San Juan Guelavía
San Juan Guelavía is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 17.86 km2. It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region.
San Juan Guelavía | |
|---|---|
Municipality and town | |
San Juan Guelavía Location in Mexico | |
| Coordinates: 16°57′N 96°32′W / 16.950°N 96.533°W | |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | Oaxaca |
| Area | |
| • Total | 17.86 km2 (6.90 sq mi) |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 2,940 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central Standard Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (Central Daylight Time) |
As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 2,940.[1]
Geography edit
San Juan Guelavia is on the river and one of the few communities in the valley that had historically set up irrigation canals.[2]
History edit
Early Spanish migration to the area consisted of cattle ranchers who moved their cattle from communal usage pastures in the mountains to communal pastures in the valley.[3] In 1539, Bartolome Sanchez was granted an estancia de granado mayor (permanent land holding rights) near what is now San Juan Guelavía.[3]
Guelavia's sixteenth century church has a large number of colonial-era santos, statues of Roman Catholic saints.[4]
During the Mexican Revolution, in 1914, General Juan M. Brito stationed his troops near San Juan Guelavia to oppose the Federalist aims of Venustiano Carranza.[5] After the war, Brito spent time in a prison in the Federal District of Mexico City before returning to San Juan Guelavia, where he established himself as a businessman running a store and also the local jefe strong man controlling the local communities through force of his armed followers.[5]
References edit
- ^ "San Juan Guelavia". Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México. Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ^ Lees, Susan H. (1973). Sociopolitical Aspects of Canal Irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca. University of Michigan. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ a b Taylor, William B. (1972). Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. Stanford University Press. pp. 88–. ISBN 9780804707961. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches: San Juan Guelavia. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
- ^ a b Cook, Scott (2014-05-15). Land, Livelihood, and Civility in Southern Mexico: Oaxaca Valley Communities in History. University of Texas Press. pp. 337–. ISBN 9780292754782. Retrieved 29 November 2015.