Valle de Chalco

Valle de Chalco, officially named Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, is a municipality located in the State of Mexico, Mexico, on the eastern outskirts of the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Formerly part of the municipality of Chalco, it was split off as a separate entity in 1994, during the presidency of Salinas de Gortari, under his Programa Nacional de Solidaridad (National Solidarity Program). The municipality lies on the old bed of Lake Chalco, which was substantially drained in the nineteenth century. Technically, the municipal seat is Xico, after a high point of land that once formed an island, and now remains as a small hill within an otherwise monotonous, urban expanse. "Chalco" refers to the Chalca tribe, whose territory covered the area around the lake, prior to the Spanish Conquest of Mexico.

As of 2006, Chalco included part of the world's largest mega-slum, along with Neza and Izta.

Pre-Columbian history

Archeologists date human settlement around Lake Chalco from about 2400 B.C, but major settlement occurred at approximately 1240 B.C., when the first tribe to call itself Chalca migrated to the region. This tribe was followed by others, ethnically and linguistically diverse, who added the name Chalca to their own. By 1410 the Chalca territory had developed into a loose confederation, divided into four, semi-sovereign domains. In the early 14th century the Mexica tribe of the Aztecs settled in nearby territory and began to build their city of Tenochitlan, now Mexico City. Over time, the Chalcas and Mexicas engaged in a number of ritual wars, known as Xōchiyaoyōtl or Flower Wars. During the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs, the Chalca allied themselves with Hernán Cortés and his troops.

Chalco

Chalco may refer to:

See also

Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias

Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias (/ɕaɫko/ sh-al-ko) is a city that is municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of Chalco. It lies in the eastern part of the State of Mexico just east of the Federal District of Mexico and is considered part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Chalco name is Nahuatl, comes from Challi: "lake edge", and Co: "place" therefore both words together mean "on the edge of the lake".

The municipal head, bears the surname of Diaz Covarrubias, in honor of Juan Díaz Covarrubias, one of the practitioners of medicine who was heroically shot in Tacubaya in 1859.

History

The first group of Native Americans to reach the region of Chalco was "the acxotecas" coming from Tula, the famous and ancient homeland of the Toltecs, and the first town they settled was called Chalco. Later asecond group of people arrived, this were the Mihuaques. By 1160 A.D arrived teotenancas and chichimecas from the valley of Toluca, through Tláhuac. Around the lake there were other groups, including cuixocas, temimilolcas and ihuipanecas, which formed a congregation of tribes with Chalcas.

Chalco (altépetl)

Chālco [ˈt͡ʃaːɬko] was a complex pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl or confederacy in central Mexico. It was divided into the four sub-altepetl of Tlalmanalco/Tlacochcalco, Amaquemecan, Tenanco Texopalco Tepopolla and Chimalhuacan-Chalco, which were themselves further subdivided into altepetl tlayacatl, each with its own tlatoani (king). Its inhabitants were known as the Chālcatl [ˈt͡ʃaːɬkat͡ɬ] (singular) or Chālcah [ˈt͡ʃaːɬkaʔ] (plural).

In the 14th and early 15th centuries, flower wars were fought between the Chalca and the Aztecs. Serious war erupted in 1446. According to the Amaqueme historian Chimalpahin, this was because the Chalca refused a Mexica demand to contribute building materials for the temple of Huitzilopochtli. Chalco was finally conquered by the Aztecs under Moctezuma I in or around 1465, and the kings of Chalco were exiled to Huexotzinco. The rulerships were restored by Tizoc in 1486, who installed new tlatoque. Chalco paid more tribute to Tenochtitlan in the form of food than any other region in the Valley of Mexico, probably because of its fertile soil and location.