page_title: Morelos
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Morelos / Economy and tourism / Tourism / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Tlayacapan sample picture Español: Foto del convento de Tlayacapan Morelos
context_page_description: Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca.
  Morelos is a landlocked state located in South-Central Mexico. It is bordered by the states of México to the north-east and north-west, Puebla to the east, and Guerrero to the southwest. Mexico City is situated north of Morelos.
  Morelos is the second-smallest state in the nation, just after Tlaxcala. It was part of the very large province, the State of Mexico until 1869, when Benito Juárez decreed that its territory would be separated and named in honor of José María Morelos y Pavón, who defended the city of Cuautla from royalist forces during the Mexican War of Independence. Most of the state enjoys a warm climate year-round, which is good for the raising of sugar cane and other crops. Morelos has attracted visitors from the Valley of Mexico since Aztec times.
  The state is also known for the Chinelos, a type of costumed dancer that appears at festivals, especially Carnival, which is celebrated in a number of communities in the state.
context_section_description: History buffs may want to start at the Cuauhnáhuac Regional Museum (a.k.a Palace of Cortes, which has exhibited about the history of the state, from the time of the earliest inhabitants, the Colonial era, the Mexican Revolution and beyond.[150] The museum includes the Diego Rivera mural, History of Morelos, Conquest and Revolution.
  The state has a number of archeological sites. The most important are Chalcatzingo, an Olmec settlement from 750 to 500 BCE located in Jantetelco; Zazacatla from the same era and located in Xochitepec; Coatetelco from 500 to 150 BCE, located in the municipality of that same name. Xochicalco is the largest and most important archaeological site in the state. Located in the municipalities of Miacatlan and Temixco, this was a fortified trading center that may have been built by refugees from Teotihuacan from AD 700-900 (designated as a World Heritage Site). Its best-known structures are the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and its observatory. Xochicalco is probably the location of ‘Tamoanchan’ as described by Bishop Francisco Plancarte y Navarrete. Teopanzolco in Cuernavaca was a ceremonial center of the Tlahuicas. The most important temple is the Twin Temples (Templos Gemelos), which may have been a model for the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. This site was unknown until the 1914 Siege of Cuernavaca during the Mexican Revolution. Popular with tourists is El Tepozteco located on the Sierra de Tepoztlan.
  While Morelos was key to the 1521 conquest of Tenochtitlan, there are no vestiges of the battles to be found in the state. The Ruta de los Conventos or Ruta de los Volcanos established by the state tourism agency, takes one from Cuernavaca to Tepoztlan, Oaxtepec, Tlayacapan, Totolapan, Yecapixtla, Ocuituc, Tetela del Volcán, and Zacualpan de Amilpas. These monasteries plus those in Atlatlahuacán and Hueyapán are included in the Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl World Heritage site. This area also has varying landscapes, a wide variety of flora and fauna as well as churches, former haciendas, archeological sites and ruins. Civilian monuments from the Colonial era include the aforementioned Palace of Cortes and Borda Garden in Cuernavaca, as well as the many sugar cane ‘haciendas’ (estates or plantations) and aqueducts found throughout the state.
  Cuautla was the site of an important battle during the Mexican War of Independence, led by Jose Maria de Morelos. There is a museum dedicated to Morelos there, and one can visit other sites related to the siege of the city. There is a small museum dedicated to his right-hand man, Father Mariano Matamoros, in Jantetelco.
  The train stations of Cuautla and Cuernavaca both date from the 19th century. The former is now a museum while the latter is a dance academy. Also in Cuernavaca is the Porfirio Diaz bridge.
  The Ruta de Zapata (Zapata Route) covers the areas General Emiliano Zapata operated throughout the state of Morelos during the Mexican Revolution. Begin in Cuautla and travel through history, since the streets are named after the moments that were lived during the struggles for independence and the Mexican Revolution. A few blocks from the zócalo is the statue and burial site of Zapata. The route continues to Ciudad Ayala, the cradle of the Revolution in Morelos. Follow the tour of Tlaltizapan, where Zapata established his headquarters. Then go to Yautepec, where you can see the hull of the Hacienda de Atlihuayan, which is private but was the place that minted the coins used by the Zapatistas.
caption: Monastery of San Juan Bautista in Tlayacapan
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