Zinacantepec
Zinacantepec | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
Main Plaza of Zinacantepec | |
| Coordinates: 19°17′00″N 99°44′00″W / 19.28333°N 99.73333°W | |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | State of Mexico |
| Municipal Seat | San Miguel Zinacantepec |
| Municipality Created | 1826 |
| Government | |
| • Municipal President | Manuel Vilchis Viveros (2022-2024) |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 308.68 km2 (119.18 sq mi) |
| Elevation (of seat) | 2,740 m (8,990 ft) |
| Population (2005) Municipality | |
• Municipality | 136,167 |
| • Seat | 46,569 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central) |
| Postal code (of seat) | 51350 |
| Area code | 722 |
| Website | (in Spanish) /Official site |
Zinacantepec is a municipality located just west of the city of Toluca in Mexico State, Mexico. The municipal seat is the town of San Miguel Zinacantepec. Zinacantepec is Nahuatl for "bat mountain" and its Aztec glyph is a bat on a mountain. It is named after a small mountain which contained two caves which used to be filled with thousands of bats.
In the 18th century, the residents of this mountain moved to settle alongside the Franciscan monastery established here in the 16th century. This monastery is the best preserved of a network of missionaries established in the Toluca Valley in the mid 16th century. Today, the complex functions as the parish church, with the cloister dedicated as the colonial era museum of the state of Mexico.