Municipio Zinacantán

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Zinacantan
location
Basic data
Country Mexico
State Chiapas
Seat Zinacantan
surface 195.3 km²
Residents 36,489
density 186.9 inhabitants per km²
founding 1922
INEGI no. 07111
politics
Presidente municipal Francisco de la Cruz Perez
View of Zinacantán with the San Lorenzo Church in the middle
View of Zinacantán with the San Lorenzo Church in the middle

Coordinates: 16 ° 46 ′  N , 92 ° 43 ′  W

Zinacantán on Tzotzil Sots'leb , is a 30,000 people inhabit, about 195 square kilometers extending municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas between the cities of San Cristobal de las Casas and Tuxtla Gutierrez , capital of Chiapas. The administrative seat is the eponymous Zinacantán , the most populous place is Navenchauc , other larger places in the municipality are Nachig and Pasté .

Place name

Tzotzil woman in Zinacantán, kneeling at the loom
Tzotzil embroidery from Zinacantán

The name Zinacantán comes from the Nahuatl , which was spoken by the Tlaxcaltec auxiliary troops of the Spaniards. Tzinācantlān means "place of the bats" ( tzinācantli "bat" and locative ending -tlan ). The Tzotzil name is Sots'leb and has the same meaning ( sots' "bat" and locative ending -leb ). The ethnonym Tzotzil or sots'il winik , "bat people", is also derived from this.

Ik'al Ojov ("Black Lord") is mentioned as the earlier name of the place or region .

geography

The municipality of Zinacantán is centrally located in the Mexican state of Chiapas between 700  m and 2800  m altitude. It belongs entirely to the physiographic province of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and belongs entirely to the hydrological region of Grijalva - Usumacinta . The geology of the municipality is determined by 56% limestone with 17% volcanoclastic rock and 13% sandstone - conglomerate rock ; The predominant soil types are Luvisol (38%), Alisol (31%), Regosol (16%) and Leptosol (13%). A good 70% of the community area is forested, 16% is used for agriculture, 10% is used as pasture land.

The municipality of Zinacantán borders the municipalities of Ixtapa , Chamula , San Cristóbal de las Casas , San Lucas , Acala and Chiapa de Corzo .

population

The 2010 census counted 36,489 people in 6,654 residential units in the municipality. Of these, 32,323 people aged 3 and over were registered as speakers of an indigenous language , including 30,400 speakers of the Tzotzil . A good 42 percent of the population was illiterate. 10,101 residents were registered as economically active, of which a good 87% were men and 2.5% were unemployed. Over 64% of the population lived in extreme poverty.

Tzotzil culture

Portal of the San Lorenzo Church Zinacantan

99 percent of the commune is inhabited by members of the Tzotzil people, natives of Mexico and descendants of the Maya culture. Almost all speak the indigenous Tzotzil language , few speak Spanish. Of all 7,048 children aged 3 to 9 in Zinacantán, 6,957 or 98.71% spoke their indigenous language, and 5,851 of these children or 83.02% did not speak Spanish.

economy

The most important branch of the economy is floriculture, which is largely carried out in greenhouses.

places

The municipality of Zinacantán comprises 53 inhabited localidades , of which, in addition to the main town, Navenchauc and Pasté are classified as urban by the INEGI . Eight towns had a population of over 1000 in the 2010 census, five towns had fewer than 100 inhabitants. The biggest places are:

place Residents
Navenchauc 4625
Zinacantan 3876
Paste 3771
Nachig 3260
Apas 1485
Patosil 1452
Zequentic 1201
Bochojbo Alto 1088
Jech Chentic 0892
Jobchenón ( La Granadilla ) 0842
Chiquinivalvo 0825

Festivals

The main traditional festivals are:

literature

  • Robert M. Laughlin (ex.), Carol Karasik (ed.): The people of the Bat, Mayan Tales and dreams from Zinacantan. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1988 (English).

Web links

Commons : Zinacantán  - collection of images

swell

  1. ^ INEGI 2010: Censo de Población y Vievienda 2010 , accessed on March 25, 2011