Map - Naucalpan (Naucalpan de Juárez)

Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is one of 125 municipalities located just northwest of Mexico City in the adjoining State of Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Naucalpan de Juárez, which extends into the neighboring municipality of Huixquilucan.

The name Naucalpan comes from Nahuatl and means "place of the four neighborhoods" or "four houses." Juárez was added to the official name in 1874 in honor of Benito Juárez. The history of the area begins with the Tlatilica who settled on the edges of the Hondo River between 1700 and 600 B.C.E., but it was the Mexica who gave it its current name when they dominated it from the 15th century until the Spanish conquest of the Mexica Empire. Naucalpan claims to be the area where Hernán Cortés rested on the "Noche Triste" as they fled Tenochtitlan in 1520, but this is disputed. It is the home of the Virgin of Los Remedios, a small image of the Virgin Mary which is strongly associated with the Conquest and is said to have been left here.

Today, the city of Naucalpan is actually larger than the municipality itself, with part of it extending into neighboring Huixquilucan Municipality, although there are other towns in within the municipality of Naucalpan which are outside the city of Naucalpan. It is a major center of industry in Mexico. It is, however, best known as the location of Ciudad Satélite, a development from the 1960s and the site of the Toreo de Cuatro Caminos bullring, which was demolished in the 2010s to build the Toreo Parque Central mixed-use development. The only unurbanized areas of the municipality are the Los Remedios National Park and a number of ejidos, but the lack of housing has put serious pressure on these areas.

The Valley of Mexico, of which Naucalpan is a part, has been inhabited by humans for over 20,000 years. The history of Naucalpan begins with a group called the Tlatilca who settled on the edges of the Hondo River between 1700 and 600 BCE, in what is now modern Nacaulpan, Totolinga and Los Cuartos. During the Preclassic period (1400 to 1300 BCE) a group of Olmecs arrived and had significant influence on the dominion of Tlatilca. Later, Tlatilca was also heavily influenced by the Teotihuacan civilization. Between 1000 and 1200 CE the Chichimecas conquered the Tlatlica and deposed their monarchy. The Pyramid del Conde was built during this time, located in what is now the El Conde neighborhood. Later in the pre-Hispanic period, the area was governed by Tlacopan (Tacuba) and became ethnically dominated by the Otomi. Starting from 1428, the area was under the dominion of Tepanece de Atzcapotzalco, which was later conquered by the Aztec Triple Alliance, who gave it the name of Naucalpan. On 30 June 1520, Hernán Cortés fled Tenochtitlan toward what is now Naucalpan. According to legend, he wept under a Montezuma Cypress tree, which is believed by some to be located at the foot of the Otocampulco Mountain here. This is called the "Noche Triste" or "Night of Sorrows". There is dispute as to whether this tree is located here or in Popotla. Another legend states that during the flight of the Spanish, an image of the Virgin Mary was left under a maguey plant, where the Sanctuary of Los Remedios is today.

In 1521, the fall of Tenochtitlan brought the area under Spanish control. Hernán Cortés conceded governorship of this area to Isabel Moctezuma and Alonso de Grado, naming it San Bartholome Naucalpan. Evangelization of the native peoples was carried out by the Franciscans who built the monastery of San Gabriel de Tacuba and a number of historic churches such as the Church of San Francisco de Assisi, Church of the Inmaculada Concepcion and the Church of Los Remedios. In 1574, the Temple of San Bartolome Naucalpan was built, with the towers constructed later in 1629. The area was important in colonial times for the mining of building stone, sand and gravel which was used for many constructions in Mexico City including the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace.

In 1810, the Virgin of the Remedios was brought here from the Mexico City Cathedral, dressed as a general. She was proclaimed as a patroness of Spain and the "guardian of the Spanish Army." Locally, she was called a "gachupina" (slang word for Spaniard). She eventually became the patroness of Naucalpan, with 450th anniversary of her finding celebrated in 1990. Her sanctuary was built in 1875.

In 1821, brothers Joaquin and Bernardo Miramín founded the newspaper "Diario Militar." One of the writers for this paper was José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, popularly known as "El Pensador Mexicano" (The Mexican Thinker). The town remained a dependency of Tlalnepantla for much of the 19th century even though it had become an independent municipality in 1826. Industrialization began here with the founding of the Hilados and Tejidos de Rio Hondo factory, inaugurated by Benito Juarez in 1869. In 1899, the territory of Santa Cruz del Monte was added to the municipality. During the Mexican Revolution, Zapatista leaders Rafael Carrillo and Roman Diaz operated in the nearby Chimalpa mountains against federal forces.

The Toreo de Cuatro Caminos was inaugurated in 1947. It was the icon of the city for many years, as well as the symbol of Naucalpan's Metro station, Cuatro Caminos. The building was torn down in 2009 to make way for a commercial complex.

Naucalpan was officially declared a city in 1957, and the founding of Ciudad Satélite occurred in the same year. The project was completed in 1963. Its five signature towers were designed by Luis Barragán and Matias Goeritz. By 1975, Naucalpan had become one of the most industrialized cities in Mexico.