Map - Tequixquiac

Tequixquiac is a municipality located in the Zumpango Region of the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipality is located 84 km north of Mexico City within the valley that connects the Valley of Mexico with the Mezquital Valley. The name comes from Nahuatl and means "place of tequesquite waters". The municipal seat is the town of Santiago Tequixquiac, although both the town and municipality are commonly referred to as simply "Tequixquiac".

The municipality is known as the "cradle of prehistoric art in the Americas" because of the sacrum bone and other artifacts found in the region.

The sacrum bone found in Tequixquiac is considered a work of prehistoric art. The first indigenous settlers of Tequixquiac were the Aztecs and Otomi, who settled permanently due to the abundance of rivers and springs. They were engaged mainly in agriculture and the breeding of domestic animals.

In 1152, the Aztecs, on their way from Tula-Xicocotitlan to Tequixquiac and the Valley of Mexico, decided to settle for a short time at a place called Tepetongo. This land was named Teotlalpan by Tepanecs tribe.

In 1168, the village of Tequixquiac was founded, which had approximately 250 houses scattered the length and breadth of the nearby hills. Tequixquiac village was conquered by the Aztecs under the rule of Emperor Chimalpopoca.

During colonization after the fall of Tenochtitlan, Hernán Cortés rewarded his soldiers with parcels of land. One of them was Tequixquiac, which was given to two Spaniards: Martín López, builder of the brigantines used in taking Tenochtitlan, and Andrés Núñez. López and Núñez split the parcel in two, and their children inherited it after their death. Tequixquiac belonged to the Zitlatepec corregimiento. At this time the Viceroy Luís de Velasco made regulations on the Encomienda system, mandating the protection of indigenous people.

In the territory of Tequixquiac, the Apaxco and Hueypoxtla regions had deposits of limestone. Grants awarded to the Spanish introduced a thriving industry using indigenous labor, decimating the population in conditions of extreme poverty and forced labor.

By 1552, families dispersed by a Tlaxcaltec named Francisco Lopez de Tlaltzintlale were gathered and stripped of their land; these possessions were distributed through royal grants to Spaniards, some was Marranos or New Christians (Sephardic settlement converted to Roman Catholic religion).

The Spanish Empire sought to justify their acts through the Christian missions. The Franciscans arrived in New Spain in 1524, but clerics arrived even before that to proselytize to the natives, building a chapel in each encomienda.

With the help of the Franciscan friars, the temple of Saint James the Apostle was built, raising Tequixquiac from the rank of vicarage to parish. The Church of Santiago Tequixquiac became a parish in 1590. The construction of the building was carried out in different stages. The parish is a large atrium space with a cross of carved stone in the center. Indigenous and Christian symbols adorn the four corner chapels in the pits. There is an open chapel with columns on the facade and two stone jambs built by Native Americans and carved with work from their philosophical perspective. The temple was dedicated to Santiago Apóstol, because some families from Galicia, Asturias, Andalusia, and Leon were in the region.