General Information
Iztapalapa is one of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, and the most populous and the fastest growing one in the city, with over 90% of its territory urbanised. The area has a high level of socioeconomic marginalisation, with a significant number of people lacking sufficient access to clean potable water. Crime is also a major problem, with much of it related to drug trafficking and poverty.
Additional Information
The borough is named after and centred on the formerly independent municipality of Iztapalapa, which is officially called Iztapalapa de Cuitláhuac for disambiguation purposes. The rest is made up of a number of other communities which are governed by the city of Iztapalapa. Despite crime and poverty, the borough is home of one of Mexico City’s major cultural events, the annual Passion Play in which 450 borough residents participate and about 2 million attend as spectators.
History: Highlights
The borough transitioned from a rural area with some farms and canals as late as in the 1970s, to an area with the only green areas in parks and almost all its people employed in commerce, services and industry. This is the result of a large influx of people into the borough starting from the 1970s, which still continues.
History: Explained
The borough is named after a city which was founded here in the pre-Hispanic period. “Iztapalapa” comes from Nahuatl and means “in the waters of the banks”, referring to its position along the lakeshore, situated partly on dry land and partly over water. Like the pre-Hispanic villages of Xochimilco and Tláhuac, Iztapalapa began as a village located on the shores of the lake system and dedicated to farming on chinampas (a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds). The village of Iztapalapa has its origins in the fall of Teotihuacán in the 8th century. In pre-Hispanic times Iztapalapa played an important military and religious role as Huixachtécatl, today called the Cerro de la Estrella, was located there. This was the site of the New Fire ceremony, held once every 52 years, beginning the cycle of years anew. The ceremony also required the destruction of all household goods to be replaced by new. By the time the Spanish arrived Iztapalapa about 10 000 there were about inhabitants dedicated to chinampa agriculture and the raising of fish and birds. A causeway linking Iztapalapa and Tenochtitlan was one of the most important roads in the area. After the Spanish and their allies regrouped in Tlaxcala, Cortés (the Spanish leader) decided to attack Iztapalapa before besieging the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, in part to secure supplies. The city of Iztapalapa had about 10,000 people with about two-thirds of its structures built over water. Eight thousand Aztecs defended the city on land and on water. Cortés and his indigenous allies burnt, massacred and destroyed the city completely. After the battle, when the Spanish let down their guard, Iztapalapa opened water channels to flood the city and drown the invaders. Most of the Spanish survived, but many of their Indian allies did not and were drowned. The Spanish lost all of their gunpowder. After the Conquest, the pre-Hispanic temples of the area were destroyed and Iztapalapa and surrounding cities were subjugated. During the colonial period, Iztapalapa was very rural, notable only as one of the primary providers of produce and flowers to Mexico City and its lake and canal transportation. After the Mexican War of Independence, the Federal District of Mexico City was established as the new nation’s capital in 1824. The village of Iztapalapa became part of this district at the same time, but the borough had not yet been established. For a time it would remain an autonomous settlement. In 1828, it was one of the municipalities outside of Mexico City proper. The canals would remain a part of the borough until the mid 20th century. Industrialisation began in the area in the 1890s but agriculture remained the most important economic activity. Iztapalapa would remain rural and poor until the 1950s, when its urbanisation began. From the 1950s to the present, the borough’s history has been dominated by its population growth and urbanisation, along with the problems that come with it.
Crime: Highlights
Primary problems facing the borough include crime, especially drug trafficking and sale of stolen auto parts. Iztapalpa has the highest rates of rape, violence against women, and domestic violence in Mexico City. Statistically, most crime is connected with small scale drug trafficking, which is becoming more frequent on the borough’s streets.
Crime: Explained
Between 2008 and 2010, there were 470 murders in the borough, two out of ten for all of Mexico City, with one occurring every two days. Iztapalapa also has one of the highest rates of muggings and robberies of taxi drivers and public buses. Most of the crime problems are concentrated into a group of neighbourhoods such as Santa Martha Acatitla Norte, Desarrollo Urbano Quetzalcoatl, Tenorios, La Polvorilla, Santa Cruz Meyehualco, San Miguel Teotongo, Xalpa, Lomas Estrella, Lonas de Zaragoza and Achualtepec. This area has over 100 known points where drugs are sold.
Urbanisation: Highlights
Uncontrolled population growth in the area has nearly wiped out all forms of wildlife in the borough, although as late as the 1960s, there were still a number of waterfowl to be found. Almost all of the borough (90%) is urbanised, with only 6% designated as ecological reserve, concentrated in to two parks.
Urbanisation: Explained
Iztapalapa and most of the east side of the Federal District was historically rural and impoverished until the mid 20th century. Large-scale urbanisation and industrialisation began in the 1950s, along with intensive migration into the borough in the 1970s. Today, it has high population density, limited infrastructure and high levels of socioeconomic marginalisation. Social problems include homelessness, unregulated street vending, illegal building and crimes associated with the sex trade. Many live in rundown housing with deficient municipal services.
Churches: Highlights
The borough is home to a number of historic churches, many of which were built in the colonial era. Most of these churches, especially those of San Lucas Evangelista, San Marcos Mexicaltzingo, San Juan Evangelista and the chapels of Calvario and Santa Martha Acatitla were built over foundations of pre-Hispanic temples, which had been destroyed in the Conquest.
Churches: Explained
The main parish church building of the city of Iztapalapa dates from at least 1664. Its main entrance contains various indigenous symbols. Some churches, however, were built later, such as the Asunción de María parish church built in 1890, and the current San Juan Evangelista church built between 1880 and 1897. The two most important religious establishments have been Señor de la Cuevita Sanctuary and the former monastery of Culhuacán. The sanctuary was built to house an image of Christ made of cornstalks, which is called the “Señor de la Cuevita” (Lord of the Small Cave). Its importance stems from a miracle attributed to it. In 1833, the area was hit by a cholera plague. People appealed to this image and when the plague dissipated, this image was given credit. Yearly rites of gratitude to this image eventually developed into the borough’s annual Passion Play. The monastery of Culhuacán was begun in 1552 and dedicated to John the Baptist. The Augustinians founded a school to teach indigenous languages, which operated for over 100 years. The original church of the monastery was demolished a long time ago, but parts of the original complex still remain. The original church was replaced in the late 19th century by the San Juan Evangelista parish church, built between 1880 and 1897. The rest of the complex has been secularised since the 19th century and was declared a national monument in 1944. From 1960 to 1984, it was occupied by INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), which renovated it. Today, this complex is home to the Museo del Exconvento de Culhuacán (Museum of the Former Monastery of Culhuacán), inaugurated in 1987.
Cerro de la Estrella National Park: Highlights
The Cerro de la Estrella National Park was established in 1938 within the borough and is considered to be the most important natural area in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico. The park is meant to provide cultural and recreational opportunities and to protect the mountain, which is important archaeologically and culturally.
Cerro de la Estrella National Park: Explained
The park used to be the site of pre-Hispanic New Fire ceremonies, and more contemporarily a location for the modern-day Passion Plays. Archaeological remains found there include temples related to the ceremonies and older structures such as housing units, petroglyphs (pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading) and a major temple related to the Teotihuacán culture. The park and the archaeological sites remain in danger of destruction by encroachment, use of land for agriculture, graffiti and the dumping of garbage.
The Museums: Highlights
Despite being an impoverished area occupied largely by slums, the borough provides location for several major museums: the Museo Fuego Nuevo (New Fire Museum), the Museo Cabeza de Juárez, the Museo de Hidrobiologia and the community museum of San Miguel Teotongo.
The Museums: Explained
The Museo Fuego Nuevo (New Fire Museum) is dedicated to the history of the site. There is evidence of the hill’s ritual use going back 4000 years. The museum’s main focus is the Aztec New Fire ceremony. Every 52 years one cycle ended and another began. The worry, however, was that the sun would not return and the ceremony was designed to ensure the sun’s return in the morning. Excavation of this site and others in the borough was begun in 1974 by INAH. This work has also uncovered fossilised human and mammoth remains in such neighbourhoods as Santa María Aztahuacán and Santa Marta Acatitlán. The Museo Cabeza de Juárez was constructed in 1976; it is an enormous multicoloured monument of Benito Juárez’s head. It was decorated by David Alfaro Siqueiros but he died before he could finish the work. His brother-in-law, Luis Arenal Bastar completed it. The work is considered to be a fusion of painting, sculpting, engineering and architecture. Today, it contains a number of abstract murals, a permanent collection of lithographs and a large auditorium. The monument is a symbol of the eastern part of the city. The Museo de Hidrobiologia (Hydrobiology Museum) contains mostly preserved examples of various species found in different types of water found in Mexico. These include rivers, lakes, ponds, estuaries, beach areas as well as reefs offshore. The community museum of San Miguel Teotongo on the highway to Puebla contains finds related to the ancient inhabitants of the area. Most relate to the pre-Hispanic period and include utensils, ceremonial objects, ceramics, obsidian blades and arrowheads and jewellery.