Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz

Miahuatlán is the seat of Oaxaca's Sierra Sur, at about 1,558 metres, with 29,130 people in 2020. The name comes from Nahuatl and is usually read as "place of the maize ear"; in Zapotec it was known as Pelopenitza and Yezhe Doo, "big town". The Mexica took it under Ahuízotl, Pedro de Alvarado conquered it in 1522, and in 1767 it became an alcaldía mayor. It received its current official name by decree on 27 September 1948.

Its best-remembered date is 3 October 1866, when Porfirio Díaz's forces beat the French near the town, at the Loma de los Nogales; Díaz later counted it his most strategic action of the French intervention. It is marked every year on 1 to 3 October with a queen's coronation and music. The 1931 earthquake destroyed much of the town, including the municipal palace and the Los Arcos aqueduct, and on 7 March 1970 a total solar eclipse was watched from here, which led to its being declared a "World Scientific Centre".

Today it is quick to walk. Facing the garden, with a kiosk from 1904, is the parish church of San Andrés Apóstol with its Dolores chapel; there is a monument to Porfirio Díaz and, on the outskirts, the Cuixtla lookout and Yiroos hill, with maguey fields. The Universidad de la Sierra Sur has been here since 2000, giving the town a student feel.

The calendar has three high points: the Expoferia on 1 to 5 May, with crafts, jaripeos and mezcal producers from the region; Holy Week, with processions and the Good Friday encounter; and Todos los Santos on 1 November, the biggest holiday of the year. The patron saint, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, is celebrated on 7 October.