Tenango del Valle

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Coordinates: 19°06′09″N 99°35′20″W / 19.1025, -99.58889
Tenango del Valle / Tenango de Arista
— Municipality —
Country	Mexico
State	State of Mexico
Municipal seat	Tenango de Arista
Largest city	Tenango de Arista
Government
- Municipal president	Abel Vilchis Arellano (2006-2009) (PRD)
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Website: (Spanish)

'Tenango de Arista is a town and seat of the municipality of Tenango del Valle in the State of Mexico; however, both are commonly referred to as Tenango del Valle. It is located 16 miles south downtown Toluca, capital city of Estado de México. The name Tenango is from the Náhuatl "Teotenango" which means in the walls of the gods or in the divine walls. The original Teotenango was built on an adjoining hill to the current town. The archeological site retains the original name while the newer town, was renamed to make the distinction.^[1]

1 The town
2 The municipality
3 Archeological site of Teotenango
4 References

[edit] The town

The Matalcingo Valley, where the town is located, has been inhabitated by humans for a long time. The valley was the site of Teotihuacan expansion. The year 800 B.C.saw the development of different civilizations. One example of this is theMatlatzincas that inhabited the plateaus of the State of Mexico.

In [[[1250]], the inhabitants of Teotenango fought against the people of Calimaya. Having lost, they moved to Amecameca where they settled in 1295. The area was then conquered by Axayacatl between 1474 and 1476. The inhabitants of Teotenango and nearby regions were obligated to pay tribute of cotton mantles, wood, coas (tools to work the land), corn, beans, chía, huahutli, gold ornaments and feathers.^[1]

During the Spanish Conquest, Martin Dorantes conquered Teotenango. He relocated the city in the low part in 1550 renaming it Tenango del Valle.^[2] Tenango del Valle gained city status in 1994.^[3]

The town was officially renamed Heroica a la Villa de Tenango de Arista in 1868. As of the 2005 INEGI census, the town had a population of 20,238 residents.^[4]

[edit] The municipality

As municipal seat, the city of Tenango de Arista has governing jurisdiction over the following communities:San Bartolomé Atlatlahuca, Rancho Gómez Tagl,Rancho la Providencia,Santa Cruz, Pueblo Nuevo (Pueblo Nuevo),San Francisco Putla, San Francisco Tepexozuca, San Francisco Tetetla, Colonia San José, Loma San Joaquín, Rancho de José Herrera (La Deportiva), San Miguel Balderas, San Pedro Tlanixco, San Pedro Zictepec, Santa María Jajalpa, Santiaguito Cuaxustenco, Santa Cecilia, El Coloso (Las Cruces), La Cooperativa, Colonia Azteca, La Isleta (Islote), La Haciendita, La Herradura, Acatzingo, El Guarda, San Isidro, Colonia San Román (El Llano), La Hacienda de Cuautenango, Monte Calvario, San Juan Tepehuixco, Rancho el Cerrito (Los Charcos), El Zarzal, Cruz Blanca, Colonia de las Minas, Loma Rancho Juan Méndez, Los Cedros, Colonia San José (Barranca Mocha), La Loma (Las Ruinas), and Los Lavaderos. The total population of the municipality is 68,669 people.^[4]

Tenango del Valle is bordered by the municipalities of Calimaya, Santa María Rayón,Texcalyacac, Tenancingo, Villa Guerrero, Joquicingo and Toluca.^[5] Its territory extends 208.88 sq km ^[1]

After the conquest in 1550, the Tenango area belonged to the mayorship of Malinalco, but by 1580 it became an independent mayorship. After the creation of the state of Mexico in 1824, Tenango del Valle became one of the first municipalities.^[1]

The climate is moderate semi-arid. The rains in Tenango are common in summer, from October to January the weather cools, and in February and March there are strong winds. The annual temperature is 13.5° C, with a maximum of 29.5° C and with a minimum of 5° C.^[1]

Tenango del Valle's topography is characterized for the peaks that extend throughout the territory. Some of the more notable are Tetépetl hill (the home of the Teotenango archeological site), Azul hill and the Zictepec hillside. Also there are hills named Tepehuisco in “Pueblo Nuevo” (new town) and “El Zacatonal” and “El Cuexcontepec” hills in “Tlanixco”. Tenango del Valle has many brooks,including “Arroyo Grande”, “La Cieneguita”, “El Zaguán”, “Dos Caminos”, “La Ciénega”, “Almoloya” and “Las Cruces”.^[1]

[edit] Archeological site of Teotenango

Nowadays, the name Teotenango is kept as the name of the archeological site. It is one of the most important attractions of the region dating from the year 1200 A.D., when the Teotenacas established themselves at Tetépetl Hill. Since 1975, it has been open to the public.

Only a small part of the archeological site has been explored. It is located northeast of Tetépetl Hill. During its construction, the inhabitants had to respect the topographical obstacles, making the architecture uneven in an interesting and skillful way.

Teotenango was the home of priests, the military and people with high religious rank. The city was founded at the end of the Classic period(200 BC-900 AD) with the residents being mostly Matlazincas.^[6]

The architecture consists of five areas among which three pyramids can be observed. These pyramids do not have names, instead they are known by numbers and letters. During the pre-Hispanic period, it was a fortress for its residents. Since the city was built on the hillside and the rest was guarded by walls, it was used as a military and religious ceremonial center.

The main entrance is a monumental column created in 1930, dedicated to Ignacio López Rayón. It was built similar to the one founded over the Pyramid A, which was destroyed by a thunderbolt many years ago.

The Jaguar Plaza is the principal access point to the ceremonial center. Of all the three-hundred petroglyphs of the zone, the most important is in this plaza. In the plaza of area A, the Teotenacas (the way people from Teotenango are called) celebrated their religious ceremonies. In this period, human sacrifices occurred in this plaza. The ball game field consists of lateral walls on each end. The court is bounded by inclined sidewalks on the long sides. On the two vertical walls, were the stone rings that the ball needed to cross. Next to the field, there is a temascal, which is kind of a sauna, used by the ancestors for curative and purification rituals.^[3]

Based in the architecture, the following periods in the development of Teotenango are identified:

I - Water (650 to 750 a. C) There was a little village called “water eye”, which had small houses made of rock and mud widely separated.

II - Earth (750 to 900) There was a huge improvement of construction of the houses around the “water eye”. Archeologists have found bathrooms with saunas. The pottery is related with “Coyotlateco” type which is brown decorated with red.

III - Wind (900 to 1162) This is the site’s best moment. They built communities, ceremonial platforms, streets, walls, houses, pits, drainage ditches and ball games. The pottery in this period is also “Coyotlateco” type. In this period they built what we can see today in the city.

IV - Fire (1162 to 1476) During this stage, a Matlazinca stage, architectural constructions were done in the site. Apparently, these constructions tended to be more to minor modifications than to a new pattern of the city. This period is associated with the Matlatzinca’s characteristic pottery called Mazapa.

V - Death (1474 to 1550) During this stage there is some construction in the North area, but this is a period of decline, this with the conquest of the Mexicas and later the Spanish.^[6]

The museum here is called “Román Piña Chan” located in the archeological zone. In this museum you can find many interesting pieces from the different periods that the Matlazinca people had, up to their conquest by the Aztecs. One of the most amazing pieces is the “Huehuetl of Teotenengo”, which is a prehispanic musical instrument and is one of the few in existence.^[1]