Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from āzcapōtzalli "anthill" + -co "place"; literally, "In the place of the anthills") is a borough (demarcación territorial) in Mexico City. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City.
The town was founded in the pre-Hispanic era and was the seat of the Tepanec dominion until the Aztec Triple Alliance overthrew it. It the centuries that followed it was a rural farming area. In the mid-19th century it became part of the Federal District of Mexico City, and in the 20th century it was engulfed by the urban sprawl of Mexico City. Today it is 100% urbanized and is a centre of industry.
Geography
thumb|left|Scene from Parque Tezozomoc
The municipality of Azcapotzalco is in the Valley of Mexico with its eastern half on the lakebed of the former Lake Texcoco and the west on more solid ground. The historic center is on the former shoreline of this lake. The average altitude is 2240 meters above sea level. Politically, the municipality extends over in the northwest of the Federal District of Mexico City, bordering the municipality of Gustavo A. Madero, Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo along with the municipalities of Tlalnepantla de Baz, and Naucalpan in the State of Mexico.
Parque Tezozomoc was inaugurated in 1982 designed as a scaled replica of the Valley of Basin of Mexico in the pre-Hispanic era.
Other important green areas include community squares such as Plaza Hidalgo, sports centers, college campuses, especially that of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, community parks and cemeteries.
Sports facilities cover about 67 hectares of the municipality with 70 fields and sports centers open to the public. These include the Deportivo Renovacion Nacional, Deportivo Reynosa, Centro Deportivo Ferrocarrilero and the Unidad Deportiva Benito Juarez. The municipality has cemeteries which are counted as green spaces, especially San Isidro because of its large size. There are 250 chemical producers mostly concentrated in Colonia Industrial Vallejo which make ethanol, cyanide compounds, phosphates, organic solvents and more.
In 2011, the historic center was designated as a "Barrio Mágico".
The most important community remains the former town of Azcapotzalco, also called the historic center, marked by Plaza Hidalgo. This square consists of fenced stone paths surrounding gardens. Its two main focal points are a statue of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla facing Avenida Azcapotzalco and a six-sided kiosk in the center. On Saturdays, chess players convene to play during the afternoon. Café Alameda is on Plaza Hidalgo — a café and bar with a rock and roll theme. It has images of Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon lining its walls. At night on weekends, it hosts live bands which attracts youths from the area. The main church has a large Baroque portal which contains the main door topped by a choir window. To the side there is a slender bell tower with pilasters on it four sides. Under the tower, there is an image of a red ant. A local legend says that when the ant climbs the bell tower, the world will end. It has a sandstone portal with a balcony on the upper level featuring a double arch and an ironwork railing from 1894.
The oldest library of the municipality, Biblioteca Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, has murals by Juan O’Gorman.
Socioeconomics
thumb|[[Steren company headquarters in the municipality]]
The municipality as it is found today is a product of the growth of the Mexico City area in the 20th century, especially since the 1970s. The population rose from 534,554 in 1970 to a peak of 601,524 in 1980. The population began to drop to 474,688 in 1990 and 441,008 in 2000. In addition to loss of employment, reasons for the population loss include the 1985 earthquake and the high cost of living space, especially compared to neighboring state of Mexico. In the municipality there are 70 communities considered to have high drug use accounting for about 45% of the total population. These include La Raza, El Rosario, Prohogar, Industrial Vallejo, La Preciosa, San Pedro Xalpa and ObreraMundial. There are crime gangs identified by police such as Los Pepes, Los Negros and Los Maquedas. In 2008 the city sponsored an entrepreneurship program with the Instituto Politécinco Nacional and the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana to help deal with the loss of employment. Starting in 2008, the municipality has offered free wedding ceremonies and certificates to encourage couples to formally legalize their unions. The wedding ceremonies involve hundreds of couples who are married at the same time.
History
thumb|left|17th century glyph to denote Azcapotzalco
The name is derived from Nahuatl and means "ant hill" with the municipality Aztec glyph depicting a red ant surrounded by corn. It comes from a legend that says that after the creation of the Fifth Sun, the god Quetzalcoatl was tasked with recreating man. To do this, he needed to enter the realm of the dead, Mictlan, to recover the bones of men from the Fourth Sun. Ants helped Quetzalcoatl to find the realm of the dead and bring the bones up as well as grains of corn. Another version of the legend relates to the discovery of corn by observing that ants had put grains underground and corn plants grew there. When Teotihuacan waned in 800 CE, the Azcapotzalco area remained important as a center of that culture, becoming an important ceremonial center. When Tula rose, Toltec influence then dominated Azcapotzalco and the rest of the Valley of Mexico. Toltec influence is most evident in ceramic finds from Santiago Ahuizotla and was possibly a Toltec tribute city.
Under the Tepanecas, conquered areas were allowed to keep their own leadership as long as they paid tribute and performed military service. In 1427, these leaders included Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco, Izcoatl of Tenochtitlan and Totoquihuaztli of Tlacopan. during the 16th century, the indigenous population of the area fell from 17,000 to about 3,000 due to mistreatment and disease.
Azcapotzalco holds one of the oldest continuous annual pilgrimages to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has been done for over 475 years. It is considered to be the first one organized by the indigenous in Mexico with records indicating the first one done in 1532, only 11 months after the report of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The annual event is known as the Fiesta de los Naturales in which leaders from 28 communities collect money and more as offering to Guadalupe. Before the procession sets off, there is a festival with fireworks and a mass to bless the pilgrims.
One legend of the area is about the "Enchanted Pool of Xancopina" a fresh water spring that existed during the pre-Hispanic era and where Moctezuma is said to have submerged much of his treasure after being defeated by the Spanish. It was where the Unidad Habitacional Cuitláhuac is now.
Education
The municipality has 228 schools and other public educational facilities from preschool to university levels. These include 61 preschools, 79 primary schools, 42 middle schools, 17 high/vocational schools, six night schools, eight special education schools, four middle schools for adults, one open enrollment facility and ten infant development centers. Private education includes 71 preschools, 21 elementary schools, six middle schools, five high school level institutions and one college. However, many of the schools at the basic levels lack maintenance. The illiteracy rate is 2.34 percent, lower than the 2.9 percent average of the Federal District.
The two main higher education campuses are Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) and Escuela Superior de Ingenería Mecánica y Eléctrica (ESIME). Its large campus is an important part of municipality efforts to maintain green spaces.) The ESIME is part of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional which is dedicated to Electromechanical Engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as research. It began as the Escuela Nacional de Artes y Oficios in the latter 19th century. Other institutions include the Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades (CCH) affiliated with UNAM, TecMilenio Ferrería and UNITEC in San Salvador Xochimanca as well as installations related to Universidad Justo Sierra. the Escuela Preparatoria Azcapotzalco "Melchor Ocampo".
Transportation
thumb|Trolleybuses alongside [[Metro El Rosario]]
The municipality area has had a major road linking it to the historic center of Mexico City since the pre Hispanic period, today called the Mexico-Tacuba road. It continues to be a major thoroughfare. The development of industry in the municipality, then extending north and west in to panhandle of neighboring Mexico State has prompted interconnected infrastructure, especially in transportation. Major thoroughfares of this type include Avenida Aquiles Serdán, Calzada Vallejo (Circuito Interior), Eje 3, Eje 4 and Eje 5 Norte especially near the State of Mexico border. Because of its industry and links to other industrial areas in the State of Mexico, Azcapotzalco experiences very heavy traffic flow with an average of 800,000 vehicles transiting in or through it. Traffic jams are common, especially at rush hour and even at off-peak times due to faulty synchronization of traffic lights.