Atolinga is the seat of
Atolinga Municipality in the
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
state of
Zacatecas, located in its southwestern portion.
The coordinates of the municipal seat of Atolinga are 21° 44’ 15” north and 103° 28’ 30” west. The town is located at 2,250 meters above sea level and the municipality covers an area of 280 square kilometers.
The municipality rests on a mesa that is the western border of the Tlaltenango Valley. The
Atolinga River, which runs through the municipal seat is a tributary of the
Bolaños River.
A 2005 Census recorded 1,453 residents.
History
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish to the area, the region around Atolinga was inhabited by indigenous people of the
Caxcan and
Tepecan ethnic groups. The first Spanish contact with these people must have been in 1530 when
Pedro Almíndez Chirino
Pedro Almíndez Chirino (or ''Pedro Almíndez Chirinos'') was a conquistador born in Úbeda and member of several councils that governed New Spain while Hernán Cortés was traveling to Honduras, in 1525-26. Almíndez was an ally of Gonzalo ...
went through the Valley of
Tlaltenango on a northbound expedition.
The first land grantee of the area was Pedro Sernosa, who later sold his land to Juan Fernández de Jara Quemada.
The town formed part of the jurisdiction of
Tlaltenango for both ecclesiastical purposes and governmental purposes until the beginning of the 1800s. In 1814, a plea was made by the citizenry that the community be granted its own town council and status as a municipality due to the long distance from the municipal seat and the ascending local population. The plea spells out that the town counted with nearly 700 "souls" and that within a radius of two leagues lived more than 3,700 people.
In recent decades, Atolinga's population has decreased due to emigration. Migrants from Atolinga can be found throughout the United States, especially in
Chicago,
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
,
Atlanta, and the
San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
region of
California. Journalist
Sam Quinones
:''The surname Quinones is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled Quiñones.''
Sam Quinones ( ;) is an American journalist from Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his reporting in Mexico and on Mexicans in the United S ...
has written about such migrants in his book ''Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration''.
Sources
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Zacatecas, State of ZacatecasInsituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informáticawww.samquinones.com
{{Zacatecas
Populated places in Zacatecas