Huixquilucan de Degollado
Encyclopedia
Huixquilucan is a town and municipality in Mexico State, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. It lies adjacent to the west side of the Federal District (Distrito Federal)
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 and is part of Greater Mexico City
Greater Mexico City
Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Mexico City Metropolitan Area , constituted by the Federal District—itself composed of 16 boroughs—and 41 adjacent municipalities of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo...

 but independent of. The name 'Huixquilucan' comes from Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 meaning, 'place full of edible thistle
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...

s.

The town

The municipal seat of government is in the small town of Huixquilucan de Degollado with a population 9,554 in 2010, although the largest community is actually (population 121,470) the adjoining city of Naucalpan de Juárez which extends into Huixquilucan. Besides Naucalpan, there are also three other localities that are larger than the municipal seat. Huixquilucan had 242,167 inhabitants at the time of the 2010 Census in Mexico.

Jesuits founded a school of indigenous languages here in 1580 in the village which was then called San Antonio Huixquilucan, taking advantage of a parish left vacant by the death of its former priest. The Jesuits were then able to preach in the Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...

, Mazahua
Mazahua
The Mazahua are an indigenous people of Mexico, inhabiting the northwestern portion of the State of Mexico and northeastern area of Michoacán, with a presence also in the Federal District owing to recent migration...

 and Matlazinca languages. However, the school was later moved to Tepotzotlán
Tepotzotlán
Tepotzotlán is a city and a municipality in the Mexico state of Mexico. It is located 115 km northeast of Mexico City about a 45-minute drive along the Mexico City-Querétaro at marker number 41. In Aztec times, the area was the center of a dominion that negotiated to keep most of its...

.

The town was officially declared in 1875, by a decree approved on April 15 of that year with the name "Villa de Degollado" and declared the seat of the municipality of Huixquilucan in the District of Lerma on the following day.

Notable people born in this town include: Dr. Fernando Quiroz Gutiérrez (1889), who wrote the classic book, “HUMAN ANATOMY” and Father Jesús García Gutiérrez (1875) who was the author of many religious works.

The municipality of Huixquilucan

As municipal seat, Huixquilucan de Degollado has governing jurisdiction over the following other communities (localities): Agua Bendita, Agua Blanca, Agua de Santo, Arenal, Barrio de Canales, Barrio de San Ramón, Barrio del Río, Barrio la Manzana (La Rinconada), Bosque Real Segunda Sección, Bosques del Torreón, Cerro de San Francisco, Dos Ríos, Ejido Magdalena Chichicaspa (Las Campanitas), El Cerrito, El Escobal, El Guarda (Puerto el Guarda), El Hielo, El Laurel, El Manzano, El Mirasol, El Obraje, El Palacio, El Retiro, El Vivero (Rancho Viejo), El Xiguiro,
Huiloteapan (San José Huiloteapan), Ignacio Allende, Jesús del Monte, La Cañada, La Capilla, La Cima, La Cumbre, La Glorieta, Llanito del Tejocote (Rancho los Gavilanes), Llano Grande (San Miguel Llano Grande), Lomas de Zacamulpa (Paraje de Tabaxhu), Magdalena Chichicaspa, Naucalpan de Juárez, Paraje el Mirador, Paraje el Rayo, Paraje la Cañada, Paraje la Carabina, Paraje la Pera, Paraje San Miguel, Paraje Toshte, Paraje Trejo (El Chaparral), Piedra Grande, Piedra Larga, Rancho los Pavorreales, Rancho Luis, Rancho Santa María, San Bartolomé Coatepec, San Cristóbal Texcalucan, San Francisco Ayotuzco, San Jacinto, San Juan Yautepec, Santa Cruz Ayotuzco, Santiago Yancuitlalpan, Santuario el Cerrito (La Capilla), Sudo, and Zacamulpa.

The municipality has an area of 143.52 km² (55.41 sq mi) with a total population of 242,167 people at the 2010 census. It borders (counter-clockwise from north) the municipalities of Naucalpan
Naucalpan
Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is a city and municipality located just northwest of Mexico City in adjoining Mexico State. The name Naucalpan comes from Nahuatl and means “place of the four neighborhoods or four houses. “de Juárez was added to the official name in 1874 in honor of...

, Lerma
Lerma, Mexico State
Lerma is a city and municipality located just east of Toluca and 54 km west of Mexico City in Mexico State, Mexico. The city was founded in the early colonial period and named after the Duke of Lerma in Spain. The municipal area saw two battles of the Mexican War of Independence, the Battle...

, Ocoyoacac
Ocoyoacac
Ocoyoacac is a town and municipality in Mexico State in Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 134.71 km². It is one of the 17 municipalities that border Mexico City...

, and the boroughs of Cuajimalpa
Cuajimalpa
Cuajimalpa de Morelos is one of the 16 boroughs of Mexico City. Its name comes from the indigenous expression "over sticks of wood"...

 and Miguel Hidalgo
Miguel Hidalgo, D.F.
Miguel Hidalgo is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. The borough includes some of the most affluent parts of Mexico City, such as Lomas de Chapultepec and Polanco. Its population at the 2010 census was 372,889 inhabitants, and it lies at an elevation of...

 of the Distrito Federal (Mexico City). 2.5% of the municipality's population speaks an indigenous language
Languages of Mexico
The government of Mexico recognizes 68 distinct indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages in addition to Spanish. According to the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and National Institute of Indigenous Languages [INALI], while 10-14% of the population identifies as...

.

Towns and villages

The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are:
Name 2010 Census Population
Naucalpan de Juárez (part)  121,470
Jesús del Monte  23,150
Magdalena Chichicaspa 12,193
Santiago Yancuitlalpan 10,013
Huixquilucan de Degollado
Huixquilucan de Degollado
Huixquilucan is a town and municipality in Mexico State, Mexico. It lies adjacent to the west side of the Federal District and is part of Greater Mexico City but independent of...

 
9,554
Zacamulpa 7,097
San Bartolomé Coatepec 5,021
Santa Cruz Ayotuzco 4,952
San Juan Yautepec 4,374
Dos Ríos 4,249
Total Municipality 242,167

History

Before the Spanish Conquest, the area was known as Cuautlalpan or Sierra de Las Cruces, and was inhabited by the Otomis
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...

. They originally lived in the highlands, gathering the abundant vegetation and hunting rabbits, hares, armadillos, deer and racoon
Racoon
Racoon is a Dutch rock band, formed in 1997. Their first big appearance was at the 1999 Noorderslagfestival. First album Till Monkeys Fly appeared in January 2000, produced by Michael Schoots . The first single, Feel Like Flying, became a hit and got a lot of airplay on the Dutch radiostation 3FM...

s. Several crude templos have been found which were dedicated to the gods Makata (god of the mountains) and Makame (god of rain and fertility, represented by flowers). Adoratorios dedicated to a god called Otontecutli are found in the caves, monoliths and sacred rocks of the upper elevations. These people were conquered a number of times, including by the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....

s, the Nahuatlacs and by the region of Tlacopan
Tlacopan
Tlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...

 before being conquered by the Aztec Triple Alliance
Aztec Triple Alliance
The Aztec Triple Alliance, or Aztec Empire began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states or "altepeme": Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan...

 and then, of course, the Spaniards.

Tradition states that the emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin liked the area so much that he had a palace constructed in what is now the neighborhood of Tecpan.

After the Spanish Conquest, the history of the area at first was tied with Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...

. Cortés exerted his authority indirectly through the cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...

s of the area and through the Encomienda Tacuba, to which Huixquilucan belonged. Later, the area would be under the control of various Spaniards like Primer Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and indigenous rulers like Totoquiahuatzin, the governor of Tlacopan. During this time, the area was being evangelized and the traditional tribute was being paid while the area was being redistributed with new names of Christian saints.

The municipality was established on October 21, 1846. In ancient times its territory had been inhabited by Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...

, Tepanec
Tepanec
The Tepanecs or Tepaneca are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries. The Tepanec were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Acolhua and others—these tribes spoke the Nahuatl language and shared the same general pantheon, with...

, Mexica
Mexica
The Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...

 and Acolhua
Acolhua
The Acolhua are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in or around the year 1200 CE. The Acolhua were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Tepanec, Chalca, Xochimilca and others....

populations.

Since 1960, the municipality of Huixquilucan has experienced explosive growth in population and infrastructure because of its proximity to Mexico City. One of the first expansions was the construction of the "Fraccionamiento" (subdivision) of La Herradura, which has subsequently grown.

After 2010 several bridges are under construction all over Huixquilucan. A massive shopping mall with a hotel is also under construction.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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