Santa María de la Paz 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 state of

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 ...

, located approximately southwest of the state capital of

Zacatecas City Zacatecas () is the principal city within the municipalities of Mexico, municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the ...

Geography

The municipality of Santa María de la Paz is located at an elevation between in the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

in southwestern Zacatecas. It borders the municipalities of

Tepechitlán The municipality of Tepechitlán is located in the southwestern portion of the Mexican state of Zacatecas. It is located between 21º33'49" and 21º44'00" latitude north and 103º09'07" and 103º32'01" longitude west with an average altitude of ...

to the north, Jalpa to the northeast, Apozol to the east,

Juchipila Juchipila (Caxcan: ''Xuchipilan'', "place of flowered nobles") is a Municipalities of Zacatecas, municipality in the Mexico, Mexican state of Zacatecas, located approximately southwest of the state capital Zacatecas City. Geography The municipali ...

to the southeast, Teúl de González Ortega to the south, and

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican politician, military commander, and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. A Zapotec peoples, Zapotec, he w ...

to the west. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.4% of the state's area. As of 2009, 29.1% of the land in Santa María de la Paz is used for agriculture. The remainder of the land comprises forest (42.7%), grassland (27.7%), and grassland (0.4%). The municipality is situated in the drainage basin of the

Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the longest rivers in Mexic ...

. Most of the municipality is drained by the Tlaltenango River, a tributary of the Bolaños River, while the eastern fifth of the municipality is drained by the Juchipila River. There is a small reservoir named El Izote located immediately east of the municipal seat. Santa María de la Paz has a temperate climate with dry winters. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .

History

After the

Mixtón War The Mixtón War (1540–1542) was an uprisng by Caxcan people aimed at pushing the Spanish conquistadors out of northwestern Mexico and bringing the area back under indigenous control. The war was named after Mixtón, a hill in Zacatecas which s ...

, the friar founded the hospital of ''Nuestra señora de la Limpia Concepción'' at what is now Santa María de la Paz. Santa María de la Paz was first established as a municipality in the ''partido'' of Tlaltenango from 1869 to 1905. It recorded a population of 2500 inhabitants in 1894. Afterwards it was subsumed under the municipality of Teúl, which changed its name to Teúl de González Ortega in 1935. The 1944 Zacatecas Constitution established the ''congregación'' of Ignacio Allende in Teúl de González Ortega. On 26 October 2004, the state government approved the reestablishment of the municipality of Santa María de la Paz from the ''congregación'' of Ignacio Allende, which took effect on 1 January 2005.

Administration

The municipal government of Santa María de la Paz comprises a president, a councillor (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''síndico''), and seven trustees (''regidores''), four elected by

relative majority A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast. For ...

and three by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. The current president of the municipality is José Manuel González Dorado.

Demographics

In the 2020 Mexican Census, Santa María de la Paz recorded a population of 2767 inhabitants living in 860 households. The 2010 Census recorded a population of 2821 inhabitants in Santa María de la Paz. There are 19 inhabited localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also called Santa María de la Paz, is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 1995 inhabitants in the 2020 Census.

Economy and infrastructure

The main economic activities in Santa María de la Paz are agriculture and cattle farming. The main crop grown is corn. Federal Highway 23 runs north–south through the municipality, connecting it to

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Located in southwestern Iberia, it lies on the Campi� ...

and

Fresnillo Fresnillo () is a city in north central Mexico, founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra. It is the second largest city in Zacatecas state and the seat of Fresnillo municipality. As a rail and highway junction, Fresnillo is the center of a rich ...

in the north, and

Zapopan Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, Zapopan is the largest city in the state. It's best known as the home of the Virgin of Zapopan, an image of the Virgin ...

and

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

in the south.

References

{{Zacatecas, state=collapsed Municipalities of Zacatecas 1869 establishments in Mexico 1905 disestablishments in Mexico 2005 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1869 States and territories disestablished in 1905 States and territories established in 2005