Tepotzotlán

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Coordinates: 19°42′58″N 99°13′25″W / 19.71611, -99.22361
Tepotzotlán
— Municipality —
Country	Mexico
State	State of Mexico
Municipal seat	Tepotzotlán
Largest city	Tepotzotlán
Government
- Municipal president	Marcos Márquez Mecado (2006-2009) (APM)
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Website: (Spanish)

Tepotzotlán is a city and a Municipality in Mexico State in Mexico. It is located 115km northeast of Mexico City. Its name comes from Náhuatl and means among hunchbacks. Its shield includes the image of a person with a hunched back.^[1]

[edit] The city

The city is located in the Valley of Anahuac, whose caves show evidence of human inhabitation since about 2,500 B.C. The area was under the control and influence of the Teotihuacán culture when the city was at its height. After its fall, the area was control of a Chichimeca chief named Chicontonatiuh, whose government was based in Quetzaltepec by 637, and remained under Chichimeca control until the Spanish conquest, avoiding absorption into the Aztec Empire when Ayactlacatzin negotiated with Moctezuma Xocoyotzin to keep it independent in 1408. After the Spanish Conquest, the area came under the governorship of Juan de Ortega in 1546 with the governing entity at Cuautitlán. The area was evangelized by Brothers Alonso de Guadalupe and Alonso de Herrera who had a hermitage constructed in 1525; nowadays, it is the Temple of Saint Peter the Apostle. The town became a ecclesiastical center for the indigenous around 1547. In 1585, the college for novitiates of San Pedro y San Pablo was moved here. The Jesuits initiated a number of archtectural works here including a college (now the Museo Nacional del Virreinato (National Museum of the Viceroyalty)), the aqueducts of Xalpa also known as the Arcos del Sitio, and the Temple of San Francisco Javier, which was initiated by Diego de Sierra in 1670.^[1]

The city had a population of 39,374 as of 2005 and is 2300 meters above sea level.^[2]

Tepotzotlán has been named one of the Pueblos Mágicos of Mexico. Because of this, much effort is being put into rescuing and restoring much of the buildings of the town's past.^[3]

Museo Nacional del Virreinato (National Museim of the Viceroyalty) was originally a Jesuit college and houses art and other items from the colonial period. The building itself was constructed from 1610 to 1740. It is divided into three sections: the first dedicated to the evangelization of Mexico, the second to saints such as San Francisco Javior, the patron saint of the Jesuit church and the third to a collection of retablos. It is located at Plaza Hidalgo No. 99.^[4]

[edit] The municipality

As municipal seat, the city of Tepotzotlán has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Cañada de Cisneros, Colonia los Dolores (Ex-hacienda los Dolores), San Mateo Xoloc, San Miguel Cañadas, Santa Cruz, Santiago Cuautlalpan, Las Cabañas, Barrio de Texcacoa, Arcos del Sitio, La Concepción, El Jagüey, Lanzarote, La Pedrera (La Mina), Ex-hacienda San José la Teja, Peña Colorada, Casas Hogar Fidel Velázquez, Lumbrera Número Diez, La Luz, La Pedrera, Ejido Santiago, Santiago el Alto, Fraccionamiento Club Virreyes, Ampliación los Potros (Tres Piedras), Colonia Guadalupe, Barrio de la Luz, Rancho el Arroyo, El Puerto de los Huizaches, Las Lechuguillas, Barranca de la Pila, La Estancia II, Rancho la Joya and El Gavillero. The total municipal population was 67,724 as of 2005.^[2]

The municipality, founded in 1814, is bordered by the muncipalities of Huehuetoca, Coyotepec, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Nicolás Romero, Coyotepec, Teoloyucan and Villa del Carbón as well as the State of Hidalgo with a total area of 208.83 sq km.^[1]

Arcos del Sitio is an aqueduct built by the Jesuits in 1760 that runs about 15 km from Villa del Carbon towards the city of Tepotzotlán. It was abandoned after Carlos III of Spain expelled the Jesuits from Mexico.^[4]