Apulco is a city in the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

. The city serves as the administrative center for the surrounding municipality of Apulco. Apulco had a 2005 census population of 1,453 people.Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática

Origin of the name

The

Nahuatl 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 popul ...

dictionary defines the word "Apoctli" (which people believe the name Apulco derived from) as smoke, water, water vapor.

History

The first inhabitants of what is now Apulco were the Tecuexes who populated the area approximately in the 10th century. Later that area was inhabited by the Caxcan, which came from the Teuitlan Valley (now Municipality of Villanueva,

), immediately a town arose which was known as Nochistlán, but they were expelled by its previous inhabitants, who later resided in the area due to the support of zacatecans and the Huachichil. In the year of 1541, supported by the

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

, Fray Antonio de Segovia moved forward with the Christian evangelization and built a chapel in favor of

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

, patron of the place. Apulco was declared a town in 1821."Apulco", Encyclopedia de Municipios

References

External links

Official website
{{Zacatecas Populated places in Zacatecas