Zacatepec de Hidalgo (Zacatepec)
Zacatepec de Hidalgo (Zacatepec from nahuatl Zacatl meaning grass and tepetl meaning hill, thus loosely meaning "grassy hill") is a town in the state of Morelos, Mexico. It is bordered by Puente de Ixtla, Tlaltizapán, Tlaquiltenango and Jojutla. Miguel Hidalgo was the priest whose call to arms on September 16, 1810, led to the Mexican War of Independence.
The town serves as the local seat for the government, with which it shares the name. The municipality reported 36,159 inhabitants in the 2015 census.
The main industry in the town and its surrounding countryside is that of sugar cane cultivation and processing. The most noticeable feature of the town is the sugar mill located in its center and during operating hours the air of the settlement is laden with the sickly-sweet smell of sugar.
Students come from surrounding parts of Morelos to study at the public university, the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatepc, which is located on a site adjacent to the sugar mill.
In Precolumbian times Zacatepec was under the Tlahuica lordship of Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca). According to the tribute registration and to the list of tributary towns to Texcoco, analyzed by Blanca Maldonado, Zacatepec and Tetelpa were characterized by being a cotton-producing town with irrigation infrastructure tribute to the Triple Alliance (Acolhuas, Tepanecas, and Mexicas) dominant in the Valley of Mexico, from its total subordination in the year of 1437 during the Itzcoatl Empire.
After the conquest, Zacatepec fell under the jurisdiction of the Count of Oaxaca. After the Spanish conquest, evangelization of the area was the responsibility of the convent of Santo Domingo de Tlaquiltenango. In 1619, Pedro Cortés, Marqués del Valle, granted Juan Fernández Moradillo, 200 hectares of land along the Tetelpa river. Over the years, the land and sugar refinery passed to Diego de Mendoza, his son-in-law Mateo de Lizama his son-in-law, and Manuel Francisco de Verazategui. The lands of Zacatepec continued to belong to the convent of Santo Domingo de Tlaquiltenango; Manuel Francisco de Verazategui didn't pay his taxes in 1722, so the archbishop of Mexico City seized the land and granted power to Pablo de Arizabalo to sell it. The mill was acquired in 1741, by Blas Andreu de Olivan, along with the sugar mill of Santa Rosa Thirty Pesos.
The local civil authority at this time was in the town of Tetala, not Zacatepec; there is further evidence of this in an 1804 lawsuit against Domingo Coloma, owner of the hacienda of San Nicolás (today Galeana) and an alleged land grab. His defense? " [The peasants] earn more than they need… [they are] busy in various activities such as fishing for catfish, trout, roncal, and corbina… and [working as] muleteers and couriers." After all, the peasants were "far from being landless, they have leased them" and "at the moment several pieces are seen of public and notorious that their tenants planted of indigo". The peasants raised cattle and pigs; they grew corn, sesame, melons, watermelons, bananas, chilies, peanuts, tomatoes, avocados, prickly zapote, lemons, and oranges.
The independence of Mexico put Zacatepec in the State of Mexico until the creation of the State of Morelos in 1869.
On February 5, 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas inaugurated, in what was once the hull of the old hacienda, the installations of the sugar mill that he had ordered to build, with social purposes, to improve the conditions of the ejidatarios and workers of the factory. Within this context was born the decision to elevate the municipality to Zacatepec. Thus, on December 25, 1938, the Governor of Morelos Elpidio Perdomo, promulgated Decree No. 17 whereby: "Art. 1 .- The free municipality of Zacatepec, Morelos is created, which will be formed with the extension comprising the assistantships of Tetelpa, Galeana (the former hacienda of San Nicolás) and Zacatepec, the latter being the head of the aforementioned municipality and retaining each of them the denomination and limits that they currently have ".
Zacatepec was one of the hardest-hit communities in Morelos state during the September 9, 2017 earthquake; ten people died, 884 homes were damaged; nearly half of which were totally destroyed.
The town serves as the local seat for the government, with which it shares the name. The municipality reported 36,159 inhabitants in the 2015 census.
The main industry in the town and its surrounding countryside is that of sugar cane cultivation and processing. The most noticeable feature of the town is the sugar mill located in its center and during operating hours the air of the settlement is laden with the sickly-sweet smell of sugar.
Students come from surrounding parts of Morelos to study at the public university, the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatepc, which is located on a site adjacent to the sugar mill.
In Precolumbian times Zacatepec was under the Tlahuica lordship of Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca). According to the tribute registration and to the list of tributary towns to Texcoco, analyzed by Blanca Maldonado, Zacatepec and Tetelpa were characterized by being a cotton-producing town with irrigation infrastructure tribute to the Triple Alliance (Acolhuas, Tepanecas, and Mexicas) dominant in the Valley of Mexico, from its total subordination in the year of 1437 during the Itzcoatl Empire.
After the conquest, Zacatepec fell under the jurisdiction of the Count of Oaxaca. After the Spanish conquest, evangelization of the area was the responsibility of the convent of Santo Domingo de Tlaquiltenango. In 1619, Pedro Cortés, Marqués del Valle, granted Juan Fernández Moradillo, 200 hectares of land along the Tetelpa river. Over the years, the land and sugar refinery passed to Diego de Mendoza, his son-in-law Mateo de Lizama his son-in-law, and Manuel Francisco de Verazategui. The lands of Zacatepec continued to belong to the convent of Santo Domingo de Tlaquiltenango; Manuel Francisco de Verazategui didn't pay his taxes in 1722, so the archbishop of Mexico City seized the land and granted power to Pablo de Arizabalo to sell it. The mill was acquired in 1741, by Blas Andreu de Olivan, along with the sugar mill of Santa Rosa Thirty Pesos.
The local civil authority at this time was in the town of Tetala, not Zacatepec; there is further evidence of this in an 1804 lawsuit against Domingo Coloma, owner of the hacienda of San Nicolás (today Galeana) and an alleged land grab. His defense? " [The peasants] earn more than they need… [they are] busy in various activities such as fishing for catfish, trout, roncal, and corbina… and [working as] muleteers and couriers." After all, the peasants were "far from being landless, they have leased them" and "at the moment several pieces are seen of public and notorious that their tenants planted of indigo". The peasants raised cattle and pigs; they grew corn, sesame, melons, watermelons, bananas, chilies, peanuts, tomatoes, avocados, prickly zapote, lemons, and oranges.
The independence of Mexico put Zacatepec in the State of Mexico until the creation of the State of Morelos in 1869.
On February 5, 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas inaugurated, in what was once the hull of the old hacienda, the installations of the sugar mill that he had ordered to build, with social purposes, to improve the conditions of the ejidatarios and workers of the factory. Within this context was born the decision to elevate the municipality to Zacatepec. Thus, on December 25, 1938, the Governor of Morelos Elpidio Perdomo, promulgated Decree No. 17 whereby: "Art. 1 .- The free municipality of Zacatepec, Morelos is created, which will be formed with the extension comprising the assistantships of Tetelpa, Galeana (the former hacienda of San Nicolás) and Zacatepec, the latter being the head of the aforementioned municipality and retaining each of them the denomination and limits that they currently have ".
Zacatepec was one of the hardest-hit communities in Morelos state during the September 9, 2017 earthquake; ten people died, 884 homes were damaged; nearly half of which were totally destroyed.
Map - Zacatepec de Hidalgo (Zacatepec)
Map
Country - Mexico
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| MXV | Mexican Unidad de Inversion | 2 | |
| MXN | Mexican peso | $ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| ES | Spanish language |