Caracterización del municipio de Huautla de Jimenez

Huautla de Jimenez is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Teotitlán District in the north of the Cañada Region.

The name Huautla comes from the Náhuatl. The town is called "Tejao" (also Eagle's Nest) in the Mazatec language. "De Jiménez" was added to honor General Mariano Jiménez, who was the first governor of the state of Oaxaca in 1884 and the first official to arrive on Mazateca lands. He founded the town Huautla de Jiménez, which is now the municipality's seat.

The origin of the town is unknown, but tribute documents show that it was the largest town in the Mazatec region during the late Postclassic period, when the town paid tribute to the Aztec empire.

The town

Mazatec women dancing in Huautla de Jimenez

The touristic attractions include the waterfall of the watering-can, the hill of Adoration, San Agustin's basement and the caves of San Antonio. People also visit the town to buy brightly colored hand-woven fabrics made by the native Mazatec women, and the endemic entheogenic fungi, especially the Psilocybe mushrooms.[1]

The municipality

The municipality possesses a territorial extension of 71.45 km2. It is located to the northwest of the capital of the state of Oaxaca and it bordered to the north by Santa María Chilchotla and San José Tenango. Tehuacan is the nearest city to this community and it is about 4 hours away.[1]

According to the INEGI census of 2005, the total population of the municipality is of 31,829 inhabitants.[2]

Its principal economic activities are agriculture, ranching and retail shops. The agriculture base consists of coffee, corn, sugar cane and fruit-bearing trees. Ranching consists of goats, cows, pigs, horses and mules. Retail stores include food shops, fruit and vegetable stands, butchers, clothes, footwear, newspapers and magazines, etc. It is noted as the birthplace of María Sabina, a Mazatec curandera famous for her use of Psilocybe mushrooms. After publication of an article titled "Seeking the Magic Mushroom," by Robert Gordon Wasson in LIFE Magazine's May 13, 1957 issue,[3] a number of famous people—including John Lennon and Bob Dylan—visited Huautla de Jimenez, seeking the spiritual guidance of Maria Sabina.[4]

The municipality has a series of caverns which are the deepest in the Western Hemisphere, possibly in the world, including ’’Sistema Huautla’’, ’’Gruta Nindo Da-Ge’’, ’’Sistema Cheve’’ and the ’’Sótano de San Agustín’’, which are well known in the spelunking world. It also has natural springs with crystal-blue waters.[5]

The following communities fall under the governing jurisdiction of the town/municipality:

5 de Mayo, Agua Arco Iris, Agua Álamo, Agua Cabeza de León, Agua Canoa, Agua Caracol,

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