Zumpango

Zumpango is a municipality located in the northeastern part of the state of Mexico in Zumpango Region. It lies directly north of Mexico City within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The municipal seat, Zumpango de Ocampo, lies near Lake Zumpango, the last of the five interconnected lakes which covered much of the Valley of Mexico in the pre Hispanic period. The name Zumpango is derived from the Nahuatl word "Tzompanco" which means string of scalps. The municipality is located in the northeast part of the State of Mexico, part of the state’s panhandle that extends over the north and down on the east side of the Federal District of Mexico City. The municipality has a territory of 244.08km2 and borders the municipalities of Tequixquiac, Hueypoxtla, Teoloyucan, Cuautitán, Nextlapan, Jaltenco, Tecámac, Coyotepec and Huehuetoca as well as Tizayuca in the state of Hidalgo. Zumpango is considered to be part of the metropolitan area of Mexico City as part of the Cuautitlán-Texcoco zone north of the city proper. Zumpango is the location of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which was opened in 2022 to be the second commercial airport serving Greater Mexico City.

History

This is derived from the practice of displaying the skulls of defeated warriors on a shrine called a tzompantli. The municipality uses the Aztec glyph for a tzompantli for its seal. The area has small settlements as early as 200 BCE along the old shoreline of Lake Zumpango. The quantity and size of settlements grew significantly between 100 and 700 CE, with evidence of ceramic production. The population decreased between 700 and 900 CE, with some recovery between 900 and 1100 CE. Between 1150 and 1520 the area becomes dominated by Nahuatl speaking peoples, eventually dominated by Tenochtitlan and the Aztecs as they took over the Valley of Mexico. The first known noble to rule the area was Tochpanehecatl in 1216. After their conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish arrived to settle the area in 1525. Most of Zumpango came under the administration of Cuautitlán with about a fourth under the jurisdiction of Zitlaltepec. In 1596, Zumpango became independent as an Alcaldía Mayor, which gave it jurisdiction over Zitlaltepec. In the early colonial era, Zumpango was part of an encomienda under Alonso de Avila. In 1604, many of the indigenous were moved to the main town of Zumpango, depopulating villages. The Spanish took over the lands, creating haciendas such as the Hacienda de Santa Lucía, Hacienda Santa Inés and the Hacienda de Xalpan. Zumpango became a municipality in 1820 as part of the acceptance of the Cadiz Constitution, before the end of the Mexican War of Independence. In 1861, the villages of Cuautlalpan, Xoloc, Reyes Acosac, and the Haciendas of San Juan de la Labor and of Santa Lucia were added to the municipality. In the same year, the community of Zumpango was officially declared a town with the name of Villa de Zumpango de Victoria. In 1877, it was declared a city and the name changed to the current one, Zumpango de Ocampo, with the appendage honoring Melchor Ocampo. In the 19th century, a drainage tunnel for the Mexico City area was dug, reaching the municipality. This tunnel emptied water into the Colorado River, a tributary of the Tula River. Further drainage projects were undertaken in the 20th century along with a rail line, which worked to develop the area’s economy through construction and maintenance. This rail line would expand in the 1920s and operate until mid century. During the Mexican Revolution, Pedro Campa was Zumpango’s local revolutionary with a band of about three hundred men allied with the Liberation Army of the South. After the war, local leader Wenceslao Labra García worked to establish commonly owned lands called ejidos in the area. The Spanish Republican community arrived at Zumpango in the 20th century. They were farmers and peasants, Spaniards founded 1 de Mayo colony in San Sebastian, worked in ranches and haciendas and others in Zumpango municipality commerce, they opened furnitures, bakeries, restaurants, stationeries and shoe shops. In 1948, former railroad workshops were converted in a textile factory called La Hortensia, which prompted highway construction to replace the rail line and another drainage canal was built. A new international airport was proposed for the municipality in the 1970s. Land was expropriated in 1974 by the federal government in this and neighboring municipalities. However, the project was opposed by locals which set off a decades-long political struggled. This struggled ended in favor of the opponents and the expropriated was revoked in 2001. Zumpango’s proximity and lake has spurred residential development, to make it one of the fastest growing municipalities in the metropolitan area. The municipality is expected to have 500,000 residents¹ by 2015 as there is demand for about 113,000 new housing units per year in the area north of Mexico City. The main developers in the area are Geo, Homex, Sadasi-Sare and Urbi, with most of the developments located along the major highways and roads of the municipality. While the area is still relatively rural, the rush for construction has limited the amount of developable land and there are now requests to allow for apartment buildings of four floors and higher. The building boom has resulted in tens of thousands of small homes built for working-class families. However, many of the homes are uninhabited or the breadwinners are not there most of the week because local employment and convenient transportation has not kept up with the growth. The homes are popular because of the addition of community gardens, security and private streets. Most of the homes are very small, between 32 and fifty meters2. Although Zumpango is close to a number of employment centers, most transportation, public and private, is on crowded roads which lead to long and expensive commutes. The commute between Zumpago from Indios Verdes, the main commuter station in the north of Mexico City, takes about two hours.

Economy

As of 2005, the municipality had 23,427 residences, almost all of which were privately owned, up from 17,437 in 1995. Almost all have running water and electricity, and just under 90% have sewerage but only 35% have street lighting and 55% have garbage service. Just over seventy percent of the land in the municipality is used for agriculture with the rest divided among residential areas, industrial zones and other uses. About 25% is irrigated and the rest is farmed only during the rainy season. These fields primarily produce alfalfa, corn and barley. Most livestock is domestic fowl. The raising of pigs and cattle has diminished in the area. Agriculture and livestock production employs 13% of the population. Finca Santo Domingo is an exotic and miniature animal farm which extends over 20,000 m2. Species include llamas, kangaroos, camels, deer, parrots, peacocks and other animals native to China, Arabia, Belgium, Argentina and South Africa with most miniature species such as horses and cattle imported from the United States. It is a breeding facility for many of these animals, with buyers being mostly circuses and collectors. Mining, manufacturing and construction employ 45% of the population. There are deposits of sand, black and red tezontle and another building stone called tepetate. Industry is limited to small workshops and other concerns producing textiles and food products such as tortillas. Commerce and services employs 42% of the population. There are about 2,800 stationary businesses with 1700 located in the municipal seat. The municipal market contains 350 locales, supplemented by about ten tianguis markets in various parts of the municipality during the week. The largest tianguis market occurs on Fridays in the town of Zumpango. There is one hotel, four family owned inns, a motel, various restaurants and a few bars. Developed by GIM, Town Center Zumpango opened in 2010 and includes a Walmart, Sam's Club and Cinépolis movie theater. Other businesses include Vips, Coppel, Banamex, Steren, USA shoes, Nutrisa, Telcel, Flexi and various eateries.

Transportation

Various highways cross through the municipality, linking it with Mexico City, Pachuca, Cuautitlán and smaller communities such as Ojo de Agua, Apaxco, San Miguel Xaltocán, Nextlalpan, San Lucas Xoloc and Tecámac. Three rail lines pass through: one linking Mexico City, Pachuca and Veracruz, another linking Mexico City and Guadalajara and the third linking Mexico City to points north such as Nuevo Laredo. There is no main bus station. Most public transportation terminates at the main municipal market. The municipality is host to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport.

Education

The municipality has a total of 107 schools from preschool to vocational technical high schools, adult schools, a teachers’ college and a satellite of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México called the Centro Universitario UAEM Zumpango. The illiteracy rate is just under eight percent.

Culture

Other important communities include San Juan Zitlaltepec and San Bartolo Cuautlalpan, which are mostly farming traditional communities and San Pedro de la Laguna, known for its production of fireworks. There are over thirty traditional festivals each year in various parts of the municipality, most with a religious basis. The most important is 8 December in honor of the patron saint of Zumpango, the Virgin of the Most Pure Conception. Other important festivals include the feast day of the patron of San Bartolo Cuautlalpan which is noted for their version of the Moors and Christians dance, Corpus Christi and Day of the Dead.

Sports and entertainment

The first sport practiced in Zumpango has been the charrería, when the Spanish first settled in this town, they were under orders to raise horses, but not to allow indigenous to ride. In Zumpango makes state competitions in charreadas. The bullfighting are other entertainment, in this municipality has got bullring or plaza is named El Andaluz and its Spanish heritage of the Zumpango people.

Notable people

Huitzilihuitl, born in Zumpango, tlahtoani of Mexico Tenochtitlan. Wenceslao Labra Garcia, born in Zumpango, was a State of Mexico governor.

External links

Map of Zumpango

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378515056 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

Names in other languages