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 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 , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

, located approximately southwest of the state capital of

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

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 ...

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 a ...

to the north, Jalpa to the northeast,

Apozol Apozol is a city in the state of Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , c ...

to the east,

Juchipila Juchipila (Nahuatl: ''Xochipillan'', "place of noble or beautiful flowers") is a municipality in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, located approximately southwest of the state capital Zacatecas City. Geography The municipality of Juchipila is locat ...

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 liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...

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 one of the longest rivers in Mexico, ...

. Most of the municipality is drained by the Tlaltenango River, a tributary of the

Bolaños River The Bolaños River is a river in Mexico flowing through the Sierra Madre Occidental, and a tributary of Rio Grande de Santiago. It has a length of 360 km and a watershed of about 10 000 square kilometers. Geography The river's origin is in ...

, 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 a rebellion by the Caxcan people of northwestern Mexico against the Spanish conquerors. The war was named after Mixtón, a hill in Zacatecas which served as an Indigenous stronghold. The Caxcanes Although other ...

, 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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

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

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

and three by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. 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 (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and

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

in the north, and

Zapopan Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, the population of Zapopan city proper makes it the second largest city in the state, very close behind the population of ...

and Guadalajara 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