Zacatlán

History

The name is Nahuatl and is read as place of abundant grass, or more loosely as a meadow among the mountains. Otomí, Toltec, and Chichimec groups moved through the area before any lasting settlement; the first was Otlatlán, founded near the present town sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries. The region lay on a trade route linking the central highlands with the Gulf coast. In the 15th century it was absorbed into the Mexica sphere through Texcoco, and it fought hard against Tlaxcala. By the early 1500s most people spoke Nahuatl, with Totonac and Otomí minorities.

Spanish expeditions reached the region in 1519. A settlement was ordered in 1520 at what is now the barrio of San Pedro Atmatla, and around 1560 it was moved a few kilometers north to the present site, where the Franciscans built their convent. Apple growing began in the colonial period, and by the 18th century the town was already called Zacatlán de las Manzanas.

In 1811 the insurgent Francisco Osorno took Zacatlán without resistance and made it his base, even minting his own coins stamped with the town's name in 1813. During the U.S. invasion the Puebla state government moved here, and in December 1847 the provisional capital received the title of city. In the 20th century it became home to the Centenario clock factory. Zacatlán was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2011.