Malinalco

History

People have used this valley for a very long time: a cave known as Chiquihuitero holds stone tools dated to around 3000 BC, and rock paintings survive on the surrounding cliffs. In legend, Malinalco was settled by Malinalxóchitl, the sorceress sister abandoned by the god Huitzilopochtli, and the place kept a reputation for magic. Historically the valley was populated by Matlatzincas, who treated Malinalco as a ceremonial center, and by a Culhua group that arrived in the Postclassic period.

The Mexica conquered the area in 1476 under Axayácatl. Around 1486 to 1490 his successor Ahuízotl sent stonecutters from Tenochtitlan to carve a sanctuary on the Cerro de los Ídolos for the empire's military elite, the eagle and jaguar warriors. It was still unfinished when the Spanish arrived. Malinalco resisted, and Andrés de Tapia was sent to subdue it. The land was divided into encomiendas, and after Franciscans and Dominicans had passed through, the Augustinians were assigned the town in 1533 and built their convent, partly with stone from the hilltop site.

José María Morelos stayed here in January 1813, the municipality was confirmed in 1826, and during the Revolution the town sided with the Zapatistas of neighboring Morelos under General Genovevo de la O. Farming and, increasingly, tourism sustain it today. Malinalco became a Pueblo Mágico in 2010.