Sultepec

Sultepec
Municipality
Coat of arms of Sultepec
Coat of arms
Interactive map of Sultepec
Country Mexico
StateMexico (state)
Municipal seatSultepec de Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras
Area
 • Total
552.52 km2 (213.33 sq mi)
Population
 (2005)
 • Total
24,986
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central Standard Time)

Sultepec is a municipality in the State of Mexico in Mexico. The municipal seat is Sultepec de Pedro Ascencio de Alquisiras. The municipality covers an area of 552.52 km2 (213.33 sq mi).

The Spanish discovered silver lodes here in 1531, which started commercial silver mining in the area. Along with Amatepec the area became known as the "Provincia de la Plata". Johann Engel was one of the Germans to settle in the area in 1536, and introduced litharge as a flux in the smelting of the ore. Amalgamation was used on a large scale in 1556.

As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 24,986.

History

According to the relaciones geográficas, an unattested language called "Mazatec" was spoken in Sultepec in the 16th century. The affiliation of this language is uncertain, but Peter Gerhard hypothesized that Mazatec was used here as an alternative name for the Mazahua language, while Donald Brand suspected that the Mazatec presence in this region was the result of Aztec population transfers.

References

  1. ↑ West, Robert. Early Silver Mining in New Spain, 1531-1555 (1997). Bakewell, Peter (ed.). Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas. Aldershot: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 57, 61–65.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "Sultepec". Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México. Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal. Archived from the original on June 1, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ Wauchope, Robert; Cline, Howard F. (2015). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 12: Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Part One. University of Texas Press. p. 312. ISBN 9781477306802.
  4. ↑ Gerhard, Peter (1993). A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain (Rev. ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8061-2553-4.
  5. ↑ Brand, Donald Dilworth. An Historical Sketch of Geography and Anthropology in the Tarascan Region. United States: n.p., 1943.

18°52′N 99°57′W / 18.867°N 99.950°W / 18.867; -99.950