Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and the capital city and the largest city is Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl.
It is located in east-central Mexico, in the altiplano region, with the eastern portion dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is bordered by the states of Puebla to the north, east and south, México to the west and Hidalgo to the northwest. It is the smallest state of the republic, accounting for only 0.2% of the country's territory.
The state is named after its capital, Tlaxcala, which was also the name of the prehispanic polity. The Tlaxcaltec people allied themselves with the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs, with concessions from the Spanish that allowed the territory to remain mostly intact throughout 300 years of colonial period. After Mexican Independence, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, until 1857 when it was admitted as a state of the federation.
Most of the state's economy is based on agriculture, light industry and tourism. The tourist industry is rooted in Tlaxcala's long history with major attractions being archeological sites such as Cacaxtla and colonial constructions in and around Tlaxcala City.
Name
The name Tlaxcala pre-dates the state by centuries; it derives from the name of the capital city, which was also used to denote the territory controlled by this city in pre-Hispanic times. According to some historians, the name comes from an ancient word texcalli, which meant 'crag'; however, an alternative etymology stems from the Nahuatl word Tlaxcallān which means 'place of corn tortillas'. The Aztec glyph that referred to this place has both elements, two green hills and two hands holding a corn tortilla.The letter 'x' in the name reflects the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative, a historical phoneme present in Nahuatl and in Old Spanish. The conquistadors transcribed this sound using that letter in the Spanish language at the time of colonization and also when codifying the alphabets of the indigenous languages in the Americas for the first time. Due to the evolution of the coronal fricatives that took place in Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries, transitioned into a voiceless velar fricative at the beginning of a word or intervocalically, while it turned into a voiceless alveolar fricative at the end of a syllable. Thus, the pronunciation of Tlaxcala at the time of the sibilant shift transitioned from to. However, the realization is also present due to spelling pronunciation after the Spanish orthographic reform of 1815, which replaced the letter 'x' with 'j' in words that previously had that transitioned into velar, leaving the letter 'x' with the current pronunciation.
Coat-of-arms
The state's coat of arms is based on the coat of arms that was granted to the city in 1535. Its different elements have the following meanings: the red background represents courage; the castle symbolizes defensive power; the eagle with its open wings represents the spirit of vigilance; the border symbolizes protection and compensation; the green palms stand for victory, and the crowns are the symbol of royal authority.The letter refers to Joanna of Castile, the mother of Charles I of Spain; the letter K represents the name of the king himself; and the letter F belongs to Philip, later Philip II of Spain. The human skulls and cross-bones represent those who died during the Conquest.
Geography
Political geography
The state of Tlaxcala is located slightly east of center of Mexico between 97°37′07″ and 98°42′51″W and 19°05′43″ and 19°44′07″N. It is bordered by the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Mexico. It is the smallest state in terms of territory with only about, representing about 0.2% of the entire country. The state is divided into 60 municipalities, the largest of which are Tlaxcala, Apizaco, Huamantla, Zacatelco, Calpulalpan, Chiautempan and Tlaxco.The political heart of the state is its capital, Tlaxcala, even though it is not the state's largest city. Tlaxcala lies at the foot of the northwestern slope of La Malinche volcano in the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, founded as an organized civilization before the 15th century. The Spanish political entity was founded by Hernán Cortés between 1520 and 1525 and given the Spanish name of New City of Our Lady of the Assumption. Its economy is still based on the traditional enterprises of agriculture, textiles, and the commerce of products of native peoples such as the Otomí, especially on market days. Other important cities include Santa Ana Chiautempan, the most populous city in the state, Apizaco, noted for its textile production and Huamantla, a farming and cattle town.
Natural geography and climate
Tlaxcala is a land-locked state situated on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The average altitude for the state is 2,230 meters above sea level, making it a bit higher than the Valley of Mexico just to the southwest. The western part of the state lies on the central plateau of Mexico while the east is dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental, home of the 4,461 meter La Malinche volcano. Most of the state is rugged terrain dominated by ridges and deep valleys, along with protruding igneous rock formations. This ruggedness, along with large-scale weather phenomena such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, gives the state a complex climate. Overall rain patterns for the state are about in the summer rainy season and in the winter. Locally, however, this varies dramatically between the drier plateaus and valleys and the wetter mountains. Variations in altitude produce sub-climates between semi-tropical to temperate, with frosts likely in the higher elevations during the winter. Temperate fir, juniper, and pine-oak forests dominate the mountain highlands, while the flatlands, with their drier climate, are characterized by agaves and prickly pear cactus.The state has no major lakes or large rivers. The principal water sources are the Atoyac-Zahuapan basin and the reservoir of the Atlangatepec dam.
Economy
Agriculture
Much of Tlaxcala's economy is based on agriculture, livestock and forestry. Principle crops for the state are maize and barley, along with important quantities of wheat, beans, animal feed and potatoes, using about 60% of the state's land. Although the state has 15 dams and 483 wells to provide water for agriculture, 88% of the state's agriculture is dependent on the summer rainy season, leaving it vulnerable to climatic phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña.Most livestock raised in the state is beef cattle and dairy cows along with the renowned fighting bulls. Other important animals are pigs, sheep, horses, poultry and bees. About 35,842 hectares, or 6.7% of the state is dedicated to livestock. Due to the limited surface water, there is no commercial fishing or fish-farming here.
The state's forestry enterprises are located in the municipalities of Tlaxco, Terrenate, Altzayanca, Calpulalpan and Nanacamilpa, with about 35,842 hectares of land dedicated to this. However, the amount of land dedicated to forestry has been declining in recent years. To combat this, in 2007 2,484,687 trees were planted on about 2,477 hectares of land.
Industry and commerce
Light manufacturing has developed on a significant scale in the state, especially products produced for export outside the state. These products include clothing, foam and plastic products, paper products, publishing, textiles and automobile works. Organized industrial areas in the state include the Malinche Corridor, the Apizaco-Xalostoc-Huamantla Corridor, the Panzacola Corridor, the “industrial cities” of Xicohténcatli I, Xicohténcatli II and Xicohténcatli III, the industrial parks of Calpulalpan, Xiloxoxtla, Ixtacuixtla, and Nanacamilpa as well as the industrial areas of Velasco and Atlangatepec.Most commercial activity in the state occurs in the municipalities of Apizaco, Chiautempan, Tlaxcala, Huamantla, San Pablo del Monte and Zacatelco. In the last economic census in 2003, INEGI registered 21,307 commercial establishments in the state, most of these being small individually or family-owned enterprises. There are also fifty-nine tianguis, seventeen municipal markets, eleven malls, twenty-six department stores and fourteen commercial centers of other types.
In addition, the state is an important link between Mexico's major eastern port, Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico City, in the interior.
Tourism
Tourist attractions primarily consist of pre-Hispanic archaeological sites and colonial establishments, with examples of both religious and civil constructions. However, in comparison with the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala's archaeological and colonial sites are barely known. Tlaxcala's major attractions are the archaeological sites of Cacaxtla, Xochitécatl and Tizatlán, which were not fully investigated until the 20th century, unlike most sites within the state. When Hernán Cortés came, Mesoamerican civilization here was considered to be in the Post-Classic stage, and the kingdom was filled with temples, palaces and grand plazas that impressed the Spaniards.Tlaxcala's two major archaeological sites are Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla. Xochitécatl was built between 300 and 400 A.D., and probably reached its peak between 600 and 800 A.D. There is evidence that occupation of the sites extends much further back in time than the early city’s known habitation. The ceremonial center is situated on a hill with four main structures called “The Spiral Building,” “The Volcano Base,” “The Serpent Pyramid” and “The Flower Pyramid.” The last is the most important, and is topped by two monolithic pillars. This pyramid is the fourth largest in Mexico, and the Spiral Pyramid is one of the few circular ones ever to be found.
Cacaxtla was built later than Xochitécatl, between 600 and 900 A.D., and is the far larger of the two. It was only re-discovered in 1975, by farmers from the nearby town of San Miguel del Milago, who began discovering archaeological artifacts in the fields. The main attractions here are the murals, painted with pigments sourced from local minerals. Some of the best works include the Scorpion Man at the Venus Temple, Cacaxtli with corn plant at the Red Temple, the Battle Mural, and the Bird Man and the Jaguar Man found in “Porch A.”
Another interesting archeological site is called Tizatlán. This site does not contain pyramids; instead the buildings here are made of adobe brick, a very unusual construction material for this place and time. The site contains two stucco-covered altars with murals that follow the Borgia Group codex style with images of gods and important human figures, including gods such as Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Mayahuel and were the scene of human sacrifices.
The state contains more than 1,000 archeological sites with only seven fully excavated and open to the public. The last of these is Ocotelulco, situated on a hill near the town of San Francisco Ocotelulco. It is a collection of dwellings with raised areas for ceremonial purposes. Its altar is similar to the one found at Tezcatlipoca, decorated with colorful frescos with images of Quetzalcoatl, Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. These images are in the style of the Post-classic period and have been dated to about 1450.
Tlaxcala is home to some of the earliest colonial architecture and art. The oldest church in Mexico, built in 1521 and the first monasteries, built by the Franciscans, were built here in 1524. Many other churches and monasteries were built in the state in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Just about every municipality has colonial-era structures such as churches, municipal palaces and plazas but the best examples are in and around the city of Tlaxcala. The Temple and Ex-monastery of San Francisco, built in the early 16th century, is located about 14 km southeast of the capital city. Only the church retains its original function; the former monastery now houses a school. The State Government Palace is located in the city proper and was creating by conjoining the former mayor's house, the treasury and the state warehouse, which is architecturally held together with a Plateresque facade. The city's cathedral, called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built in the 16th century. Its main altar preserves a Baroque altarpiece with a depiction of the baptism of the Lord Maxixcatzin, with Hernán Cortés and Malinche as godparents. A bit later, the Basilica of Octolan was built in the 17th and 18th centuries to comply with a demand of the Virgin Mary who reportedly appeared before Juan Diego Bernardino here in 1541. It is considered be the culmination of the Baroque style in Tlaxcala. The state also contains 140 haciendas, which vary in their state of conservation but some are promoted for tourism.
Regional festivals here are known for dances featuring men in mustached masks, large-plumed hats and colorful garb. This is especially apparent during Carnival, when over 4,000 folk dancers from different villages come to the capital to celebrate. In a village just north of the capital, in San Juan Totolac, every year they commemorate the departure of 400 families in 1591 who went north to colonize the land known as the Gran Chichimeca, which primarily covers the northeast of modern Mexico. Streets in Huamantla are decorated with flowers in intricate designs on “La Noche que Nadie Duerme” in August. Many other festivals are in the state, many of which display the state's long tradition of bullfighting.
Ecotourism is relatively new here and much of it centers on La Malinche National Park, home to the La Malinche volcano, which is 4,461 m high. Here one can camp, mountain bike, horseback ride, rappel and climb the volcano itself. At the peak of La Malinche, it is possible to see the volcanos of Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl and Pico de Orizaba.
Ninety five percent of those visiting Tlaxcala are from Mexico and most of these are from neighboring Puebla state. Foreign visitors are mostly German, French and Swiss who are interested in Mexican history.