Teotitlán de Flores Magón

Teotitlán de Flores Magón
Mercado in Teotitlán de Flores Magón
Mercado in Teotitlán de Flores Magón
Teotitlán de Flores Magón is located in Mexico
Teotitlán de Flores Magón
Teotitlán de Flores Magón
Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 18°8′N 97°5′W / 18.133°N 97.083°W / 18.133; -97.083
Country Mexico
StateOaxaca
Area
 • Total
95.69 km2 (36.95 sq mi)
Population
 (2005)
 • Total
8,675
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central Standard Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (Central Daylight Time)

Teotitlán de Flores Magón, historically known as Teotitlán del Camino, is a town and municipality in the Cañada region of Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Teotitlán District in the north of the Cañada Region.

Angel Gil Alfaro street in Teotitlán de Flores Magón

Municipality

The municipality covers an area of 95.69 km2. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 8,675 of whom 1,610 speak an indigenous language.[1]

History

In prehispanic times, Teotitlan was an altepetl and a significant religious center. It was populated by Nahuatl-speaking Nonoalca, but much of the surrounding region was inhabited by Mazatec people. Its subject towns included San Antonio Nanahuatipam, Huautla and Mazatlán Villa de Flores. It is debated whether Teotitlan was conquered by the Aztec Empire or was its ally.[2] Teotitlan had three priest-rulers: Teuctlamacaz (the most important one), Ecatlamacaz, and Tetzatlamacaz. The main deities mentioned in historical sources are Cihuacoatl, Coatl (perhaps identified with Quetzalcoatl), and Teiztapalli (a form of Xipe Totec). The local priests were renowned for their strict absistence rites.[3] Teotitlan and its subjects celebrated the eighteen annual festivals of the Aztecs and a new fire ceremony every four years. Crops cultivated included maize, chile, beans and squash, though farmland was somewhat restricted. Consumption of meat was restricted to the nobility, while the macehuales (commoners) subsisted off of tortillas, chiles, and pinole porridge. Teotitlan was a center of clothing production, and it was traded as far away as Guatemala.[4]

Jesús Flores Magón was born in Teotitlán in 1871 and Enrique Flores Magón in 1877, who together with their brother Ricardo Flores Magón- who was born in nearby San Antonio Eloxochitlán- stood out in the opposition to the government of Porfirio Díaz and are considered precursors of the Mexican Revolution. In their honor, in 1977 the Congress of Oaxaca officially changed the name of the town from Teotitlán del Camino to Teotitlán de Flores Magón.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "TEOTITLÁN DE FLORES MAGÓN". Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México. Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal. Archived from the original on 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  2. ^ Gerhard, Peter (1993). A guide to the historical geography of New Spain (Rev. ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 305. ISBN 9780806125534.
  3. ^ Wauchope, Robert; Ekholm, Gordon F.; Bernal, Ignacio (2015). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 10 And 11: Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 472. ISBN 9781477306758.
  4. ^ Wauchope, Robert; Wiley, Gordon; Spores, Ronald (1965). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 2 and 3: Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica. University of Texas Press. pp. 974–975. ISBN 9781477306550.