Chiapas

Chiapas ( listen)officially Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the thirty-one states that together with Mexico City make up Mexico. Its most populated capital and city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez. It is divided into one hundred and twenty-four municipalities.

It is located in the southwestern region of the country, bordering to the north with Tabasco, to the east and southeast with the Guatemalan departments of Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango and San Marcos, to the south with the Pacific Ocean, to the west with Oaxaca and to the northwest with Veracruz. With 73,289 km², it represents 3.7% of the national territory, being the tenth largest federal entity in the country behind Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Durango, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Zacatecas and Baja California Sur.

Its census population in 2020 was 5,543,828 inhabitants, which represents 4.4% of the total population, being the seventh most populous state behind the State of Mexico, Mexico City, Veracruz, Jalisco, Puebla and Guanajuato. This population is mostly rural with 51% compared to 49% urban. In addition to its already mentioned capital, other outstanding cities are Tapachula, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Comitán. In 2019 it obtained a Human Development Index of 0.696 —considered medium— being the only entity with said HDI classification and the lowest in the country.

Due to its historical process mentioned below, its small economy compared to other entities means that it only contributes 1.5% of the national GDP (2019). Its main economic activity is trade but it is also notable for other activities such as agriculture —first banana and coffee producing entity (2009)—, mining —second largest sulfur extractor entity (2009)— and fishing —second entity that captures the most tuna (2009).—^{[citation needed]}

During the pre-Hispanic era, various civilizations developed in its territory, such as the Olmec, Maya and Chiapas. During New Spain, it was part of the General Captaincy of Guatemala. After the consummation of Independence in 1821, Guatemala joined the First Empire but left after its disintegration. Chiapas separated definitively from Guatemala in 1824 and was part of the nineteen founding states, being formally constituted on September 14 of the same year as the nineteenth state by order of union to the Federation. The only modification that the State has suffered has been the annexation of Soconusco in 1842. Throughout the XIX and XX produced and strengthened a wide-ranging social inequality caused by political disinterest, economic instability and abuses of power against indigenous peoples and rural communities that provoked a latent conflict until the last quarter of the century XX which, with the signing of NAFTA in 1994, erupted in the Zapatista uprising led by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, conflict which remains unresolved until the moment.

In the territory of Chiapas there is one of the thirty-five World Heritage Sites existing in Mexico: the archaeological site of Palenque; It also has other cultural assets that are important tourist attractions such as the pre-Hispanic cities of Yaxchilán, Bonampak, Chinkultic and Toniná.

Toponymy

The state was named this way during the colonial era, when the Spanish named the region, in the name of the indigenous peoples of the current center of the state: the Soctones. This town, of Otomanguean descent and language, had its main political center in Nandalumí, which was called chiapan (from Nahuatl: Chía-apan 'Río de la chia') by the Mexicas, from which the Nahuatl name of the soctones derives, that is, chiapanecatl. This term was Spanishized in the plural as chiapanecas or chiapas. The Spaniards fought against the soctones who, according to legend, preferred to throw themselves into the Rio Grande de Chiapa from the highest point of the Sumidero canyon, rather than submit to the Spaniards and their allies. This place was called in Nahuatl Tepechiapan. According to the translation adopted by the Chiapas government itself, Tepechiapan translates as Water under the hill (from Nahuatl tepetl: hill; chi: below; atl: water, pan: river, place).

Symbols

The shield, the anthem and the day of the annexation of Chiapas to Mexico are representative symbols of the history and culture of the entity. To these you can also add the chromatic marimba.

Shield

Shield of Chiapas

The Chiapas coat of arms is the heraldic symbol of the entity. It was granted to the Ciudad Real de Chiapas (today San Cristóbal de las Casas), it came to represent the entire state when political powers were transferred to the city of San Marcos Tuxtla (today Tuxtla Gutiérrez).

Throughout its existence, the shield has been given multiple meanings. For the people of San Cristobal it represents the victory of the troops of Diego de Mazariegos over the Socton people, in addition to being this the original meaning when it was granted by King Carlos V. For the people of Chiapas it is the sacrifice of the Soctons to avoid being subjugated by the troops. of Mazariegos. On the other hand, for the majority of Chiapas, it is the union of both cultures, to make up the current Chiapas society.

Anthem

The hymn to Chiapas is the official hymn of the entity in question. It is a lyrical poem written by José Emilio Grajales and musicalized by Miguel Lara Vasallo.

It was proposed by General Bernardo A. Z. Palafox, interim Governor of the state of Chiapas, together with the Day of the Union of Chiapas, on December 8, 1913, in order to unify the departments in which they were divided the state after the terrible events between the cities of San Cristóbal de las Casas and Tuxtla Gutiérrez due to the dispute over the headquarters of the State Powers in 1911.

Marimba

The modern marimba is known as the chromatic marimba, developed in the state, from the local diatonic marimba that had its origin in the balafon that Africans built in the Americas, making its use popular in Central America.

In 1993 the Parque Jardín de la Marimba was built in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, founded by the then governor, Elmar Setzer Marseille, with benches, lanterns, a large central kiosk that emulated colonial architecture, the park evoked the early years of the 20th century. In it, musical auditions are held with marimbas from the different municipalities of the state.

History

Prehistory

About 10,000 B.C. C., the first settlers of which there is a record in the state settled. These were located in the Selva del Ocote, where archaeological sites survive such as the Los Glifos cave, the Santa Marta cave, the Sima de las Cotorras and the El Lazo cave. Similarly, in the valley of Teopisca and Aguacatenango, archaeological studies reveal a habitation process that dates back to 7000 BC. C.

These settlers emigrated from the Asian continent, lived as nomads and subsisted on hunting and gathering fruits and roots.

Preclassic

During this period, between the years 2500 B.C. C. and 200 AD. C., the Izapana culture developed in Soconusco. They were the first humans in the region to develop agriculture and cultivate the milpa, a type of poly-productive food system of Mesoamerican origin, which allowed a sedentary life and the creation of the first towns, thus originating writing, known as archaeologists as Izapa or Epi-Olmec script.

The first social cells arose in villages, with a chief or cacique and the first social inequalities were manifested. They formed small rudimentary hamlets and in the center was the largest house, the place where the Cacique resided. The vestiges of the Mokaya culture are located in the Coatán river basin, in what is the municipality of Mazatán. It has been proposed that the Mokaya people are the predecessors of the Olmecs, the mother culture of the Mesoamerican civilizations.

Classic

Archaeological zone of Palenque.

In the lower part of the Usumacinta River, the Mayan culture settled in strategic places for trade such as the Eastern Mountains: Yaxchilán, Bonampak, Chinkultik, Tenam Puente, Toniná, and Palenque. This culture reached its greatest flowering in the years 600 to 900 AD. C. and 900 to 1200 d. C. during the classical period.

The population was farmers, living in villages made of mud, sticks and straw. Each Maya city was a lordship and functioned as an independent state, with its own organization. The lord of each Maya city-state was at the same time the chief priest and general of the army; They made human sacrifices asking the gods for good harvests and prosperity for all. The office of ruler belonged to the head of the royal family from a hereditary dynasty.

The stelae and monuments carved in stone had as their theme the history of their city or the great lord. The men of the town were, for the most part, farmers, the rest became hunters, artisans, fishermen or merchants; the latter enjoyed privileges of the nobility.

Postclassic

In the Postclassic, the Mayan civilization in the territory of present-day Chiapas suffered abandonment of entire cities as several of the lordships. In this period, population centers such as Tenam Puente, Lagartero, Moxviquil and Chinkultik arose. After the decline of the great Mayan cities in Chiapas, the survivors formed the original towns of Chiapas of Mayan heritage, among which the Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Q'anjobal, Tojolabal, Ch'ol, Lacandon, and Chuje peoples stand out., k'aviles, mames, coxóhes and kaqchikeles.

Parallel to these, the Zoque people developed in the west, descendants of the Olmec culture, who occupied part of the region since the preclassic period and, finally, the Soctones, called “chiapas” by the Nahua peoples of the center from Mexico. The Soctones were an Otomanguean linguistic and cultural group, which settled in the center of the current territory, in the municipalities of Chiapa de Corzo and even Central America.

At the end of the XV century, the Mexicas (Aztecs) conquered part of Chiapas; the Spanish met these towns at the time of the beginning of the conquest. The Zoques, Tseltales, and Tzotzils were tributary nations of the Soctons, while the Mam's were of the Mexicas; For their part, the Lacandones, Tojolabales, Ch'oles and a small redoubt of the Mams remained independent from other peoples.

Colonization

Conquest

In 1523, Pedro de Alvarado passed through Chiapas on his way to Guatemala, conquering the coast and Soconusco. These events began the conquest of Chiapas, which lasted for almost two decades. One of the most important expeditions was that of Luis Marín, who advanced from north to south from Villa del Espíritu Santo, crossing the Province of the Zoques. At the beginning of 1524, Luis Marín defeated the Soctones. Some towns accepted Spanish rule without opposition, such as Zinacantán, while others resisted, such as Chamula and Huixtán.

As part of the process of conquest and colonization, several cities were founded in Chiapas that served as settlements for the Spanish. Governors, clergy, landowners, and merchants who were arriving were established.

16th and 17th centuries

From the 16th century to the end of the XVIII, the current territory of Chiapas was divided into two provinces: the Mayor's Office of Chiapa and the Governor's Office of Soconusco. The so-called Sierra Region, which was part of the Totonicapán Corregimiento, is also part of the current territory of the state of Chiapas. The three were constituencies of the Kingdom of Guatemala. This kingdom was administered by the Audiencia de los Confines, a court that maintained direct communications with the Council of the Indies, so it did not depend on the viceroyalty of New Spain. While the government of Soconusco was informally subdivided into two subregions: the Despoblado and the Soconusco proper, the Mayor's Office was divided into eight of these informal subdivisions, which were also called parties, namely: Chiapa, Coronas and Chinampas, Los Zendales, Los Zoques, the Guardianship of Huitiupán, the Priory of Chiapa, Los Llanos and the Jiquipilas Valley district.

On the other hand, the Chiapas territory was also divided following a religious organization. The highest ranking institution was the bishopric of Chiapas, which depended on the archbishopric of Mexico. The bishopric, in turn, was divided into priories, guardianships, and benefits, which were administered, respectively, by Dominicans, Franciscans, and secularists. Each of these divisions was in charge of organizing and caring for a number of parishes, the main spaces where the evangelizing work of the natives was carried out.

18th century

In 1769 the Mayor's Office of Chiapa was divided into two: the Mayor's Office of Ciudad Real and the Mayor's Office of Tuxtla, located precisely in the most important cities in the region: Ciudad Real and Tuxtla. When the Intendancy regime was established in the General Captaincy of Guatemala in 1786, Ciudad Real, Soconusco and Tuxtla were merged into the Intendancy of Ciudad Real de Chiapas, whose capital was the town of the same name. Founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos, and which bore the successive names of Villa Real, Villa Viciosa, San Cristóbal de los Llanos and Royal City.

According to the description of the priest Domingo Juarros in his compendium of the History of the Kingdom of Guatemala, the intendancy had 69,253 inhabitants in 1800 and was divided into three parties:

• Mayor of Ciudad Real with 40 277 inhabitants, a city (Ciudad Real with 3333 inhabitants), the village of San Fernando de Guadalupe now Salto de Agua and 56 indigenous peoples, including those of San Bartolomé de los Llanos today Venustiano Carranza (7410 inhabitants), Santo Domingo Comitán (6815 inhabitants), San Juan Chamula (with over 6000 inhabitants), San Juan Ocosingo (3000 inhabitants), Santo Domingo Sina

• Mayor of Tuxtla, with 19,983 inhabitants distributed in 33 villages, including the San Marcos Tuxtla (4280 inhabitants) and the cities of Tecpatan (2,290 inhabitants) and Chiapa de Indios (1568 inhabitants).

• Soconusco governorate, with 9078 inhabitants distributed in 20 villages, the main of which was Tapachula with 2000 inhabitants. The people of Santo Domingo Escuintla, who had been head of the party and before the governorate of Soconusco, were dragged in 1794 by a cyclone that destroyed the cacaotales and drastically reduced the neighborhood and trade of the population.

Agricultural Crisis

Since the end of the XVII century, Chiapas went through a series of agricultural crises, along with two rebellions (provoked by conflicts within the colonial political system) and a riot (caused by the abuses of an indigenous cacique. In the year 1707 the mayor's office suffered the worst effects of this situation. For the towns that paid their tribute in money this was catastrophic, since they were unable to obtain sufficient income to ensure their subsistence, due to the impossibility of raising the amount that the Spanish administration demanded of them.The market price of products such as corn, beans and chili tripled.

Tuxtla riot

In 1693, many indigenous people expressed their discontent against their indigenous governor Pablo Hernández, who, together with the lieutenant of the mayor, Don Nicolás de Trejo, had seized property and money by force. The Zoque indigenous people went to the Guatemalan Audiencia to request the removal of the governor, which was accepted by the Audiencia. But far from fulfilling this order, the mayor, Manuel de Maisterra, ordered that gallows be installed and to intimidate nonconformists. The zoques, angry, attacked the town council with stones, killing Nicolás Trejo and Pablo Hernández in the process. In mid-June, twenty-one inmates, including five women, had been sentenced to death for these events and the Court had confirmed their sentences.

Rebellion of Lamadrid

In 1700 and 1701, the Spanish crown sent the visitor Francisco Gómez de Lamadrid to the Captaincy General of Guatemala to make a general inspection of its economic and political situation. With his arrival, conflicts began to emerge that pitted him against ecclesiastics, judges, and the president of the Audiencia himself.This situation unleashed a series of antagonisms that ended with the expulsion of the visitor from the province. When the president of the Court ordered the arrest of the inspector, who was taking refuge in Soconusco, the latter encouraged the towns to support them by taking up arms to fight the court and its authorities. However, when the clash between rebellious towns and the army of the Audiencia was approaching, the visitor fled to Yucatan, where he requested Asylum.

Zendal Rebellion of 1712

In August 1712, a rebellion arose in the Province of Los Zendales caused by a young indigenous woman who claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her and said that "it was necessary to put an end to the Spanish". Convocations were sent to all the towns to go to Cancuc, carrying the images and the processional crosses announcing that there was no longer a king. The towns of the three parties joined this call: Chinampas and Coronas, Zendales and Guardianía de Huitiupan.

19th century

Independence and federation

As far back as 1810, correspondence between the then bishop of Chiapas, Ambrosio Llano, with an insurgent group has been known.

In 1821, similar to the independence movements, Fray Matías de Córdova, in the City of Comitán, declared the independence of the Province of Chiapas, which led to the independence of Central America.

After the independence of Central America, the provinces that comprised it decided to join the First Mexican Empire. Subsequently, and after the abdication of Emperor Agustín de Iturbide, the ignorance of the Treaties of Córdoba and the Iguala Plan, as well as the proclamation of the Mexican Republic, the Central Americans, using their sovereignty, opted to separate and form the Republic of Central America. Only Chiapas, which had been administratively linked to Guatemala, remained without deciding its fate. Not having the desire to establish a third independent country, the people of Chiapas chose to federate with one of the two countries that claimed the territory.

On June 4, 1823, the General Government Board was installed, after years of struggle and difficult conditions in the country. This meeting is attended by 10 of the 12 parties into which the province was divided: Ciudad Real, Tuxtla, Llanos, Simojovel, San Andrés, Huixtán, Palenque, Ocosingo, Tonalá, Ixtacomitán and Tapachula. It was agreed to give it the name Provisional Government Board or Chiapaneco Congress, without being recognized by the Mexican government, so on July 31, the separation of Chiapas was decreed. The Mexican government made several mistakes in its relationship with the conflict. The largest of these was the dissolution of the Provisional Supreme Board by Mexican General Vicente Filisola, an action that wavered the desire of many Chiapas to join Mexico.

On October 2, 1823, after various outrages against the population of the province, especially Tuxtla, by the Mexican army, under the command of officer Francisco Miranda, the Plan was promulgated in the city of Comitán of Chiapas Free. This declared, among other things, the formal independence of the Mexican Republic, the Republic of the Provinces of Central America and any other nation, the restoration of the Chiapas Supreme Board and the general amnesty in matters of political opinions.

In 1824, the Supreme Junta called a plebiscite to decide, once again, the path that the people of Chiapas would take. In this it would be decided if Chiapas should be annexed to Mexico, to Central America or if it should become an independent nation. The proposal was accepted by the Central American and Mexican governments. On September 12, the Act of Accession of Chiapas to the Mexican Federation was signed. On September 14, in the session room of the Sovereign Board, the solemn declaration was made with the assistance of the secular and ecclesiastical council, public employees, religious communities, secular clergy and decent neighborhood. The incorporation into Mexico became effective, with respect to the parties of Ciudad Real and Tuxtla on September 14, 1824, while Soconusco remained in an indefinite situation until 1842, the year in which Mexico annexed it despite protests from Guatemala.. The border dispute lasted until 1882, when the current border was defined by the Herrera-Mariscal Treaty.

Chiapas civil war

During the 19th century there were great disputes over the location of the seat of political power; On the one hand, the city of San Cristóbal claimed the right to be the historical capital, on the other was Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which, being better located in the center of the territory, was a better option as a capital. This led the state to a civil war between San Cristobalenses and Tuxtlecos.

The conflict was resolved when in 1892 Governor José Emilio Rabasa Estebanell transferred powers to the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. In 1911, important farmers and landowners from San Cristóbal in alliance with the indigenous people of Los Altos de Chiapas, organized a new insurrection against Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which lasted two months, to recover the powers of the capital, the different municipalities took sides, Comitán del Tuxtleco and Chiapa de Corzo side of San Cristobal.

20th century

Chiapas counterrevolution

During the second half of the 1910s, different groups united, from both Tuxtleco and San Cristobal farmers, to indigenous groups, peasants, laborers, etc., against the Carrancista constitutional army and the reforms it carried out. This movement was known as the Mapachista Armed Movement, or Raccoon Army because of its way of assaulting Carrancista troops, always doing it at night. Along with him also fought the troops of Rafael Cal y Mayor, known as the Chiapas student, who were a division of the Zapatista army sent by Emiliano Zapata himself to fight the Carrancistas in Chiapas.

The Carrancista forces, in their beginnings, represented for many proletariats in Chiapas the opportunity to free themselves from the landowning yoke. However, the Carrancistas failed to sustain those hopes due to numerous acts of vandalism committed by Carrancista soldiers, situations from which the raccoonists were able to take advantage against Carrancista's popularity. In the end, the raccoons failed to win the local revolution; It was national factors that caused the Carrancista withdrawal. Carranza's military defeat at the hands of Obregón was the decisive factor for Carranza's withdrawal from Chiapas.

At the end of the Revolution, the Chiapas landowners signed a governance pact with the new Mexican government in exchange for maintaining their privileges. In this way, the reforms implemented by the post-revolutionary governments had a much smaller impact in Chiapas.

In reality, neither of these two factions -until their current ramifications- has managed to meet the long-standing demands for development and social welfare of the state of Chiapas. The governments emanating from the mapachista movement, although regionalist, proud of their origin and identified with local values, have fought since then for the conservation and reproduction of the post-colonial order, resisting a redistribution of wealth. The governments derived from Carrancismo have been ineffective in closing the development gap between Chiapas and the rest of the country, worrying more about being the wedge of the federation within the local power groups.

Zapatista uprising

Zapatista insurgent.

On January 1, 1994, an armed group, calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and self-identified as Indigenous in nature, occupied several municipal seats: Margaritas, Comitán, Ocosingo, Altamirano, Oxchuc, Chanal, San Cristóbal de las Casas, among others, since that day the North American Free Trade Agreement entered into force, during the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, thus questioning the Mexican political system about its promises and processes of modernity. Its goal was the overthrow of the elected president and the establishment of a participatory democracy. After the military repression he received, he decided to undertake a political activity, maintaining a radical left character. Its command is named the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command (CCRI-CG) of the EZLN.

Geography

Limits

Northwest: Veracruz Mexico Mexico	North: Tabasco Mexico Mexico	Northeast: Tabasco Mexico Mexico
West: Oaxaca Mexico Mexico		This: Petén GuatemalaGuatemala
Southwest: Pacific Ocean	South: Pacific Ocean	Sureste: Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango, San Marcos GuatemalaGuatemala

The territory of Chiapas has a very complex morphology, made up of extensive mountainous areas. The Sierra Madre de Chiapas that goes to Oaxaca to the north and Guatemala to the south, El Bloque or Massif Central that goes to Veracruz and Tabasco to the north and to Guatemala to the south. As well as great plains, which include the Pacific Coastal Plain and the Northern Floodplains. For this reason, Chiapas has great climatic and biological diversity. Some areas of its territory have been declared biosphere reserves because they are home to various animal and plant species, many of which are endemic to the area.

Chiapas is divided into 124 municipalities that are grouped into seven physiographic regions:

• Pacific Coastal Plain
• Sierra Madre de Chiapas
• Central American Volcano
• Central depression
• Central block
• North Mountains
• Mountains of the East
• North alluvial plains.

Climate

In its climate it presents two great climatic regimes: the warm humid in low areas, valleys and plateaus of medium height and the humid temperate in high sierras and mountainous plateaus, mainly in the Sierra Madre and the mountainous massif of Los Altos.

The climate cycle includes two main annual seasons, the rainy season (May-October) and the dry season (November-April). Rainfall varies between 25 mm and 700 mm in the dry season and 700 mm and just over 3,000 mm in the rainy season. The central depression and the coast are the areas with the least rainfall (25-1000 mm) in contrast to the border and jungle regions, with more abundant rainfall in both seasons.

Mountainous areas play an important role, since due to their arrangement with respect to the circulation of winds coming from the oceans, they function as meteorological curtains, which retain humidity and favor the existence of plant associations with a very restricted distribution, such as the cloud forest in the Sierra Madre

In the central depression, the maximum temperature varies between 15 °C and 24 °C (November-January) and from 30 °C to 38 °C (May-July). High temperatures, abundant rainfall and a fairly stable water regime explain the existence of tropical forests in Chiapas.

Hydrography

Sumidero Canyon, in the Grijalva River

The region is made up of ten hydrographic basins divided into twelve sub-basins. The main rivers are the Usumacinta (1045 km²) and the Grijalva (832 km²).

Other important rivers, all from the Usumacinta basin, are: Lacantún(and its tributaries, Negro, Azul, Tzenles, and San Pedro), Perlas, Jataté, Chacamax, and Euseba.

Flora and fauna

The state of Chiapas is one of the most biodiverse in the country. Next to the border with Guatemala is the Selva Lacandona, which in its almost million hectares is home to 20% of the Mexican species. Nearly 3,000 species of plants are found in the state, including peanuts, mahogany, red cedar, ceiba, cypress, oak, ash, guácimo, guapaque, laurel, mangrove, mesquite, grasslands, pine, quebracho, and volador.

There is a wide variety of animal life, especially birds and reptiles. There are waterfowl, boas, crocodiles (including the swamp crocodile, an endemic species), wild boars, young lions, monkeys, porcupines, sarawatos, tepezcuintles, opossums, turtles, white-tailed deer, yellow-necked toucans, and the jaguar, the largest feline. largest in America and the third in the world.

Flora and fauna of Chiapas
Tepezcuintle	Aullador monkey	Tortuga carey	Quetzal	Tapir
Jaguar	Tucán	Coyámel	Ocelote	Mazacoate
Pochote	Oyamel	Cedro	Dysoxylum	Palo mulato

Ecosystems

Lagunas de Montebello National Park.

The natural environment in Chiapas is very diverse due to three main factors: its rugged topography, its consequent climatic diversity and the fact that it is a point of convergence of two biogeographical regions: (the Nearctic region and the Neotropical region).

The territory of Chiapas is a huge plate of limestone fragmented at different points, faulted and folded, for which its topography is complex. Its physiognomy is determined by two large mountain ranges that run through it in a northwest-southeast orientation. The first of these chains, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, runs almost parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast and increases in altitude from 1,000 m above sea level on the border with Oaxaca to more than 2,000 m on the border with Guatemala. The other mountain range, the Central Plateau (known as the Massif Central or Los Altos de Chiapas), runs through the central part of the state. It comes from Guatemala (Sierra de los Cuchumatanes) and from there it penetrates into Mexican territory, reaching its highest altitudes near San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Selva Lacandona (Chiapas).

The elevated areas of the Sierra and Los Altos differ greatly from the two ecosystems mentioned. Due to their altitude, they trap the remnant of moisture that was not deposited in their slopes, which is why they have a marked and characteristic seasonality. Its winters are dry and very cold (with temperatures below 0 °C), while summers tend to be mild and very humid (7 or 8 months of rain). The vegetation of these regions is dominated by coniferous forests (pine) in combination with broad-leaved trees (oaks). Both chains have one of the most beautiful plant covers in the state: the cloud forest. Although these forests have almost disappeared from the Altos, in the Sierra Madre is the "El Triunfo" Biosphere Reserve, with more than 100,000 hectares of cloud forest. The extraction of wood and agricultural activities (corn cultivation and cattle raising) bring the luster of natural vegetation.

Demographics

According to data from the Population and Housing Census carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) on June 12, 2010, the state of Chiapas has a total population of 4 796,580 people.

Of this figure: 2,352,807 were men and 2,443,773 were women. The annual growth rate for the entity during the period 2005-2010 was 2.2%. ´ol, Tojol-ab´al, Zoque, Chuj, Kanjobal, Mam, Jacalteco, Mochó, Cakchiquel and Lacandón (Maya Caribe), that is, 12 of the 62 officially recognized indigenous peoples in Mexico.

Main cities

Politics

For the exercise of Political Power, Chiapas is incorporated into Mexico under the Federal regime, being autonomous in terms of its internal regime. In the Political Constitution of the state of Chiapas, a representative republican and Democratic system has been adopted, as well as a division of the exercise of Power mainly into three functions: Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

Executive Branch

The Executive Power of the state of Chiapas is deposited for its exercise in a democratically elected individual, who is called the governor of the State of Chiapas.

For the dispatch of administrative affairs of the State of Chiapas and the preservation of the constitutional order, the Executive Power has the Public Administration Dependencies and entities that establish the laws, or the decrees and agreements that, according to them, issued by the Executive or Legislative Power itself; in turn, it has under its command the Public Security forces of the state of Chiapas.

The centralized Public Administration that is under the command of the Executive Power, is regulated in the Organic Law of the Public Administration of the state of Chiapas.

Rutilio Escandón Cadenas is currently the governor of the state of Chiapas. He was elected in the July 2018 elections, for the 2018-2024 period.

Legislative Branch

The Legislative Power of the state of Chiapas is deposited in the Congress of the State of Chiapas. This unicameral parliament is made up of 40 deputies who last three years in office; of which, 24 are elected by relative majority and 16 through the principle of proportional representation.

Judicial Branch

The Judiciary of the state of Chiapas is constitutionally in charge of the delivery of justice and the interpretation of local regulations. It bases its performance on the highest principles that govern the conduct of judges: honesty, objectivity, impartiality, independence, professionalism, and transparency, principles that allow the proper exercise of the powers of each of the jurisdictional and administrative bodies that comprise it..

The Judiciary exercises its powers independently from other public powers and State bodies, with which it maintains coordination relations under the terms of article 14 of the Political Constitution of the State. The magistrates and judges enjoy full autonomy and independence in their determinations and exercise their function with no other subjection than to the laws, equity and the General Principles of Law.

For the exercise of its powers, the Judiciary of the state of Chiapas is deposited in:

• A High Court of Justice.
• A Council of the Judiciary.
• An Administrative Tribunal.

Federal Level

Federal Legislative Branch

In Mexico, the Legislative Power is deposited in the Congress of the Union, a bicameral parliament made up of an Upper Chamber (Cámara de Senadores) made up of 128 senators and a Lower Chamber (Cámara de Diputados) made up of 500 federal deputies. Chiapas has representation in both chambers.

In the Chamber of Senators, the state of Chiapas is represented by 3 senators; of which, 2 are elected by relative majority, while 1 is assigned to the first minority.

Chiapas Senators - LXIV Legislature

Senator	Party	Allocation
Óscar Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar	MORENA	Relative majority
Sasil Dora Luz de León Villard	PES	Relative majority
Noé Fernando Castañón Ramírez	Citizen Movement	First Minority

In the Chamber of Deputies, the citizens of Chiapas are represented by 18 federal deputies; Of which, 13 were elected by relative majority and represent the federal district for which they were elected, while 5 were assigned through the principle of proportional representation and do not represent a particular district.

Federal Deputies for Chiapas (Relative May) - LXIV Legislature

District	Head	Member	Political Party
I	Palenque	Manuela del Carmen Obrador Narváez	MORENA
II	Bochil	Alfredo Antonio Gordillo Moreno	MORENA
III	Ocosingo	Alfredo Vázquez Vázquez	MORENA
IV	Pichucalco	Roque Luis Rabelo Velasco	MORENA
V	San Cristobal de las Casas	Clementina Marte Dekker Gómez	PT
VI	Tuxtla Gutiérrez Poniente	Raúl Eduardo Bonifaz Moedano	MORENA
VII	Tonalá	Miguel Prado de los Santos	MORENA
VIII	Comitán de Domínguez	María Roselia Jiménez Pérez	PT
IX	Tuxtla Gutiérrez Oriente	Leticia Arlett Aguilar Molina	MORENA
X	Villaflores	Juan Enrique Farrera Esponda	MORENA
XI	Las Margaritas	Roberto Antonio Rubio Montejo	PVEM
XII	Tapachula de Córdova	José Luis Elorza Flores	MORENA
XIII	Huehuetán	Maricruz Roblero Gordillo	PT

Federal Deputies for Chiapas (Proportional Representation) - LXIV Legislature

Member	Political Party
Emeteria Claudia Martínez Aguilar	MORENA
José Ángel Sibaja Mendoza	MORENA
Marco Antonio Andrade Zavala	MORENA
Patricia del Carmen De la Cruz Delucio	MORENA
Carlos Alberto Morales Vázquez	Independent

Federal Judiciary

The state of Chiapas is the seat of the Twentieth Circuit of the Judicial Power of the Federation, said Judicial Circuit is made up of:

• 4 Colegiate Circuit Courts.
• 2 Circuit Courts.
• 13 District Courts.
• 2 Federal Criminal Justice Centres.

Culture

Linguistics

Night view of the church of Santo Domingo in San Cristóbal de Las Casas

The predominant language is Spanish. In the Frailesca region, the Fraylescano dialect is spoken. In Chiapas, languages native to the American continent are also spoken, coming from two linguistic families, the Mayense and the Mixe-Zoquenas.

The spoken languages of the Maya language family are Chol, Tojolabal, Tseltal, Tzotsil, Quiché, Mam, Lacandón, Chuj and Q'anjob'al.

The language of Mixezoquean origin called Zoque is related to the Mixe and Popoluca languages of Oaxaca and Veracruz, and is supposed to be the direct heir of the language spoken by the peoples who created the Olmec artistic style, one of the first cultures of the American continent.

Tsotsile Women of San Cristobal de las Casas

Outfits vary by group; For example, towards Ocosingo the women wear a round neckline blouse embroidered with flowers and an embroidered tulle lace; her skirt or tangle is black and is decorated with colored ribbons.

As for other handicrafts, in Amatenango del Valle and Aguacatenango they make the millenary pitcher with three handles with which the mountain women carry water, as well as utensils and animal figurines (jaguars, doves, owls, chickens) made of clay. Also noteworthy are the gold and silver jewelry and the wonderful pieces of amber. In San Cristóbal we find jewelery made of jade, lapis lazuli, coral, rock crystal and river pearls, as well as excellent blacksmith work in the houses and in the famous Passion Crosses, symbol of the city.

Gastronomy

Gastronomy in the state of Chiapas changes depending on the region; there are common dishes, such as corn and chipilín tamales, sliced and fried plantains, accompanied with cream and cheese; as well as coffee, and chocolate.

In the area of Palenque and Agua Azul, there is a dish made with chestnut trees, which are similar to those that occur in European climates, its fruit cooked in salt is sold on the roadside. In Ocosingo, cheese is traditional and known for its quality.

In the area of Los Altos, specifically in San Cristóbal, we find a mestizo cuisine, with great Spanish influence, in which the use of saffron, both raw and cooked hams, as well as chanfaina and of countless freshly baked breads, as well as stuffed cheeses, pigtail boats and all kinds of sweets, desserts, spirits and mistelas that, due to their high caloric value, help to withstand the cold temperatures of the region. In the central square of Chiapa de Corzo there are stalls serving fresh pozol, tascalate, and chimbo eggs. In Comitán there are also delicious dishes, such as the cochito comiteco, the comforting stew, the saffron tamales, the compound breads, the pressed prunes or the incredible yolk animals.

While in the area of Tonalá and Puerto Arista, where we can taste the Chiapas-style eggs, the shrimp omelette or the regal dogfish empanadas. Pijijiapan has its famous double cream or string cheeses; in Soconusco, it has a great variety of dishes that include local crops such as cocoa, coffee, plantain, copra, avocado, nanche, sweet potato, Ataúlfo mango, cashew nuts, and rice; and where all kinds of fish are caught, such as sea bass, snapper, mullet and dogfish, and shellfish such as shrimp.

In Soconusco we find dishes, from the eastern ones of Huixtla and Tapachula, due to the great immigration of Chinese at the beginning of the last century, to fish and shrimp cooked in hundreds of different ways, some of them seasoned with hierbasanta, and others based on chipilín, such as chipilín with shrimp and bolita, or juicy meats almost always accompanied with vegetables such as chayote, carrots and cabbage, and original desserts, such as green papaya in honey.

Economy

The most outstanding economic activities are national and international tourism, and in the agricultural sector, the production of coffee, honey, cocoa, vegetables, chili, banana, mango, hibiscus, coconut, chocolate and cane sugar.

It also highlights the artisanal production such as the elaboration of jewelry based on amber, from the municipalities of El Bosque and Simojovel de Allende, the works in wood and clay, lacquer and traditional saddlery.

Amber

Amber of Chiapas.

Amber is a precious stone that is extracted from the state of Chiapas, in the VII region of the Forests, it is internationally recognized for its quality and hardness, it is extracted in different shades, distinguished by a reddish color, known as "Chiapaneco Red", and by the White Amber, less common than the first. The extraction and work is done by hand. There is an Amber Museum in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas and another in Simojovel de Allende, in the north of the state. This museum exhibits the best pieces of the region.

It is the denomination given to amber that is produced in Chiapas under the terms and conditions established in the official Mexican standard (NOM-152-SCFI-2003) published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, on 25 of August 2003, in order to support said denomination of origin of Chiapas amber under the terms of the Industrial Property Law. It establishes the specifications that amber must meet in Chiapas, during its extraction and transformation.

Mining

Between 2002 and March 2005, the Mexican Federal Government granted 50 concessions for exploration and another three for mining exploitation in Chiapas, where this industry began to develop a few years ago, for a total of 357,443.87 ha.

The state of Chiapas has received little attention from mining companies, let alone from stock-market-funded exploration companies. One reason for this is that there have been few mines in Chiapas, and there are only a few areas that can be considered as mining districts. Another important reason is the perception that making mining investments in Chiapas is high risk, due to how slow and difficult negotiations to gain access to the land can be. This is a vicious circle that is difficult to break, in which they do not develop mines because there is no mining culture, and there is no mining culture because there are no mines.

Chiapas has porphyry type copper (Cu-Mo) deposits, with skarns (Au-Cu-Fe), with epithermal deposits of low and high sulphidation (Au-Ag, Pb-Zn), of the Mississippi valley type (Pb-Zn) and even orogenic type gold (Au). There is evidence of copper in sedimentary rocks (Cu), prospects evaluated for aluminum in laterites (Al) and black sands with iron and titanium (Fe-Ti).

The main activity is gold mining, two Canadian transnational companies concentrate concessions to explore 284,942 ha.

Coffee

Most of the producers are ejidatarios (many of them belonging to indigenous ethnic groups) who plant coffee on areas of less than two hectares, which reflects that it is a crop of social interest. The 1992 coffee census indicated that the area planted with coffee is 228,254 ha, which represents 30% nationally, being cultivated by 73,742 producers, which at the national level constitute 26%. In the 1998-1999 coffee cycle, 1,551,180 60-kg bags of grain were produced in the state, that is, almost 33% of everything produced in the country. More than 80% of this coffee is exported to the United States Joined. Chiapas being the main national producer of organic coffee, which places Mexico as the world's leading producer of this specialized type, which in the international market in the 98-99 cycle had a 30% premium.

Thus, the economic spillover and social benefits produced by coffee in Chiapas are of the greatest importance, both due to the capture of foreign currency obtained from exports, as well as the thousands of jobs that are generated with its production. cultivation, processing and commercialization. The organic production of Chiapas coffee grants cultural identity and worldwide recognition. The generation of economic resources represents an important percentage for the state and a small part at the national level since it is a recursive process, if it gives identity it is produced, if it is produced it generates profits.

Tourism

Tuxtla International Airport, Chiapa de Corzo.

Tourism in Chiapas is one of the priority economic activities. The new global trends have privileged nature and culture as rest and recreation objectives, which has allowed Chiapas to exploit these two elements of which it is very rich. The state has the characteristic of having a wide variety of tourist offer. It has a coast that offers wide beaches, estuaries and mangroves. The central area presents wooded areas and rural towns that preserve pre-Hispanic traditions, as well as beautiful natural formations such as canyons and rivers. To the north we can find the most important vestiges of the Mayan civilization, and to the east, towards the border with Guatemala, impressive natural jungle reserves.

Colonial cities attract a significant number of tourists each year. The most important include San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapa de Corzo, Comitán de Domínguez, Ocosingo, Tecpatán, Copainalá, Teopisca, Tonalá and Acala. The coastline represents a tourist attraction: the beaches of Puerto Arista, Boca del Cielo, Las Seagulls and Playa Linda.

Attractions

Within the state of Chiapas there are several protected natural areas, one of the most important, with the highest income in the state and the most visited by tourists; are La Selva Lacandona, El Triunfo, Lacantún, La Sepultura, Selva del Ocote, Bonampak, Cañón del Sumidero, Lagos de Montebello, Lagos de Colón, Cascada Velo de Novia, Palenque and the Tacaná Volcano.

The state of Chiapas attracts thousands of tourists. Much of this intense flow is due to the intact churches from the viceregal era, natural and cultural wealth of the state and various colonial towns with ancient architecture.

Museums

Exhibition of bowls and lacquered jícaras in the museum of Santo Domingo.

There is a wide variety of museums around the state as well as cultural centers in each of the towns of the state. The main museums are located in the cities of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán de Domínguez, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Tapachula and Chiapa de Corzo. The most important include the Museum of Science and Technology of Chiapas (MUCH), Museum of Mayan Medicine, Regional Museum of Anthropology and History, Rosario Castellanos Cultural Center, Museum of the City of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Museum of Coffee, Museum of the site of Toniná and Eliseo Palacios Museum of Paleontology

Illustrious people

Geographic location

Northwest: Veracruz,Mexico Mexico	North: Tabasco, Mexico Mexico	Northeast: The Petén, GuatemalaGuatemala
West: Oaxaca, Mexico Mexico		This: Huehuetenango, GuatemalaGuatemala The Quiché, GuatemalaGuatemala
Southwest: Gulf of Tehuantepec	South: Gulf of Tehuantepec	Sureste: San Marcos, GuatemalaGuatemala Quetzaltenango, GuatemalaGuatemala Retalhuleu, GuatemalaGuatemala