San Nicolás, Guerrero Explained

San Nicolás
Settlement Type:Municipality
Seal Size:70px
Pushpin Map:Mexico Guerrero#Mexico
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of San Nicolás
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Mexico
Subdivision Type1:State
Seat Type:Seat
Seat:San Nicolás
Leader Title:President
Established Title:Incorporated
Established Date:21 May 2022
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:167.22
Population As Of:2020 Census
Population Total:6984
Population Density Km2:auto
Population Blank1 Title:Seat
Population Blank1:3249
Timezone:Central
Utc Offset:-6
Coordinates:16.42°N -98.52°W
Postal Code Type:Postal codes
Postal Code:41960–41968[2]
Area Code Type:Area code
Area Code:741

San Nicolás is a municipality in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is located southeast of the state capital of Chilpancingo. It is named after its patron saint, Nicholas of Tolentino.[3] Its creation from the municipality of Cuajinicuilapa was approved in 2021 and went into force on 21 May 2022.

Geography

The municipality of San Nicolás is located in the Costa Chica region of southeastern Guerrero. It borders the municipality of Cuajinicuilapa in Guerrero to the west, north, and east, the Oaxacan municipality of Santiago Tapextla to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The municipality covers an area of .[1] The municipality's Pacific coast serves as a critical nesting area for the leatherback turtle and is protected as the Ramsar site Playa Tortuguera Tierra Colorada.[4]

San Nicolás has a subhumid temperate climate with rain in the summer. Average temperatures range between 24and(-), and average annual precipitation ranges between 1100and(-).[5]

History

The municipality of San Nicolás is located on territory that was once part of the province of Quahuitlán, whose inhabitants spoke Quahteca or Cuahuiteca, which was probably a Mixtec dialect. Quahuitlán which was controlled by Tututepec until around 1497, when the area was conquered by the Mexica Empire. Pedro de Alvarado conquered the area for Spain in 1522, and in 1548 the area was made an encomienda of Tristán de Luna y Arellano.[6] In the late 16th century, Spanish cattle ranchers brought free and enslaved blacks and mulattoes to the area, from whom most of San Nicolás's present-day inhabitants are descended.[7]

In 2004, inhabitants of San Nicolás and nearby communities began an initiative to separate from Cuajinicuilapa and form a new municipality, citing a lack of resources for development in their area.[8] On 31 August 2021 the Guerrero state legislature approved the formation of the municipality of San Nicolás comprising ten localities previously belonging to Cuajinicuilapa.[1] The state constitutional amendment establishing the municipality was passed on 13 January 2022 and went into force on 21 May 2022.[9]

Administration

San Nicolás will hold its first elections as an independent municipality in 2024. The municipal government of San Nicolás will comprise a municipal president, a councillor (Spanish: síndico), and six trustees (regidores).[10]

Demographics and culture

In the 2020 Mexican Census, the localities that now comprise the municipality of San Nicolás recorded a population of 6984 inhabitants.[1] The municipal seat, also named San Nicolás, recorded a population of 3249 inhabitants in the 2020 Census.[1] The next most populous localities are La Pitahaya and Punta Maldonado, which recorded populations of 1583 and 848 inhabitants respectively in the 2020 Census.[11] [12]

Like the neighbouring Cuajinicuilapa, San Nicolás has been identified by cultural authorities, academics, and journalists as a centre of Afro-Mexican culture in Guerrero's Costa Chica. However, residents of San Nicolás self-identify as moreno (black Indians) and reject labels such as "black", "Afromexican" and "Afromestizo". Since the late 1990s, a significant community of expatriates from San Nicolás has lived in the cities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Charlotte in North Carolina.[7]

Economy

The economy of San Nicolás is based on smallholder farming: farmers grow corn for their own consumption, and sesame and fruit (e.g., mango, papaya and watermelon) for sale to regional markets. Seaside communities depend heavily on fishing.[13]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 31 August 2021 . . DECRETO NÚMERO 862, MEDIANTE EL CUAL SE CREA EL MUNICIPIO DE SAN NICOLÁS, GUERRERO . es . 24 November 2023.
  2. Web site: Consulta de Códigos Postales . Catálogo Nacional de Códigos Postales . . 23 November 2023 . 24 November 2023.
  3. Lewis . Laura A. . February 2001 . Of Ships and Saints: History, Memory, and Place in the Making of Moreno Mexican Identity . . 16 . 1 . 62–82 . 656602.
  4. Web site: Playa Tortuguera Tierra Colorada . Ramsar Sites Information Service . . 27 November 2003 . 24 November 2023.
  5. Web site: Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero . Prontuario de información geográfica municipal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos . es . INEGI . 2009 . 24 November 2023.
  6. Web site: Quahuitlán, Provincia de . Enciclopedia Guerrerense . 11 March 2020 . 24 November 2023.
  7. Book: Lewis, Laura A. . Chocolate and Corn Flour: History, Race, and Place in the Making of “Black” Mexico . 2–4 . . 2012 . 978-0-8223-9477-8 . 10.1215/9780822394778.
  8. News: Contreras Lara . Juan José . 30 July 2014 . Promueven la creación de un nuevo municipio en Costa Chica . es . Quadratín Guerrero . 25 November 2023.
  9. News: 20 May 2022 . DECRETO NÚMERO 161 POR EL QUE SE APRUEBA LA ADICIÓN DE LOS NUEVOS MUNICIPIOS DE SANTA CRUZ DEL RINCÓN, SAN NICOLÁS, ÑUU SAVI Y LAS VIGAS AL ARTÍCULO 27 DE LA CONSTITUCIÓN POLÍTICA DEL ESTADO LIBRE Y SOBERANO DE GUERRERO. EN EL LUGAR QUE CONFORME AL ORDEN ALFABÉTICO LES CORRESPONDE. . es . Periódico Oficial del Estado de Guerrero . 9–24 . 21 November 2023.
  10. News: Chávez . Lourdes . 16 November 2023 . Aprueba IEPC composición de ayuntamientos, incluidos los cuatro nuevos municipios . es . El Sur . Chilpancingo . 24 November 2023.
  11. Web site: El Pitahayo, Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero (120230036) . es . México en Cifras . . 24 November 2023.
  12. Web site: Punta Maldonado (El Faro), Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero (120230022) . es . México en Cifras . . 24 November 2023.
  13. Lewis . Laura A. . November 2000 . Blacks, Black Indians, Afromexicans: The Dynamics of Race, Nation, and Identity in a Mexican "moreno" Community (Guerrero) . . 27 . 4 . 898–926 . 647400.