension
Its territorial extension is 474.3 km² which makes up 1.7% of the total surface of the state, being the seventeenth largest municipality out of the total of twenty. See Municipalities of Nayarit
[edit] Population centers
The population of the municipality as registered in 1995 was 31,867 inhabitants. The places with the greatest population were: Tuxpan with 22,481 inhabitants; Coamiles with 3,119; Palma Grande with 2,706; Peñas with 2,132; and, Unión de Corrientes with 1,192, which made up 99% of the population, the 1% remaining distributed throughout 20 small settlements.
[edit] Orography
Approximately 98% of the surface of the municipality is flat land, with only two important elevations: Cerro Grande de la Peña with 400 meters and Cerro de Coamiles with 240 meters. The average elevation is 10 meters.
[edit] Hydrography
The municipality is crossed by two rivers: the San Pedro River, which irrigates 70.12% of the territorial extension and the Acaponeta River. The low lands of the San Pedro are prone to flooding. There is an estuarine zone and many lagoons, among which the most important are: Mexcaltitán, Los Patos, La Punta, and Los Patitos.
[edit] Climate
The climate is hot subhumid with rains from July to September. The hot months are from June to August. There are moderate winds from west to east. The heavy rainfall often causes severe floods.
[edit] Main Ecosystems
The vegetation is mainly jungle, characteristic of zones of great lagoons and mangrove swamps. Among the wild fauna can be found wild pig, rabbit, armadillo, and a great variety of reptiles native to zones of tropical jungle. The the estuary zone there is a great variety of birds and marine fauna.
[edit] Use of the Land
53% of the land is used for agriculture. The fertile lands are used for the cultivation of beans, tobacco, sorghum, corn, melon, watermelon, mango, and some exotic vegetables for export. The rest of the land is divided thusly: 14% jungle; 24% forests with coconut palms and figs and 9% pastureland.
[edit] Socio-demographic Profile
Ethnic Groups
The indigenous population makes up 0.2% of the municipal population with only 56 inhabitants who could speak an indigenous language (1995). The main ethnic groups are: Cora, Purépecha, Tepehuana and Huichol. The number of native language speakers in Tuxpan was the lowest in the state.
Demographic Evolution
Tuxpan is the municipality which has the highest rate of negative population growth in the state, with -1.28%, as an annual average during the period of 1990-1995, that is to say that the 34,268 inhabitants that existed in 1990 had become 31,867 inhabitants in 1995. The annual average growthrate between 1990 and 2000 was 0.94%. By 2002 the population had dropped to 31,202 inhabitants. The population density (1995) was 77 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Religion
The Catholic religion is predominant with 95% of the population identifying themselves as such in 1995, 2.2% declaring no religion and the rest practicing different forms of Protestantism.
Dwellings and Quality of Life
The municipality had 8,013 dwellings in 2000. The average number of occupants per dwelling was 3.68. 61% had three rooms or more. The number of occupants per room was 1.3 persons.
The dwellings in the municipal seat are modern constructions with high-resistant materials. In the rural zones the constructions are rustic, made of light materials like adobe, wood, brick, and sheet metal. Due to the hot climate the ceilings are high.
- Percentage of dwellings with a separate kitchen: 80.8
- Percentage of dwellings using gas for cooking: 94.0
- Percentage of dwellings with a separate bathroom: 89.9
- Percentage of dwellings with piped-in water: 72.1
- Percentage of dwellings with drainage: 78.6
- Percentage of dwellings with electricity: 98.1
- Percentage of dwellings with other than dirt floors: 91.1
- Percentage of dwellings with walls made of solid materials: 98.2
- Percentage of dwellings with roofs made of solid materials: 71.7
- Number of dwellings with a television: 7,346
- Number of dwellings with a fridge: 5,687
- Number of dwellings with a washing machine: 5,022
- Number of dwellings with a telephone: 2,299
- Number of dwellings with an automobile or truck: 1,630
- Number of dwellings with a computer: 132
- Percentage of dwelling with no goods: 2.8 (goods include radio, television, videocassette recorder, food blender, fridge, washing machine, hotwater heater, computer, telephone, and automobile or truck)
All statistics are from the 2000 census provided by INEGI
[edit] Economic Acitivity
The main economic activities are agriculture, animal raising, forestry, fishing, and commerce.
In agriculture the main crops are beans, sorghum, tobacco, banana, and mango. Animal raising was modest with fewer than 16,000 head of cattle in 1995 and about 4,000 head of swine. There was wood extraction for local consumption. Fishing was highly developed due to the estuarine zones of the region. Shrimp was the main product. Manufacturing was limited to small industries producing food, tobacco, ice, and farm equipment. The most important commerce was that of clothing, shoes, food, furniture, autoparts and parts for agricultural equipment.
Economically Active Population by Sector
The EAP made up 30% of the local population. The productive population was distributed in this way: 42.7% in activities connected to agriculture, 12% in activities of the manufacturing sector, 42.2% in the services sector. The remaining 3.1% were involved in nonspecified activities.
[edit] Tourist Sites
Tuxpan is not a tourist destination. Local monuments of limited interest are the parish church of San Miguel Arcángel, which dates from the nineteenth century; and the building of the town hall (Presidencia Municipal) built in the middle of the twentieth century.
During the month of April, every other year, Tuxpan celebrates its fair with cattle and agricultural expositions, cultural events, contests, sports events, and fireworks. The religious festival honoring San Miguel Arcángel is celebrated on 29 Semptember with pilgrimages, prehispanic dances, and fireworks.
Four kilometers from the junction with the federal highway México-Nogales and the same distance from the municipal seat is the archeological zone of Coamiles, where there are diverse petrographs, basreliefs with superficial markings on the stone, which represent natural phenomena. One must not forget the zone of the estuaries where there is fishing or navigating through the many canals that make up the zone of the mouth of the San Pedro River. It is an area that is rich in flora and fauna and is sought after by bird watchers.
