page_title: Tuxtla Gutiérrez
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tuxtla Gutiérrez / History
caption_attribution_description: Español: Iglesia de San Roque, en Tuxtla, Chiapas, México. English: Church of Saint Roch, at Tuxtla, Chiapas, Mexico. This is a photo of a monument in Mexico, identified by ID Unknown
context_page_description: Tuxtla Gutiérrez is the capital and the largest city of the Mexican southeast state of Chiapas. It is the most developed, populated and therefore the state's most important municipality. A busy government, commercial and services-oriented city, Tuxtla had one of the fastest growing rates in Mexico in the last 40 years. Unlike many other areas in Chiapas, it is not a tourist attraction, but a transportation hub for tourists coming into the state, with a major airport and a bus terminal.
context_section_description: The Zoques made the first pre-Hispanic settlement at the site. They named the valley area name "Coyatocmoc", which means “land or house of rabbits”. The Aztecs intruded into the area and named it "Tuchtlan", which means the same thing. “Gutiérrez” was added to the city's name in 1848 to honor Joaquín Miguel Gutiérrez, a Conservative politician according to a legend.
  After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and the subjugation of the Chiapa people in 1528, the Dominicans constructed a monastery in nearby Tecpatán, which today is an independent municipality. There is no official founding date for Tuxtla, but it is known that in the middle of the 16th century, these monks gathered dispersed Zoques in the valley into communities centered on churches. Today's Saint Mark's Cathedral is the parish church founded by the Dominicans for one of these communities in 1560.
  The village was officially recognized as a villa by King of Spain in 1813 with a population of about 5,000, three-quarters of which were Zoques. In 1821, the authorities of the villa proclaimed independence from both Spain and the regional colonial government of Guatemala, along with other areas in what would become Chiapas. However, this declaration was not accepted by either Guatemala or Mexico.
  The first library in the entire state was founded here in 1910.
  During the Mexican Revolution, a battalion called "The Sons of Tuxtla" was formed in 1911, with Captain Julio Miramontes assassinated in 1912. Troops supporting Venustiano Carranza took over in 1914, led by Agustín Castro. Chiapas was reorganized into the municipality system in 1915, Tuxtla Gutiérrez becoming the head of one of these and Noé Vázquez the first municipal president. The city remained the state capital. Reaction against Carranza's policies was headed by the “Mapaches”, a group of landholders in the state who objected to the loss of their privileges and the redistribution of their lands. They burned the state government building, destroying its archives in 1915. General Salvador Alvarado and 2500 troops fought the Mapaches commanded by General Tiburcio Fernández Ruiz. Catholic churches were closed and images of saints were burned in the city in 1934.
  In 1941, the municipal government moved from the old building on El Triunfo Street in the Santo Domingo neighborhood to the corner of Avenida Central and Calle 2ª Poniente on lands that belonged to the city's first municipal president. Here a new "municipal palace" was built in Neoclassical style. However, the municipal palace was moved again to its current location in 1982, and the Neoclassical building was given to the Federación de Trabajadores del Estado de Chiapas.
  The Diocese of Tuxtla was created in 1965, which elevated the parish of San Marcos (Saint Mark) to a cathedral. Tuxtla Gutierrez became the hometown of actress Alejandra Meyer, whose acting career began during the 1960s. She is best known as Dona Chata on the television series Dr. Candido Perez. The first Feria de Chiapas was held in 1980. The municipality suffered 38 wildfires in 1988. John Paul II visited the city in 1990.
  During the 1990s, a part of the state of Chiapas was wracked by the EZLN or Zapatista uprising. While most of this group's activity was in rural areas of the state, Tuxtla was also affected by it. As many as 10,000 Zapatista sympathizers protested in the city in 1998 to push federal officials to honor the 1994 San Andrés Accords and to push for new gubernatorial elections and other demands. The political instability pushed many indigenous into the municipality from more rural areas in the latter half of the decade. In 1998, PRD politician, EZLN activist and leader of the Asamblea Estatal Democrática del Pueblo Chiapaneco Rubicel Ruiz Gamboa was assassinated in the city. It is thought the act was in response to Ruiz Gamboa's work in land redistribution in the state's La Frailesca region.
  In the 1990s, Mexicana airlines stopped service to Tuxtla, leaving only  Aerocaribe. A major crash killing nineteen persons led to protests and the reinstatement of service t
caption: Authentic entrance's mudéjar bricks arch damaged with paint on Church of Saint Roch, Tuxtla Gutiérrez
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