Totolapan is a municipality in the Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 state of Morelos

Morelos

Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....

.

The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name.
The municipality reported 8,742 inhabitants in the year 2000 census.

The toponym Totolapan comes from a Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 name and means "birds on water".

History

The town was originally a Xochimilca village until Gonzalo de Sandoval

Gonzalo de Sandoval

Gonzalo de Sandoval was a Spanish conquistador in New Spain and briefly co-governor of the colony while Hernan Cortés was away from the capital .-Arrival in New Spain:Sandoval was the youngest of the lieutenants of Cortés. They arrived together in New Spain in 1519...

 took it in the name of Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...

 at the beginning of the Spanish Conquest. The native population was evangelized by the Augustinians

Augustinians

The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...

 and the Monastery of San Guillermo was built in 1545, becoming one of the first colonial monasteries in Mexico.

Localities

The main town is composed by the four traditional barrios

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

: La Purísima, Barrio San Agustín, Barrio San Marcos and Barrio San Sebastián.

In addition to the main town, there are other localities within the municipality: Ahuatlan, Ampliacion San Sebastián, El Fuerte, San Sebastian (La Cañada), Nepopualco, Villa Nicolás Zapata and Santa Bárbara.

External links

• Constitutional Municipality Council of Totolapan Official website
• Totolapan Municipality Info website
• Totolapan Municipality Info website