Tlalpan - History

History

The first major population center in this part of the Valley of Mexico was Cuicuilco, which was populated as early as 1000 BCE. The current site contains an unusual circular pyramid, and is believed to mimic one of the volcanoes in the area. Cuicuilco was destroyed by a volcanic eruption from Xitle in 100 CE, whose lava flow eventually covered much of the south of the Valley of Mexico, creating what is now called the Pedregales del Sur as well as numerous caves and caverns. This also created areas with rich volcanic soil which would allow for agriculture and repopulation 600 years later. However, the area would not have another major city state, and eventually it was dominated by the Aztecs from Tenochtitlan by the 15th century. It is from their language, Nahuatl, that the name of Tlalpan, would come to be used for the largest village in the area. It means “over the earth” and refers to roads that converged here, linking Tenochtitlan with points south. The borough’s glyph or symbol is the one given to the historic center by the Aztecs, a footprint over a symbol for clay soil. The area come under control of the Spanish after the fall of Tenochtitlan, and the village’s name was changed from Tlapan to Villa de San Agustin de las Cuevas in 1645. San Agustin is the area’s patron saint, and the name of the parish church built by the Dominicans in the early 16th century. The last part means “of the caves,” referring to the many caves and caverns formed in the area by an eruption of the Xitle volcano in 100 CE. Initially, this area south of the Valley of Mexico was part of lands administered by authorities in Coyoacán. During the colonial period, the old village of Tlalpan was a modest farming village, known for its orchards and extensive forests. The latter made it attractive as a retreat for the wealthy of Mexico City. These elite established country homes and haciendas, which eventually became the economic base of the area. By the 18th century, the village of Tlalpan was large enough to be an ecclesiastical center.

After Independence, the Constitution of 1824, divided Mexico into states, with the area around Mexico City separated as a Federal District. However, the Tlalpan area was initially part of the then very large State of Mexico, which surrounded Mexico City. Tlalpan became the capital of the State of Mexico from 1837 until 1855, when the area was incorporated into the Federal District. U.S. troops passed this way in 1847 on the road to Coyoacán where they fought Mexican troops at the Battle of Churubusco . After this war, President Antonio López de Santa Anna, expanded the Federal District south over Tlalpan to the southern mountains to make the Federal District more defensible. The village of Tlalpan became the head of what was then called the Southern Prefecture. Foreign troops passed through here again during the French Intervention in Mexico. Mexican opponents of this invasion in the village were hung at the “Arbol de los colgados” in the central plaza or square.

The latter decades are marked by industrialization. In the 1860s and 1870s varies types of modern infrastructure was introduced including telegraph (1866), railroad (1869) and the first long distance telephone in Mexico in 1878. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, (known as the Porfirato), various factories were established in the area including the then well known paper factory called Loreto y Peña Pobre. Today, the site of this factory is an ecological park. However, the village itself remained relatively untouched, filled with cobblestone streets and haciendas owned by the wealthy and filled with orchards growing apples, plums and more. No battle of the Mexican Revolution occurred here, but Zapatista troops passed through, allowing for a historic meeting between Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa in Tlalpan.

The borough of Tlalpan was created in 1928, when the Federal District of Mexico City was reorganized into 16 administrative parts called “delegaciones” (boroughs). At that time, the area was still very rural showing little influence from then-fast growing Mexico City. One reason for this was the area called the Pedregal, the old hardened lava flow from the Xitle volcano on much of the north end of the borough. This made development of much of the borough impossible until the mid-20th century. With the construction of the Jardines de Pedregal by Luis Barragán and the Ciudad Universitaria by Mario Pani, the city began to grow in that direction. The urban sprawl of Mexico City began to reach Tlalpan centero in the middle of the 20th century. For the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, two facilities were constructed in the delegation. Both were housing facilities for athletes called Villa Olimpica and Villa Coapa, which were turned into permanent houses after the games ended. In the 1990s, borough authorities warned that there was no more space in Tlalpan suitable for development and that preservation of the ecological areas needed to be primary as most of the territory is mountainous, with delicate forests and meadows. However, illegal settlements in conservation areas have continued the advance of urban sprawl into ecologically sensitive and protected areas. Most of these families are poor and the lack of living space pushes them into these areas where there are no services.(mancah) The advance of urbanization means the loss of protected areas and the loss of environmental services provided by the city government. It also increased the demand for borough services such as water, sewerage and roads, despite environmental regulations.