Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and the capital city and the largest city is Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl. It is located in east-central Mexico, in the altiplano region, with the eastern portion dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is bordered by the states of Puebla to the north, east and south, México to the west and Hidalgo to the northwest. It is the smallest state of the republic, accounting for only 0.2% of the country's territory. The state is named after its capital, Tlaxcala, which was also the name of the prehispanic polity. The Tlaxcaltec people allied themselves with the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs, with concessions from the Spanish that allowed the territory to remain mostly intact throughout 300 years of colonial period. After Mexican Independence, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, until 1857 when it was admitted as a state of the federation. Most of the state's economy is based on agriculture, light industry and tourism. The tourist industry is rooted in Tlaxcala's long history with major attractions being archeological sites such as Cacaxtla and colonial constructions in and around the state capital.
Name The name Tlaxcala pre-dates the state by centuries; it derives from the name of the capital city, which was also used to denote the territory controlled by this city in pre-Hispanic times. According to some historians, the name comes from an ancient word texcalli (Classical Nahuatl pronunciation: [teʃˈkalːi]), which meant 'crag'; however, an alternative etymology stems from the Nahuatl word Tlaxcallān which means 'place of corn tortillas'. The Aztec glyph that referred to this place has both elements, two green hills and two hands holding a corn tortilla. The letter 'x' in the name reflects the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/, a historical phoneme present in Nahuatl and in Old Spanish. The conquistadors transcribed this sound using that letter in the Spanish language at the time of colonization and also when codifying the alphabets of the indigenous languages in the Americas for the first time. Due to the evolution of the coronal fricatives that took place in Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries, /ʃ/ transitioned into a voiceless velar fricative /x/ (similar to a strong 'H') at the beginning of a word or intervocalically, while it turned into a voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ at the end of a syllable. Thus, the pronunciation of Tlaxcala at the time of the sibilant shift transitioned from [tlaʃˈkala] to [tlasˈkala]. However, the realization [ˈtlaɣskala] is also present due to spelling pronunciation after the Spanish orthographic reform of 1815, which replaced the letter 'x' with 'j' in words that previously had /ʃ/ that transitioned into velar /x/, leaving the letter 'x' with the current pronunciation /ɡs/.
Coat-of-arms The state's coat of arms is based on the coat of arms that was granted to the city in 1535. Its different elements have the following meanings: the red background represents courage; the castle symbolizes defensive power; the eagle with its open wings represents the spirit of vigilance; the border symbolizes protection and compensation; the green palms stand for victory, and the crowns are the symbol of royal authority. The letter I refers to Joanna of Castile, the mother of Charles I of Spain; the letter K (for Karl) represents the name of the king himself; and the letter F (for Felipe) belongs to Philip, later Philip II of Spain. The human skulls and cross-bones represent those who died during the Conquest.
Geography
Political geography The state of Tlaxcala is located slightly east of center of Mexico between 97°37′07″ and 98°42′51″W and 19°05′43″ and 19°44′07″N. It is bordered by the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Mexico. It is the smallest state in terms of territory with only about 4,061 km2 (1,568 sq mi), representing about 0.2% of the entire country. The state is divided into 60 municipalities, the largest of which are Tlaxcala, Apizaco, Huamantla, Zacatelco, Calpulalpan, Chiautempan and Tlaxco. The political heart of the state is its capital, Tlaxcala, even though it is not the state's largest city. Tlaxcala lies at the foot of the northwestern slope of La Malinche volcano in the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, founded as an organized civilization before the 15th century. The Spanish political entity was founded by Hernán Cortés between 1520 and 1525 and given the Spanish name of New City of Our Lady of the Assumption. Its economy is still based on the traditional enterprises of agriculture, textiles, and the commerce of products of native peoples such as the Otomí, especially on market days. Other important cities include Santa Ana Chiautempan, the most populous city in the state, Apizaco, noted for its textile production and Huamantla, a farming and cattle town.
Natural geography and climate
Tlaxcala is a land-locked state situated on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The average altitude for the state is 2,230 meters above sea level, making it a bit higher than the Valley of Mexico just to the southwest. The western part of the state lies on the central plateau of Mexico while the east is dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental, home of the 4,461 meter La Malinche volcano. Most of the state is rugged terrain dominated by ridges and deep valleys, along with protruding igneous rock formations. This ruggedness, along with large-scale weather phenomena such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, gives the state a complex climate. Overall rain patterns for the state are about 400 mm (16 in) in the summer rainy season and 30 mm (1.2 in) in the winter. Locally, however, this varies dramatically between the drier plateaus and valleys and the wetter mountains. Variations in altitude produce sub-climates between semi-tropical to temperate, with frosts likely in the higher elevations during the winter. Temperate fir (Abies religiosa), juniper (Juniperus deppeana), and pine-oak forests dominate the mountain highlands, while the flatlands, with their drier climate, are characterized by agaves and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia). The state has no major lakes or large rivers. The principal water sources are the Atoyac-Zahuapan basin and the reservoir of the Atlangatepec dam.
Economy
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