San Pablo Huitzo (commonly referred to as Huitzo) is a town and

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' ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

in south-western

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 ...

. The municipality covers an area of 63.80 km². It is part of the Etla District in the Valles Centrales region. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 5,242.

History

The area comprising Huitzo was inhabited as early as 1200 BCE. By 1400 AD a Zapotec village existed that was known by the name of ''Huijazoo'', a word that means ''Warrior Watchtower'' in the

Zapotec language The Zapotec languages are a group of around 50 closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages that constitute a main branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and are spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highlands of ...

. In 1522 Spanish troops arrived and founded the current city, giving it the name ''Gueixolotitlan''. However, by 1700 the name ''Huitzo'' had been adopted by the populace. When the first

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

monks arrived to

evangelize Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...

the local population, they selected St. Paul the Apostle ''(San Pablo, in Spanish)'' as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the village and erected a church by the same name. The church is notable for a large number of 16th-century and other colonial-era ''santos'', statues of the saints.Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches: San Pablo Huitzo
Retrieved 2012-04-13 It was through the influence of the Catholic Church that the town arrived at its present name San Pablo Huitzo.

Modern day

Today Huitzo is a farming community noted for growing vegetables and flowers, with almost half of its population employed by farms or other agriculture-related ventures. Archaeological sites in the area consist of several tombs, walls, and similar Zapotec structures. Most of the sites are overgrown with vegetation, however they do attract some tourists and

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

References

Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

{{Authority control Municipalities of Oaxaca Zapotec sites Populated places established in 1522 1522 establishments in New Spain