Tenango del Valle

Location

Tenango del Valle is located 16 miles south downtown Toluca, capital city of Estado de México. Teotenango´s geographical coordinates are 99° 31’ 37’’ minimum length and 99° 45’ maximum length; 18° 39’ 7’’ and 19° 8’ 29’ from minimum to maximum north latitude. Teotenango is 2 600 meters above sea level. To the north of Teotenango are the counties of Calimaya, Santa María Rayón and Texcalyacac, to the south are the counties of Tenancingo and Villa Guerrero. To the east is Joquicingo and Toluca is to the west.

Climate

The climate is moderate semi-arid. The rains in Tenango are common in summer, from October to January the weather cools, and in February and March there are strong winds. The annual temperature is 13.5° C, with a maximum of 29.5° C and with a minimum of 5° C.

Demographic information

Tenango del Valle's topography is characterized for it´s high points that extend through out the territory. Some of the more notable are Tetépetl hill (in which tehre are an archeological site), Azul hill and the Zictepec hillside. Also there are a hill named Tepehuisco in “Pueblo Nuevo” (old town) and “El Zacatonal” and “El Cuexcontepec” hills in “Tlanixco”. Tenango del Valle has so many brooks, for example: “Arroyo Grande”, “La Cieneguita”, “El Zaguán”, “Dos Caminos”, “La Ciénega”, “Almoloya” and “Las Cruces”.

History

The Matalcingo valley has been habitated by humans for a long time. The valley was the site of the Teotihuacan expansion. The year 800 A.C.saw the development of different civilizations. One example of this is “Los matlatzincas” that habited the upper lands in Estado de Mexico.

According to historical data, in 1250 A. C. the habitants of Teotenango (which in nahuatl means “the place of the sacred wall”) they fought against the people of Calimaya, Once they lost the batle, they moved to Amecameca, were they settled in 1295 AC.

The archeological evidence shows that the place continued to in habited by the Matlatzincas who where conquered by Axayacatl between 1474 and 1476, the time of Mexica expansion. The habitants of Teotenango and nearby regions were obligated to pay tribute of cottom mantles, wood, coas (tools to work the land), corn, beans, chía, huahutli, gold ornaments and feathers.

During the Spanish conquest, Martin Dorantes conquered Teotenango. He relocated the city in the low part and in 1550 he founded Tenango del Valle.

Civilization/ Settlers

While Tenango del Valle was not considered a city until 1994, history says that the Teotenango area was settled in the 8th century with most of its habitants being Matlazincas and Teotenacas.

History

Archeological site of Teotenango

Nowadays, the name Teotenango is kept as the name as the zone of the archeological site. It is one of the most important attractions of the region dating from the year 1200 A.D., when the Teotenacas established themselves at Tetépetl Hill. Since 1975 it has been opened to the public.

Only a small part of the archeological site has been explored. It is located northeast of Tetépetl Hill. During monument and plaza construction , they had to respect the topographical obstacles. That’s why the architecture is uneven in an interesting and skillful way. The result is an impressing monumental set.

Teotenango was the home of priests, the military and people with high religious rank. The city was founded at the end of the classic era (200 BC-900 AD) with the Matlazincas living there.

Main buildings construction

The architecture consists of five areas among which three pyramids can be observed. These pyramids do not have their own name, instead they are known with numbers and letters. During the pre-Hispanic period, it was a fortress for its residents. Since the city was built on the hillside and the rest was guarded by walls, it was used as a military and religious ceremonial center.

The main entrance is a monumental column created in 1930, dedicated to Ignacio López Rayón. It was built similar to the one founded over the Pyramid A, which was destroyed by a thunderbolt, many years ago.

The Jaguar Plaza is the principal access point to the ceremonial center. From all the three-hundred petroglyphs of the zone, the most important of all of them is in this plaza In the plaza of area A, the Teotenacas (the way people from Teotenango is called) celebrated their religious ceremonies. In this period, human sacrifices occurred in this plaza. The ball game field consists of lateral halls on each end. The court is bounded by inclined sidewalks on the long sides. On the two vertical walls, there were the stone rings that the ball needed to cross. Next to the field, there is a temascal, which is kind of a sauna, used by the ancestors for curative and purification rituals.

Periods

Based in the architecture there are some periods in the development of Teotenango:

1st. Period: Water (650 to 750 a.C) There was a little village called “water eye”, which had small houses made of rock and mud widely separated.

2nd Period: Earth (750 to 900 a.C.) There was a huge improvement of construction of the houses around the “water eye”. Archeologists have found bathrooms with saunas. The pottery is related with “Coyotlateco” type which is brown decorated with red.

3rd Period: Wind (900 to 1162 a.C.). This is the site’s best moment. They built communities, ceremonial platforms, streets, walls, houses, pits, drainage ditches and ball games. The pottery in this period is also “Coyotlateco” type. In this period they built what we can see today in the city.

4th Period: Fire (1162 to 1476 a.C.). During this stage, a Matlazinca stage, architectural constructions were done in the site. Apparently, these constructions tended to be more to minor modifications than to a new pattern of the city. This period is associated with the Matlatzinca’s characteristic pottery called Mazapa.

5th Period: Death (1474 to 1550 a.C.). During this stage there is some construction in the North area, but this is a period of decline, this with the conquest of the Mexicas and later the Spanish.

Museum

The museum here is called “Román Piña Chan”. It is located on the Tetépetl Hill, where the archeological zone “Teotenango” is located. In this museum you can find many interesting pieces from the different periods that the Matlazinca people had, to the conquest by the Aztecs. One of the most amazing pieces is the “huehuetl of Teotenengo”, which is a prehispanic musical instrument and is one of the few in existence.