Jiquipilco Municipality is one of the

municipalities of the State of Mexico State of Mexico, Mexico is a Administrative divisions of Mexico#States, state in central Mexico that is divided into 125 municipalities of Mexico, municipalities. According to the 2020 Censo General de Población y Vivienda, Mexican census, it i ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is north of the

Toluca Valley The Toluca Valley is a valley in central Mexico, just west of the Valley of Mexico (Mexico City), the old name was Matlatzinco. The valley runs north–south for about , surrounded by mountains, the most imposing of which is the Nevado de Toluca V ...

, part of the region consisting of the southern and western slopes of Cerro La Catedral, which has a concentration of speakers of the

Otomi language Otomi ( ; ) is an Oto-Pamean languages, Oto-Pamean language spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the Mexican Plateau, central ''altiplano'' region of Mexico. Otomi consists of several closely related languages, many of whi ...

. It is about 40 km from

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

, the state capital. The name is a corruption of Nahuatl “Xiquipilco”, meaning “in the saddlebags”. Jiquipilco is situated on the transversal volcanic axis that crosses Mexico in an area surrounded by lakes and volcanoes. This portion is called "Anahuac”.

Municipal seat

The town had a population of 1,880 as of the 2005

INEGI The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI from its former name in ) is an autonomous agency of the Government of Mexico, Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information ...

census. It lies at an elevation of 2,657 meters above sea level.

History

Jiquipilco came under Otomí rule ca. 1274 and developed into a locally powerful town. The

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

arrived in 1552 to evangelize the area and gave the already existing village the name of Juan de las Huertas for its abundance of fruit trees (''huerta'' being Spanish for "orchard"), but its current name is San Juan Jiquipilco. The village was officially proclaimed by the Spanish on March 6, 1593.

Notable sites

In addition to the town chapel, other attractions are the sanctuary of Santa Cruz Tepexpán, which dates from the 16th and 18th centuries, and the chapel of San Felipe Santiago, constructed around the end of the 16th century. A number of colonial era buildings have been preserved such as the ex–haciendas of Mañí, Nixiní, Santa Isabel, Boximo, some of whose structures are in ruins.

Localities

As municipal seat, the town of Jiquipilco has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Barrio Primero Buenos Aires, Bóximo, Buenavista, Buenos Aires, Colonia Benito Juárez, San Felipe Santiago, Colonia Flores Magón, Colonia la Purísima, Colonia Morelos, Dolores Amarillas, Ejido de Mañi, Ejido de Moxteje, Ejido de Santa María Nativitas, Ejido de Santa María Nativitas el Colector, Ejido Llano Grande (Planta Piloto), El Jaral (Tierra Montón), El Rincón Loma de Hidalgo, El Santuario del Señor del Cerrito, Hacienda Nixini Jiquipilco, La Nopalera, La Pastora, Las Golondrinas, Las Palomitas (Puerto Jiquipilli), Loma de Endotzi (Manzana Sexta), Loma de Hidalgo, Loma de San Felipe, Loma de San Pedro, Loma del Astillero, Loma del Madroño, Loma del Sitio, Loma Hermosa, Loma Hidalgo Colonia Benito Juárez, Loma Hidalgo Manzana Cuarta, Loma Vicente Guerrero, Los Ortiz, Manzana Cuarta, Manzana Cuarta de Santa Cruz Tepexpan, Manzana Primera la Capilla, Manzana Primera Parte Alta, Manzana Quinta (La Cañada), Manzana Quinta de San Bartolo Oxtotitlán, Manzana Segunda, Manzana Segunda de Santa Cruz Tepexpan, Manzana Sexta Parte Alta, Manzana Sexta Parte Baja, Manzana Sexta Parte Centro, Manzana Tercera (Bodo), Manzana Tercera de Santa Cruz Tepexpan, Manzana Tercera Juashi, Manzana Tercera Loma de Hidalgo, Manzana Tercera Panthé, Manzana Tercera Parte Baja, Moxteje, Palo Gacho, Pie del Cerro, Portezuelo, Primera Manzana de Santa Cruz Tepexpan, Ranchería de Mañi (Ex-hacienda de Mañi), Ranchería de Sila (Ejido de Sila), Rancho Alegre, Rancho Colorado, Rancho Loma de Malacota, Rancho los Quiroz, Rancho Santa Lucía, San Antonio Nixini, San Bartolo Oxtotitlán, San Felipe Santiago, San Francisco el Alto, San Isidro, San José del Sitio, San Martín Morelos, San Miguel Yuxtepec, Santa Isabel, Santa María Nativitas, Sección del Cerrito, and Tierra Blanca. The municipality of Jiquipilco was founded in 1822 and has a total extension of 276.5 square km. It borders the following municipalities; San Bartolo Morelos, Villa del Carbón, Ciudad Nicholás Romero, Temoaya, Ixtlahuaca, and

Jocotitlán Jocotitlán is a municipality located in the northwestern part of the State of Mexico on the central highlands of the country of Mexico. The municipal seat is the town of Jocotitlán and is located at the foot of the Jocotitlán or Xocotépetl v ...

. The population is 59,969. A significant number of people leave the town every year in search of employment, mainly young people under 30. Many of them go to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. Modern Jiquipilco was founded on March 6, 1593. The economy of Jiquipilco is based on agriculture and stockbreeding. The principal crops are wheat, barley and oats. Because of the difficult local topography, people continue to apply old techniques, and few farmers use mechanized equipment. Livestock is mainly represented by cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. The municipality also has abundant minerals, mostly nonmetallic, such as silica sand and gravel, and stone, obsidian and quartz, which find use in used mostly in construction and road paving.

History

The

Otomi The Otomi (; ) are an Indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an Indigenous people of the Americas who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguistically rel ...

s first came to this area around 1274. According to legend, they settled here coming from a land called "Xicomostoc", where seven tribes of Otomis came from to settle in places like Jilotepec, Acxotlán, Tepexí as well as the highlands of Jiquipilco, here leading a hunting and gathering existence. The

Purépecha The Purépecha ( ) are a group of Indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the derogatory term " Tarascan", an exonym, app ...

fought here with the Otomis as they tried to conquer

Matlatzinca Matlatzinca or Ocuiltec may refer to: * Matlatzinca people Matlatzinca is a name used to refer to different Indigenous ethnic groups in the Toluca Valley in the state of México, located in the central highlands of Mexico. The term is applied to t ...

lands. In 1478, the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

invaded Matlatzinca lands, and the Aztec prince Azayácatzin personally battled the Otomi prince Tlilcuetepalin (the Black Lizard) who won the fight, thereby saving Xiquipilco. After the Spaniards subjugated Toluca, Gonzalo de Sandoval, known as the right arm of

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

, promised to bring Jiquipilco under Spanish dominion in 15 days; however, he found an area populated by men who preferred to die on the battlefield. The Spanish eventually did succeed in bringing Jiquipilco into the dominion of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

References

{{Mexico State Municipalities of the State of Mexico