Tecoh Municipality is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''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 State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

. It is located 40 km south-east of

Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...

. It has a municipal capital of the same name. As of 2003, the city Tecoh had a population of about 8,500 people. Most of the population is

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

. A number of buildings in the town were built atop older

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

foundations. "Tecoh" means "Place of the Puma" in the

Yucatec Maya language Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan languages, Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Fra ...

, which is still widely spoken here. Most of the farms in Tecoh are used to grow

henequen ''Agave fourcroydes'' or henequen is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is reportedly naturalized in Madeira, Italy, the Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Cayman I ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

, and

tropical fruit There are many fruits that typically grow in warm tropical climates or equatorial areas. Tropical fruits Varieties of tropical fruit include: * Abiu * Açaí * Acerola (West Indian cherry; Barbados cherry) * Achachairú (Bolivian mangosteen; ...

Communities

The municipality is made up of 20 communities, of which the most important are: *

Tecoh Tecoh is a town and the municipal seat of the Tecoh Municipality, Yucatán in Mexico. Gallery Image:Arco de Tecoh, Town of Tecoh, Yucatan, Mexico.jpg, Arch of Tecoh Image:Tecoh (Tecoh), Yucatán (05).JPG, Tecoh main church: Parroquia de Nuest ...

(Municipal Seat) * Xcanchakan * Telchaquillo * Lepan * Pixya

Landmarks

* Cenote Nayah

Architectural

*A church erected in honor of the Virgin de la Candelaria, a chapel in honor of the Santa Cruz and a church dedicated to the Virgin de la Asunción; all built since colonial times. *

Hacienda Itzincab Cámara Hacienda Itzincab Cámara is located in the Tecoh Municipality in the state of Yucatán in southeastern Mexico. It is one of the properties that arose during the nineteenth century henequen boom. Toponymy The name (Itzincab Cámara) is a combinat ...

* Hacienda Oxtapacab * Hacienda Sotuta de Peón (features a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

horse-drawn tram A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, which developed ou ...

providing tours around the property) * Hacienda Xcanchakán

Archaeological

The archaeological site of

Mayapan Mayapan (Màyapáan in Yucatec Maya language, Modern Maya; in Spanish language, Spanish Mayapán) is a Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately ...

Notable people

* Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sanchez (Known in Texas as

Lorenzo de Zavala Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sánchez (October 3, 1788 – November 15, 1836), known simply as Lorenzo de Zavala, was a Mexican and later Tejano physician, politician, diplomat and author. Born in Yucatán (state), Yucatán under Vicero ...

)

External links

Tecoh on colonial-mexico.com

References

{{Yucatán Municipalities of Yucatán