Santa María del Tule
Santa María del Tule
Tule | |
|---|---|
Town & Municipality | |
Santa Maria del Tule's town hall | |
| Coordinates: 17°02′50″N 96°38′00″W / 17.04722°N 96.63333°W | |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | Oaxaca |
| Government | |
| • Municipal President | Pedro Cortes Raymundo 2008-2010 |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 25.2 km2 (9.7 sq mi) |
| Elevation (of seat) | 1,565 m (5,135 ft) |
| Population (2005) Municipality | |
• Municipality | 8,259 |
| • Seat | 7,831 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (US Central)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (Central) |
Santa María del Tule is a town and a municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Centro District in the Valles Centrales region. It is located 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) SE of the city of Oaxaca on Highway 190. The town and municipality are named for the patron saint of the place, the Virgin Mary and “Tule” comes from the Náhuatl word “tulle” or “tullin” which means bulrush.
The town's claim to fame is as the home of a 2,000-year-old Montezuma cypress tree, known as the El Árbol del Tule, which is one of the oldest, largest and widest trees in the world. Its gnarled trunk and branches are filled with shapes that have been given names such as “the elephant,” “the pineapple” and even one called “Carlos Salinas’ ears.”