Tulancingo

Tulancingo (officially Tulancingo de Bravo; Otomi: Ngu̱hmu) is the second-largest city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the southeastern part of the state and also forms one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, as well as the Archdiocese of Tulancingo. Located 93 km from Mexico City, this area is the most important wool textile producer in the country and was home to El Santo, Mexico's most famous lucha libre wrestler, and to Gabriel Vargas (cartoonist), author of the popular cartoon La Familia Burrón. It is also home to the Huapalcalco archeological site, which was the forerunner to the Teotihuacan civilization. The name derives from the Nahuatl words “tule” and “tzintle” which mean “in or behind the reeds.” This is confirmed by its Aztec glyph.[1] The area is home to some of the oldest settlements in Latin America in Huapalcalco and El Pedregal. These first settlements have been attributed to the Olmecs, Xicalancas and other tribes. A city was founded in 645 BCE by the Toltecs with the name Tolancingo as part of the empire centered in Tula. During this period, the city was home to school and temples. A calendar stone was sculpted here and a temple called Mitlancalco was built to receive the bodies of priests and princes. After 1116 CE, the Toltec Empire declined and the city was abandoned.[1] According to the Tribute Codex (Códice de los Tributos), the Tulancingo area was a commercial center for the Otomi-Tepehua and Totonaca people since about 1000 CE bringing traders from lands now in the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz. Traditional trading still exists in the form of the Thursday “tianguis” or market.[2]