Tlaltenango de Sánchez Román
Encyclopedia
The municipality of Tlaltenango de Sánchez Román is located in the southwestern portion of the Mexican state of Zacatecas
. The average elevation of the municipality is 1,723 meters (5,653 ft) above sea level and the municipality covers an area of 747.082 square kilometres (288.4 sq mi). The municipality lies in a valley bordered by the Sierra de Morones and lies on the banks of the Tlaltenango River, which runs north and is a tributary of the Bolaños River.
The municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Momax and General Joaquin Amaro
, to east by the municipalities of Huanusco and Jalpa
, to the south by the municipalities of municipality of Tepechitlán
and to the west by Atolinga Municipality.
s who farmed the land on the river banks and certainly enjoyed the abundance of flora and fauna of the mountain ranges that surrounded the valley. The meaning of the word Tlaltenango in the Caxcan language (land surrounded by walls) alludes to the mountainous landscape of the valley.
Between these walls, the Sierra del Mixtón to the east and the Sierra de Tepeque to the west, transited Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
and his soldiers, leaving, according to the historian Peter Gerhard
, “a path of corpses and destroyed houses and crops, impressing surviving males into service and leaving women and children to starve.” Frame 56 of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala
describes a battle in which the Caxcans of “Tlaltenapa” defended their lands against the Spanish and their Tlaxcaltec
allies.
The memories of this first encounter with the Spanish
must have tormented the inhabitants of Tlaltenango and its surrounding area. So great was the anguish that in 1531, from the mountains near El Teúl
, they launched an attack against the Spanish who were attempting to build a town named the Town of the Holy Spirit of Guadalajara near what is now Nochistlán
. The Town of Guadalajara was left in ruins and the Spanish had to make another three attempts before the town finally survived in its present location (the Atemajac Valley) where it was built in 1542.
In 1541, the Caxcans took up arms against the Spanish once again, with their Tepehuan
, Zacatec and Guachichil
allies. From the Sierra del Mixtón, which is today known as Sierra de Morones, the indigenous allies of the region attacked the Spanish. The Mixtón War lasted less than two years, but peace was not long-lived. In 1550, the seeds of war sprouted once again with the great Chichimeca War
, a war fought by a great number of Chichimec ethnic groups (Chichimec was a pejorative term used by civilized ethnic groups of the south to describe the nomadic ethnic groups of the north). This war lasted almost forty years. While it seems that the residents of the Valley of Tlaltenango did not participate in this rebellion, the region suffered the consequences of war nevertheless due to the chaos all around it. For having submitted to the Spanish Crown, The Caxcan towns of the area around Tlaltenango suffered attacks from the north launched by their former allies, the Zacatecs.
The war only came to an end when the Viceroy Luis de Velasco
decided to purchase peace with the Chichimecs. As part of the peace offering, the Viceroy used the power of the Royal Treasury to dissitribute clothing, tools and food to the Chichimecs in return for their pacification and recognition of the Spanish Crown. In addition, he recruited hundreds of Tlaxcaltec families to move and live among the Chichimecs so as to convert them to the Catholic faith
and to a sedentary lifestyle by teaching them agricultural methods.
Needless to say, at the end of the 16th century there were very few Spaniards that lived in the vicinity of Tlaltenango. In the decade of 1540, probably after the Mixtón War, the towns of the valley were entrusted as encomienda
s to a number of Spaniards. The town of Tlaltenango was entrusted to Toribio de Bolaños, Tepechitlán to Pedro de Bobadilla, a soldier of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, and El Teúl was an encomineda of Juan Delgado
. It is unlikely that these individuals were able to exercise their rights over the indigenous populations during the 16th century, given that the successive rebellions would have made it difficult. However, with the end of war, Spaniards began arriving and settling among the newly pacified indigenous inhabitants of the region.
In 1550, the town of Tlaltenango had 132 houses, in which lived 626 persons. By 1561, the tributary
population (adult males) reached 379. In 1570, the tributary population had reached 1,000 individuals and there were 20 Spaniards living in the town of Tlaltenango. The valley had more than 8,000 inhabitants. Such a rapid increase in population indicates a great inflow of migrants
into the region during that time. Three years later, most certainly due to disease and war, the population of the town had decreased to only 380 tributaries. By 1584, the population had still not recovered, as there were just over 3,000 inhabitants, nearly all indigenous. These inhabitants were nourished by the corn
, chile
and bean
s that they would sow in their farms along the Tlaltenango River, by peach
es, quince
s, fig
s and cactus pears that grew in the valley and by chicken
s and turkeys
that they raised.
By 1616, the number of Spaniards in the Valley was high enough for the indigenous inhabitants to complain about the damages caused to their farms by the steer and horses of the Spaniards. Racial mixing between the Spanish and Amerindians of the region existed in those early years. The documented complaints of the indigenous inhabitants include the extramarital affairs of Diego González and Diego López, both Spaniards, with Indian women and those of Juan de Miramontes, also a Spaniard, with a mestizo woman who was the wife of a Tlaxcaltec. We also know that the Bobadilla, trustees of Tepechitlán, were mestizos, since the first trustee, Pedro de Bobadilla married and had offspring with an indigenous woman.
The local indigenous population was the main supply of labor for the salt mines in Santa Maria y El Peñol Blanco in the early 17th century. The town and its surrounding wooded mountains were also key suppliers of wood fiber used for construction of the frontier towns of Jerez and Colotlán
. The jurisdiction of Tlaltenango included at least three sawmill and charcoal plants in the 17th century.
On July 18, 2008 there was a massive flash flood, killing 3, and affecting 15,000 of the town's people.
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....
. The average elevation of the municipality is 1,723 meters (5,653 ft) above sea level and the municipality covers an area of 747.082 square kilometres (288.4 sq mi). The municipality lies in a valley bordered by the Sierra de Morones and lies on the banks of the Tlaltenango River, which runs north and is a tributary of the Bolaños River.
The municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Momax and General Joaquin Amaro
El Plateado de Joaquín Amaro
El Plateado de Joaquín Amaro or Joaquín Amaro, also known as El Plateado and as General Joaquín Amaro, is a community in Zacatecas, Mexico, located 105 km SW of Zacatecas City. It is bordered by the municipal divisions of Villanueva, Tabasco, Momax, and Tlaltenango de Sánchez...
, to east by the municipalities of Huanusco and Jalpa
Jalpa, Zacatecas
Founded in the early 15th Century by Spanish explorers in search of Gold and Silver, Jalpa was spelled "Xalpa" by its native Indian Caxcan, Chichimeca and huichole people. Conquered by the Spanish the Indian population inter-mixed with Spanish and other European peoples to form today's meztisos...
, to the south by the municipalities of municipality of Tepechitlán
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 approximately 1700 meters above sea level...
and to the west by Atolinga Municipality.
Population
According to the 2005 Census, the municipality of Tlaltenango de Sánchez Román had a population of 21,636 inhabitants. Of these, 14,520 lived in the municipal seat and the remainder lived in surrounding rural communities. In 2000, there were 7,223 economically active individuals in the municipality. The largest sector of employment was agriculture in husbandy, which employed 19.1% of the economically active population, followed by wholesale and retail, which employed 16.8% and manufacturing, which employed 11.9%.History
In 1530, the Valley of Tlaltenango was inhabited by the indigenous CaxcanCaxcan
The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Francisco Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion. During the rebellion, they were described as "the heart and the center of the Indian Rebellion". They...
s who farmed the land on the river banks and certainly enjoyed the abundance of flora and fauna of the mountain ranges that surrounded the valley. The meaning of the word Tlaltenango in the Caxcan language (land surrounded by walls) alludes to the mountainous landscape of the valley.
Between these walls, the Sierra del Mixtón to the east and the Sierra de Tepeque to the west, transited Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán or sometimes Nuño de Guzmán was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was Governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525–1533, and of Nueva Galicia from 1529–1534, President of the first Audiencia from 1528-30. He founded several cities in...
and his soldiers, leaving, according to the historian Peter Gerhard
Peter Gerhard
Peter Gerhard was a historical geographer whose work focused on colonial Mexico or New Spain.His works include:*The North Frontier of New Spain*Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain*Pirates of New Spain, 1575-1742...
, “a path of corpses and destroyed houses and crops, impressing surviving males into service and leaving women and children to starve.” Frame 56 of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala
History of Tlaxcala
History of Tlaxcala is an illustrated codex written by and under the supervision of Diego Muñoz Camargo in the years leading up to 1585. Also known as Lienzo Tlaxcala and by its Spanish title, Historia de Tlaxcala, this manuscript highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the...
describes a battle in which the Caxcans of “Tlaltenapa” defended their lands against the Spanish and their Tlaxcaltec
Tlaxcaltec
The Tlaxcalteca were an indigenous group of Nahua ethnicity that inhabited the Kingdom of Tlaxcala located in what is now the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.-Pre-hispanic history:...
allies.
The memories of this first encounter with the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
must have tormented the inhabitants of Tlaltenango and its surrounding area. So great was the anguish that in 1531, from the mountains near El Teúl
El Teúl
El Teúl is an important archaeological mesoamerican site located on a hill with the same name in the Teúl municipality in the south of the Zacatecas State, Mexico, near the Jalisco State....
, they launched an attack against the Spanish who were attempting to build a town named the Town of the Holy Spirit of Guadalajara near what is now Nochistlán
Nochistlan
Nochistlán is a town in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, on December 3, 1531, hired Juan de Oñate to establish a village in Nochistlán; the village would be named Guadalajara to honor Guzmán for having been born in Guadalajara....
. The Town of Guadalajara was left in ruins and the Spanish had to make another three attempts before the town finally survived in its present location (the Atemajac Valley) where it was built in 1542.
In 1541, the Caxcans took up arms against the Spanish once again, with their Tepehuan
Tepehuán
The Tepehuán are a Native American ethnic group in northwest Mexico, whose villages at the time of Spanish conquest spanned a large territory along the Sierra Madre Occidental from Chihuahua and Durango in the north to Jalisco in the south...
, Zacatec and Guachichil
Guachichil
Of all the Chichimeca natives, the Guachichiles occupied the most extensive territory, stretching north to Saltillo in Coahuila and to the northern corners of Michoacán in the south...
allies. From the Sierra del Mixtón, which is today known as Sierra de Morones, the indigenous allies of the region attacked the Spanish. The Mixtón War lasted less than two years, but peace was not long-lived. In 1550, the seeds of war sprouted once again with the great Chichimeca War
Chichimeca War
The Chichimeca War was a military conflict waged between Spanish colonizers and their Indian allies against a confederation of Chichimeca Indians. It was the longest and most expensive conflict between Spaniards and the indigenous peoples of New Spain in the history of the colony.The Chichimeca...
, a war fought by a great number of Chichimec ethnic groups (Chichimec was a pejorative term used by civilized ethnic groups of the south to describe the nomadic ethnic groups of the north). This war lasted almost forty years. While it seems that the residents of the Valley of Tlaltenango did not participate in this rebellion, the region suffered the consequences of war nevertheless due to the chaos all around it. For having submitted to the Spanish Crown, The Caxcan towns of the area around Tlaltenango suffered attacks from the north launched by their former allies, the Zacatecs.
The war only came to an end when the Viceroy Luis de Velasco
Luis de Velasco
Luís de Velasco was the second viceroy of New Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the mid-sixteenth century....
decided to purchase peace with the Chichimecs. As part of the peace offering, the Viceroy used the power of the Royal Treasury to dissitribute clothing, tools and food to the Chichimecs in return for their pacification and recognition of the Spanish Crown. In addition, he recruited hundreds of Tlaxcaltec families to move and live among the Chichimecs so as to convert them to the Catholic faith
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and to a sedentary lifestyle by teaching them agricultural methods.
Needless to say, at the end of the 16th century there were very few Spaniards that lived in the vicinity of Tlaltenango. In the decade of 1540, probably after the Mixtón War, the towns of the valley were entrusted as encomienda
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....
s to a number of Spaniards. The town of Tlaltenango was entrusted to Toribio de Bolaños, Tepechitlán to Pedro de Bobadilla, a soldier of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, and El Teúl was an encomineda of Juan Delgado
Juan Delgado
Juan Delgado was a Spanish fencer. He competed at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics.-References:...
. It is unlikely that these individuals were able to exercise their rights over the indigenous populations during the 16th century, given that the successive rebellions would have made it difficult. However, with the end of war, Spaniards began arriving and settling among the newly pacified indigenous inhabitants of the region.
In 1550, the town of Tlaltenango had 132 houses, in which lived 626 persons. By 1561, the tributary
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
population (adult males) reached 379. In 1570, the tributary population had reached 1,000 individuals and there were 20 Spaniards living in the town of Tlaltenango. The valley had more than 8,000 inhabitants. Such a rapid increase in population indicates a great inflow of migrants
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
into the region during that time. Three years later, most certainly due to disease and war, the population of the town had decreased to only 380 tributaries. By 1584, the population had still not recovered, as there were just over 3,000 inhabitants, nearly all indigenous. These inhabitants were nourished by the corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s that they would sow in their farms along the Tlaltenango River, by peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es, quince
Quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
s, fig
Common fig
The Common fig is a deciduous tree growing to heights of up to 6 m in the genus Ficus from the family Moraceae known as Common fig tree. It is a temperate species native to the Middle East.-Description:...
s and cactus pears that grew in the valley and by chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s and turkeys
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
that they raised.
By 1616, the number of Spaniards in the Valley was high enough for the indigenous inhabitants to complain about the damages caused to their farms by the steer and horses of the Spaniards. Racial mixing between the Spanish and Amerindians of the region existed in those early years. The documented complaints of the indigenous inhabitants include the extramarital affairs of Diego González and Diego López, both Spaniards, with Indian women and those of Juan de Miramontes, also a Spaniard, with a mestizo woman who was the wife of a Tlaxcaltec. We also know that the Bobadilla, trustees of Tepechitlán, were mestizos, since the first trustee, Pedro de Bobadilla married and had offspring with an indigenous woman.
The local indigenous population was the main supply of labor for the salt mines in Santa Maria y El Peñol Blanco in the early 17th century. The town and its surrounding wooded mountains were also key suppliers of wood fiber used for construction of the frontier towns of Jerez and Colotlán
Colotlán
The municipality of Colotlán is located in the northern extremity of the Mexican state of Jalisco. The municipality covers an area of approximately 505 square kilometers...
. The jurisdiction of Tlaltenango included at least three sawmill and charcoal plants in the 17th century.
On July 18, 2008 there was a massive flash flood, killing 3, and affecting 15,000 of the town's people.
Sources
- Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Zacatecas, State of Zacatecas http://www.zacatecas.gob.mx/Municipios/MapaMunicipios.html
- Insituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática http://www.inegi.gob.mx
- Carlos Casas, Bernardo. Tlaltenango: una ciudad amurallada, Guadalajara, Jal.: Impre-Jal (1986)
- Gerhard, Peter. The North Frontier of New Spain, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1982)
- Salcedo y Herrera, Francisco Manuel. Descripción del partido y jurisdicción de Tlaltenango, hecha en 1650, México, D.F.: José Porrua e Hijos (1958)
External links
- En el Valle de Tlaltenango (Somos Primos article in Spanish)
- www.mytlaltenango.com (Private party site dedicated to Tlaltenango (in Spanish))
- Red Social De Tlaltenango (Tlaltenango Social Network)