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Texcoco is a city and municipality located in the State of Mexico, 25 km northeast of Mexico City. In the pre-Hispanic era, this was a major Aztec city on the shores of Lake Texcoco. After the Conquest, the city was initially the second most important after Mexico City, but its importance faded over time, becoming more rural in character.〔 〕 Over the colonial and post-independence periods, most of Lake Texcoco was drained and the city is no longer on the shore and much of the municipality is on lakebed.〔 Numerous Aztec archeological finds have been discovered here, including the 125,000 kilo stone statue of Tlaloc, which now resides at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Much of Texcoco's recent history involves the clash of the populace with local, state and federal authorities. The most serious of these is the continued attempts to develop an airport here, which despite the saturation of the current Mexico City airport, is opposed by local residents. The city and municipality is home to a number of archeological sites, such as the palace of Nezahualcoyotl, Texcotzingo (Baths of Nezahualcoyotl) and Huexotla. Other important sites include the Cathedral, the Juanino Monastery, and Chapingo Autonomous University. The most important annual festival is the Feria Internacional del Caballo (International Fair of the Horse), which showcases the area’s mostly agricultural economic base.〔 ==History== The official name of the municipality is Texcoco and the official name of the city is Texcoco de Mora, in honor of Dr. José María Luis Mora. However, both are commonly called Texcoco. The name has been spelled a number of other ways over the city’s history including Tetzcuco, Tezcoco and Tezcuco. The name is derived from Nahuatl and most likely means “among the jarilla (Larrea) which grow in crags”. However, there are a number of glyph representations for the place that have appeared the Codex Azcatitlán, the Codex Cruz, the Quinantzin Map and other early colonial documents and this translation cannot be verified 100%. While there is no exact date for the first human settlements in Texcoco, it is likely that the first people here were Toltec or from Teotihuacan. The Xototl, Tolotzin and Quinatzin Codices indicate that the first people here were ethnically Chichimeca. This tribe is credited for founding a province known in pre-Hispanic Valley of Mexico as Acolhuacan. The most notable rulers of Acolhuacan, who resided in Texcoco were Nopaltzin, Tlotzin Pochotl, Quinatzin, Techotlalatzin, Ixtlixochitl El Viejo, Nezahualcoyotl, Nezahualpilli and Cacamatzin. All of these rulers were considered to be great warriors and priests who influenced the history of this valley. The most prominent of these rulers was Nezahualcoyotl who was one of the founders of the Aztec Triple Alliance. During his forty-year reign, the arts, culture and architecture flourished in the dominion. Hernán Cortés initially arrived to Texcoco in 1519, while Cacamatzin was leader. Here the brigantines to attack Tenochtitlan were constructed in 1521. On Juárez Street there is an obelisk which marks this event.〔 After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Franciscan friars came to Texcoco to evangelize, principally Juan de Tecto, Juan de Ayora and Pedro de Gante. Gante founded the first primary school in Mesoamerica, teaching Latin, Spanish, sewing, carpentry and knitting. He also wrote the first catechism in Nahuatl. In the north of the Texcoco cathedral, there is a chapel named after him.〔 In 1551, indigenous leader Fernando Pimentel y Alvarado petitioned to have Texcoco recognized as a city by the Spanish Crown. This petition was granted and it received a coat of arms. While the overall style of the coat of arms is Spanish, the emblems inside, such as a coyote and a warrior with headdress are Aztec. In the very early colonial period, Texcoco was the second most important city in New Spain.〔〔 The city of Texcoco used to be located on the shore of Lake Texcoco. This lake covered an area of 9,600 km2, but since early colonial times, floods or fears of flooding have led to various drainage projects, which over time has nearly destroyed the lake completely. Starting in the 1970s and continuing to the present day, there have been efforts to clean the polluted remnants of the lake.〔 The remains of Lake Texcoco extend about 1,700 hectares in which aquatic birds and migratory birds from the U.S. and Canada can still be seen. Despite its initial importance, Texcoco did not develop as a major city like some of its neighbors during the colonial period and for much of the post-independence period. It was mostly important for fishing and agriculture. From 1827 to 1830, Texcoco was the second capital of the State of Mexico, until it was moved to San Agustín de las Cuevas, today Tlalpan. Texcoco became the head of one of the districts of Mexico State in 1837. The appendage of “de Mora” was added in 1861. In 1919, it became a modern municipality.〔 Leopoldo Flores found the massive 125,000 kilo Tlaloc statue in Texcoco in 1903. Today, the statue stands at the Museum of Anthropology of Mexico City. The local population was against the relocation of the sculpture, going as far as sabotaging the vehicles which came for it. Sculpting a 1:1 replica to place at the original site has been recently proposed with artists studying over 1,500 photographs of the original.〔 In 2003, archeologists sponsored by the National Geographic, University of Michigan and the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo discovered a number of pre-Hispanic artifacts in an area which has been proposed for building an airport. The finds are at areas that are or were the shores of Lake Texcoco and sheds light on water tables over the centuries. Some of the pieces found include ceramics, utensils and ceremonial objects.〔 In 2005, traditional crafts vendors blocked the main roads of the historic center of Texcoco to demand that they not be relocated away from the city cathedral. They state that the area is an important meeting point especially on holidays. It is estimated that 1,500 people depend on sales made here during festivals such as Day of the Dead, Candelaria, Christmas and Independence Day. In 2006, there were outbreaks of violence among merchants and farmers versus police in Texcoco and neighboring San Salvador Atenco, blocking the Texcoco-Lechería highway. The merchants were from the Belisario Dominguez market in Texcoco who have been denied public space in which to sell their merchandise, mostly flowers. State and federal police have blocked the area which the flower vendors used just outside the market proper. Supporters of the flower sellers from San Salvador Atenco have intervened in both the talks and the blocking of roads in protest. More serious conflicts have surrounded the various proposals to locate an airport here. Attempts to develop an airport that would either supplement or replace the current Mexico City airport have been made since the latter half of the 1990s either here, neighboring San Salvador Atenco or even as far as Tizayuca, Hidalgo. Residents of both Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco have been vehemently opposed to any airport construction in their municipalities. Violent protests erupted in Texcoco in 2001 and 2002 with threats against public officials, which garnered much national and international press coverage.〔 The need for a replacement or supplement airport still exists despite the addition of a second terminal to the current one.〔〔 The last proposal to develop an airport in Texcoco was made in 2008.〔 Juan Manuel Mancilla Sanchez was named bishop of the diocese of Texcoco in 2009.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Texcoco, State of Mexico」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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