Tlaxcala

 

city (1990 pop. 50,486), capital of Tlaxcala state, E central Mexico. It is the site of the oldest Christian church in the Americas, founded (1521) by the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. Nearby is a famous Mexican shrine, the Santuario y Colegiata de Ocotlán.

Tlaxcala
Flag Coat of arms
Location within Mexico
Country	Mexico
Capital	Tlaxcala
Municipalities	60
Government
- Governor	Héctor Ortiz Ortiz (PAN/PT)
- Federal Deputies	PAN: 2 PRD: 1
- Federal Senators	Alfonso Sánchez Anaya (PRD) Minerva Hernández (PRD) Rosalía Peredo (PAN)
Area Ranked 31st
- State	km²  ( sq mi)
Population (2005)
- State	{{formatnum:1,068,207 (Ranked 27th)}}
HDI (2004)	0.7641 - medium Ranked 24th
ISO 3166-2	MX-TLA
Postal abbr.	Tlax.
Website: Official State Site

Tlaxcala (IPA: [tlasˈkala]) is a state in Mexico, located to the east of Mexico City.

Geography and features

Tlaxcala is bordered to the west by the state of México, to the northwest by Hidalgo, and to the north, east, and south by Puebla. The state consists of 60 municipalities.

It covers an area of  square kilometers ( sq mi) and is thus the smallest of Mexico's states. According to the 2005 census, Tlaxcala had a population of 1,068,207 (51.56% female, 48.44% male).

The state's main exports are textiles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The current governor is Héctor Ortiz Ortiz, representing a PAN/PT alliance.

Cities

The state capital is the city of Tlaxcala, a small provincial center that reported a population of 15,777 in the 2005 census. The surrounding municipality of Tlaxcala reported a population of 83,748. The city was founded in 1520 by Hernán Cortés on the site of a pre-existing Native American settlement. It is located at 19.31° N, 98.24° W.

Also in the state of Tlaxcala are the cities of Apizaco, Calpulapán, Chiautempán, Huamantla, and the pre-Columbian ruins of Cacaxtla and Xochitécatl.

History

Tlaxcala was an independent nation in pre-Columbian times, never conquered by the Aztecs. The assistance of the Tlaxcalans was of instrumental importance to Cortés in his conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century.

Cortés arrived at Tlaxcala, a confederacy of about 200 towns with a rotating central government, in September of 1519 {Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished}. Their main city was Tlaxcala. After almost a century of fighting the flower wars, a great deal of hate and bitterness had developed between the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans knew that eventually the Aztecs would try to conquer them. It was just a matter of time before this tension developed into a real conflict. The Aztecs had already conquered much of the territory around Tlaxcala. [1]

The Tlaxcalans initially greeted the Spanish with hostile action, as a defense of their territory, and the two sides fought a series of battles. The Tlaxcalans inflicted severe losses upon the Spaniards and could have completely defeated them had they wished to. After several battles, a number of the Tlaxcalan leaders realized that they could use the Spanish as a proxy army to expand their military influence in the Valley of Mexico. An alliance was made. On September 18, 1519, Cortés arrived in Tlaxcala and was greeted with joy by the rulers, who already saw the Spanish as a tool to use against the Aztecs, and thus increase the Tlaxcalan fortunes. Due to a commercial blockade by the Aztecs, Tlaxcala was poor, lacking, among other things, both salt and cotton cloth, so they could only offer Cortés and his men food and women (as was the custom of alliances). Cortes stayed 20 days in Tlaxcala. It was there that he could appreciate for the first time the way of life of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica. Cortés seems to have won the true friendship of the old leaders of Tlaxcala, among them Maxixcatzín and Xicohténcatl the elder, although he could not win the heart of Xicohténcatl the Younger.

The Tlaxcalan rulers saw the Spaniards as a military tool to be used for their own political ambitions. For millennia in ancient Mexico, kingdoms had jockeyed for power through war and political alliances. The Tlaxcalans saw this as their opportunity to shift the center of power away from the Aztecs, and to expand their own kingdom. The Spaniards, in turn, saw the Tlaxcalans as a means to pursue their own ambitions for wealth. The Spaniards agreed to respect parts of the city, like the temples (but in the end, the Spaniards would destroy every single temple). The Spanish destruction of many religious statues caused dissent in the common Tlaxcalan population, but the rulers insisted on maintaining a military alliance.

All that time, Cortés offered to talk about the benefits of Christianity. Spanish legends say that he convinced the four leaders of Tlaxcala to become baptized. Maxixcatzín, Xicohténcatl the elder, Citalpopocatzín, and Temiloltécutl received the names of Don Lorenzo, Don Vicente, Don Bartolomé, and Don Gonzalo.

It's difficult to know if they understood the Catholic faith. In any event, they apparently had no problems in subordinating the new god "Dios" (in Spanish), the lord of the heavens, to their already complex pantheon.

An exchange of gifts was made and thus began the alliance between Cortés and Tlaxcala (Hugh Tomas, The conquest of Mexico, 1994).

Municipalities

Tlaxcala is subdivided into 60 municipalities. (municipios). See municipalities of Tlaxcala.

Major communities

• Apizaco
• Calpulalpán
• Chiautempan
• Huamantla
• Tlaxcala (Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl)
• Villa Vicente Guerrero
• Zacatelco

Notable people

• Bl. Antonio, one of the Child Martyrs (Niños Martires) of Tlaxcala

External links

• (Spanish) Official State Site
• (English) Tlaxcala on visitmexico.com tourist information

States of Mexico
Aguascalientes · Baja California · Baja California Sur · Campeche · Chiapas · Chihuahua · Coahuila · Colima · Durango · Distrito Federal · Guanajuato · Guerrero · Hidalgo · Jalisco · México · Michoacán · Morelos · Nayarit · Nuevo León · Oaxaca · Puebla · Querétaro · Quintana Roo · San Luis Potosí · Sinaloa · Sonora · Tabasco · Tamaulipas · Tlaxcala · Veracruz · Yucatán · Zacatecas

Coordinates: 19°25′44″N, 98°09′39″Wpms:Tlaxcala

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