Jalapa History, Mexico

The very first inhabitants of this city during its historical years were Totonacas. They used to live around Macuiltepetl which used to be a hill with 5 different peaks. Today this area has been converted into a park and is one of the major tourist hot spots. It was during the early years of 14th century when this town was inhabited by 4 different cultures. Each of these four cultures built their own tiny villages and started to live with their families in these villages. Totonacas built the village Xaltic (which means in sand); Chichimecas built the village Techacapan (which means river of waste); Toltecas built the village Tecuanapan (which means river of beasts); and lastly Teochichimecas formed the village Tlalnecapan.

It was the year 1313 when the four villages slowly started to combine into one large village which was named as Xallapan. During the 2nd half of 15th century this large village was under the control of Aztec Empire as Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, a famous Aztec ruler, had entered the land and took its control in his hands in no time.

It was year 1519 when the famous Spanish ruler Hernán Cortés entered the land and conquered it totally. During this arrival of Spanish army, the population of this small town wasn’t very huge. Although after the arrival of Spanish Army the population for the city did go up for some time however, it again started to decline after the famous route connecting Veracruz, Orizaba, and Mexico was built. This route reduced the importance of the city as people have another route which connected the major cities. But by the year 1720 the economical importance of Xalapa increased as many businessmen from Spain started to do business with the locals of this city.

It was the ending of year 1791 when this small village of Xalapa was officially tagged as a town. Later on, it was year 1804 when this town was called as Flower City due to the abundant availability of flowers in this region. It was after the independence of Mexico in year 1821 when the city of Xalapa was tagged as capital for the state of Veracruz. Finally it was the year 1830 when the city of Xalapa was tagged as the capital city and this is when the importance of this city actually jumped up by many folds.