Otumba

History

The area was most likely settled by Otomí people, with a string of villages dating from the Classic period. When the chiefdom of Xaltocan fell around 1200, many more Otomí took refuge here and founded the town. It later came under Azcapotzalco, and then Nezahualcóyotl of Texcoco made Otumba a regional capital where tribute was collected. The Aztec-era city had a sacred plaza, elite and commoner districts, and large-scale craft production such as ceramics.

In 1520, fleeing Tenochtitlan after the Noche Triste, Hernán Cortés was intercepted near here on his way to Tlaxcala. After hours of fighting, he and a handful of horsemen charged and killed the opposing commander, the enemy ranks broke, and the Spanish reached their allies. The battle carries Otumba's name, though it was actually fought at a place called Temalacatitlán.

After the conquest the area was split into encomiendas, many held by Cortés himself. Through the colonial period Otumba was a major stop on the royal roads linking Mexico City with Puebla and Veracruz, the place where arriving viceroys received the staff of office from their predecessors, and an important donkey market, which explains today's fair. The insurgent Eugenio Montaño was from Otumba, and the Plan of Montaño was proclaimed here in 1827. The "Gómez Farías" honors Valentín Gómez Farías.