page_title: Santiago Tuxtla
section_title: The municipality
hierarchical_section_title: Santiago Tuxtla / The municipality
caption_attribution_description: Español: Interior del museo de sitio en la zona arqueológica de Tres Zapotes Veracruz cuna de la cultura Olmeca. This is a photo of a monument in Mexico, identified by ID Tres Zapotes, Veracruz
context_page_description: Santiago Tuxtla is a small city and municipality in the Los Tuxtlas region of southern Veracruz, Mexico. The area was originally part of lands granted to Hernán Cortés by the Spanish Crown in 1531. The city was founded in 1525, but it did not gain municipal status until 1932. Today, the municipality is poor and agricultural, but is home to several unique traditions such as the Santiago Tuxtla Fair and the Acarreo de Niño Dios, when images of the Child Jesus are carried in procession several times during the Christmas season. It is also home to the Museo Regional Tuxteco which houses much of the area's Olmec artifacts, including a number of colossal heads and other monumental stone works. The city's main plaza hosts the largest Olmec colossal head in Mexico, thus making it famous.
context_section_description: The city of Santiago Tuxtla is the local government for 242 communities, which combined have a territory of 619.4km2. It is mostly rural, with only three communities considered to be urban and a population density of 91.1 people per km2. 474 people are classed as living in “indigenous homes” with only 195 speaking an indigenous language.
  Outside the seat, other important communities include Tres Zapotes (pop. 3,464), Tlapacoyan (2,648), Tapalapan (2,354) and Francisco I. Madero (1,863). The municipality borders the municipalities of San Andrés Tuxtla, Isla, Tlacotalpan, Saltabarranca and Ángel R. Cabada as well as the Gulf of Mexico. The government consists of a president, a syndic and five representatives for the communities of the municipality.
  The municipality has 248 schools, mostly preschools and primary schools, with 37 middle schools and fifteen high schools. The level of illiteracy is 22.4%.
  The municipality is home to three colossal Olmec head and the Tres Zapotes Museum/Archeological Site . This site was occupied from about 900 BCE to somewhere between 400 and 300 BCE, contemporary with La Venta in Tabasco. It is centered on a hill used to astronomical observations and mathematical calculations related to the Olmec calendar system .  The site is named after the community of Tres Zapotes, 21 km from the city of Santiago Tuxtla. Originally the land was part of the Hueyapan de Mimendi Hacienda, dedicated to the growing of zapote fruit. The site was opened to the public in 1974, focusing on the site museum which contains a number of important artifacts.
  The most notable areas on the municipality's coast, which is part of the Costa de Oro, is Punta Roca Partida (Parted Rock Point) and Terrón Island. Punta Roca Partida is noted for its rock formations. One of the most popular for visitors is the Lorencillo Cave, which is the size of a house and named after a Dutch pirate who used it as a hideout. Terrón Island is uninhabited but it used to house prisoners.  There are also beaches such as Salinas and Toro Prieto.
  The municipality has 98.2 km of major paved roads, most of which are maintained by the state.
caption: Inside the Tres Zapotes Site Museum
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