- Tehuacán
Tehuacán is the second largest city in the
Mexican state ofPuebla , nestled in the Southeast Valley of Tehuacán, bordering the states ofOaxaca andVeracruz . The 2005 census reported a population of 238,229 in the city and 260,923 in its surrounding municipality of the same name, of which it serves as municipal seat. The municipality has an area of 390.36 km² (150.72 sq mi).Originally a Native American settlement, it became officially a city in the
Viceroyalty of New Spain in1660 . According to the archaeologistRichard Stockton MacNeish , the Valley of Tehuacán is the first placemaize was ever cultivated by humankind. He arrived at this conclusion when he found over 10,000 teoscintle cobs in what is now known as the Cave of Coxcatlan.In the late twentieth century, the city was well known for its
mineral springs . In fact,Peñafiel (now owned byCadbury Schweppes ), a well knownsoft drinks manufacturer, extracts water from these wells for use in their products. Tehuacán also has an important cluster ofpoultry producers, making the city and its surroundings one of the most important egg producing regions in Mexico.In the nineties, Tehuacán saw a flood of textile
maquiladoras set up shop in the city and surrounding areas. These textile maquiladoras principally put together blue jeans for export. At the height of the maquila (short for maquiladora) boom, there were about 700 maquilas in town. While this situation created a negative unemployment (zero unemployment) and the maquilas sought workers as far away asOrizaba and Córdoba in the neighboring state ofVeracruz , it also created an urban and environmental nightmare. In one decade, Tehuacán went from being a town of 150,000 inhabitants to a city of 360,000. When the maquilas left in the late nineties, a severe unemployment crisis ensued, which is still being felt today.References
* [http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/sistemas/conteo2005/localidad/iter/ Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005] INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
* [http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_Puebla Puebla] Enciclopedia de los Municipios de MéxicoExternal links
* [http://www.tehuacan.gob.mx/ Tehuacán municipal government] Official website
* [http://puebla-tehuacan.wexico.com/ Tehuacán, Puebla Information] Tehuacán, Puebla Information
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