Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico

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and the oil finds in Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez has developed into a modern progressive town.

History The region around present-day Tuxtla was inhabited by members of the Maya tribe called Zoque, who named the place Coyactocmo (Zoque: "place of the rabbits"), and it was from this that the later name Tuxtlán (Náhuatl: "place of the rabbits") derives.

The first Spanish monks who arrived here in the 16th c. were followed by Spanish settlers. The latter frequently had to ward off attacks from Zoque Indians who constituted the majority of the population in the region. At the beginning of the 19th c. Tuxtla was still an unimportant township. In 1848 it received the additional name of Gutiérrez and in 1892 it replaced San Cristóbal de Las Casas as the capital of Chiapas. Today it has acquired considerable importance as an administrative and cultural centre and as a centre for the handling and transfer of commercial goods.

Sights

The town does not possess many old buildings. The cathedral, which has been rebuilt several times, should be mentioned, and also the Palacio de Gobierno (government palace) with its white and red colours.