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Mexico Travel :: States around Mexico City

State of Tlaxcala

The smallest state in Mexico, Tlaxcala, has always been densely settled. After the decline of Teotihuacan, a group of Olmeca-Xicallanca from the Gulf invaded central Mexico and built a hill-top city called Cacaxtla. In 1974, huge distinctly Mayan murals executed in intense colors were discovered here. Around AD 1100, the Olmeca-Xicallanca were expelled by a tribe of Tolteca-Chichimecas, later called the Tlaxcalans. Although they lived only 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Aztec capital, the Tlaxcalans were fierce warriors and maintained their independence through constant battle.

When Cortes' army entered the region with the Totonacs in 1519, Xicotencatl, the Tlaxcalan chief, saw that the balance of power in Mexico had suddenly shifted. After some initial hostilities, the Tlaxcalans decided to make peace and add their army to the Spanish force. The Tlaxcalans became the Spaniards' strongest allies and after the Conquest accompanied expeditions throughout Mexico. Tlaxcalan wards were built in Spanish settlements as far away as San Cristobal in Chiapas and Santa Fe in distant New Mexico. However, the might of the Spanish bureaucracy soon whittled down their privileges, and they eventually suffered as much as the other tribes. Tlaxcala was one of the earliest sites of Christian evangelism; in 1530, the Franciscans began the construction of one of the first New World monasteries here. Although Tlaxcala adjoins the industrial boomtown of Puebla, the state has so far avoided the modern ills of overpopulation and pollution

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