San Cristóbal de las Casas

San Cristóbal de las Casas (), also known by its native Tzotzil name, Jovel (), is a town and municipality located in the Central Highlands region of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was the capital of the state until 1892, and is still considered the cultural capital of Chiapas.

The municipality is mostly made up of mountainous terrain, but the city sits in a small valley surrounded by hills. The city's center maintains its Spanish colonial layout and much of its architecture, with red tile roofs, cobblestone streets and wrought iron balconies often with flowers. Most of the city's economy is based on commerce, services and tourism.

Tourism is based on the city's history, culture and indigenous population, although the tourism itself has affected the city, giving it foreign elements. Major landmarks of the city include the cathedral, the Santo Domingo church with its large open air crafts market and the Casa Na Bolom museum. The municipality has suffered severe deforestation, but it has natural attractions such as caves and rivers.

The town and municipality

thumb|left|The Santo Domingo [[Dominican convent]]

thumb|left|One of the gilded panels inside the Santo Domingo Church

thumb|left|Interior view of the Cathedral

left|thumb|San Cristóbal City Hall.

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a city and municipality located in the Central Highlands region of Chiapas. As a municipality, the city functions as the governmental authority for 83 other rural communities outside the city proper, which cover a territory of 484 km². Of these communities, the most important include La Candelaria, San Antonio del Monte, Mitziton, San José Yashitinin, El Pinar, Buenavista, Pedernal, Corazon de Maria and Zacualpa Ecatepec. The municipality borders the municipalities of Chamula, Tenejapa, Huixtán, Teopisca, Totolapa, Chiapilla, San Lucas and Zinacantán.

The city, especially the historic center, has maintained its Spanish colonial layout, with narrow cobblestone streets, roofs covered in red clay tile and wrought iron balconies with flowers. The facades of the buildings vary from Baroque to Neoclassical and Moorish, painted in various colors. Milk delivery from local dairy farms still use canisters on donkeys, and farmers typically still use horses and donkeys for hauling wood and farmed goods within their own properties. Designated a "Pueblo Mágico" (Magical Village) in 2003, it was further recognized as "the most magical of the Pueblos Mágicos" by President Felipe Calderón in 2010. One aspect of traditional culture associated with these indigenous groups is the making of textiles, especially weaving, with amber another important product. Ceramics, wrought iron and filigree jewelry can be found as well. The best known area for crafts is the tianguis at Santo Domingo. The city hosts an annual Amber Expo at the Centro de Convenciones Casa de Mazariegos. The event exhibits and sells amber and amber pieces from the area of the state. The main feature of the church is its main facade, which was finished in 1721. It is Baroque painted yellow with ornamental columns and niches in which are various saints.

The area did not have a pre-Hispanic city. After defeating the Zoques in the Northern Mountains and the Chiapans of this area, Diego de Mazariegos founded the city as a military fort. This city and much of what would be the state of Chiapas came under the Captaincy General of Guatemala in 1532 headed by Pedro de Alvarado. San Cristóbal received its coat of arms in 1535 from Carlos V and it was officially declared a city in 1536. The city gained the rank of Alcadía Mayor in 1577 which gave it authority over much of Chiapas north of it. The intendencia of Chiapas was created in 1786 combining San Cristóbal's territory with that of Tuxtla and Soconusco, with the government in San Cristóbal. In 1821, the city followed the Comitán de Domínguez's declaration of independence from Spain and the Captaincy General of Guatemala. However, the city and the rest of Chiapas became a part of Mexico in 1824, with the capital established here.

In 1915, the state went to the municipality system with San Cristóbal becoming a municipality. Originally, it had jurisdiction over communities such as San Lucas, Zinacantán, San Felipe Ecatepec, Tenejapa, San Miguel Mitontic, Huixtan and Chanal, but these would later separate to become municipalities in their own right.

The city was declared a national historic monument in 1974. To counter this, Ruiz supported and worked with Marist priests and nuns following an ideology called liberation theology. In 1974 he organized a statewide Indian Congress with representatives from 327 communities of the Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Tojolabal and Ch'ol peoples as well as Marists and the Maoist People's Union. This congress was the first of its kind with the goal of uniting the indigenous peoples politically. These efforts were also supported by leftist organizations from outside Mexico, especially to form unions of ejido organizations. These unions would later form the base of the EZLN organization.

Activism and resentment continued from the 1970s to the 1990s. During this decade, the Mexican federal government adopted neoliberalism, which clashed with the leftist political ideas of liberation theology and many of the indigenous activist groups. Despite the activism, economic marginalization among indigenous groups remained high, with resentment strongest in the San Cristóbal region and in migrant communities living in the Lacandon Jungle.

The grievances of these activists would be taken up by a small guerrilla band led by a man called only "Subcomandante Marcos." His small band, called the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), came to the world's attention when on January 1, 1994, the day the NAFTA treaty went into effect. On this day, EZLN forces occupied and took over the towns of San Cristóbal de las Casas, along with six other Chiapas communities. They read their proclamation of revolt to the world and then laid siege to a nearby military base, capturing weapons and releasing many prisoners from the jails. Ruiz negotiated between the EZLN and authorities even though his leftist activism made him suspect to many authorities. This would undermine efforts and eventually the Catholic Church would split from the Zapatista movement.

Geography

thumb|[[Huitepec peak]]

The city and municipality are located in a region called the Chiapas Highlands or Central Highlands. Two thirds of the municipality is made up of mountainous terrain with the rest valley floor. While it is in a tropical zone, its climate is temperate due to the altitude. The climate is also humid, with cloud cover in the winter months that keeps temperatures down and can produce cold nights. Average temperature between December and April is 18 °C. The area receives most of its rain in the summer to early fall. However, the cloud cover that exists in winter is generally absent and daytime temperatures can go up to 35 °C with high humidity. Humedales de Montaña María Eugenia is a wetland in the southeastern portion of the city. It supports populations of fish, amphibians, and resident and migratory birds, and helps reduce flood risk and recharge drinking water aquifers for the city. The wetlands was designated a 115-hectare ecological conservation area in 2008, and it was designated a Ramsar Site in 2012. Gertrude Duby Biotic Reserve is a 64-hectare reserve in the mountains immediately east of the city. It was designated in 1994 and named for Gertrude Duby Blom, a journalist, anthropologist, environmentalist, and San Cristóbal resident.

Climate

San Cristóbal de las Casas has a mild subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) moderated by its altitude. The dry season, which runs from November to April is cool with a January average of .

|source 2 = Colegio de Postgraduados (sun, humidity, extremes 1951–1980)

|date=July 2012

Infrastructure

San Cristóbal de las Casas is located 80 km from Tuxtla Gutiérrez on Highway 190. It had an airport named Corazón de María 18 km outside the city proper, until the airport was closed in 2010. and the city of 158,027.

About 85% of the municipal population lives in the city proper with the rest in rural communities. The population density is 274/km², well above the regional average of 190/km² and state average of 52/km². Most of the population is young, with about 68% under the age of thirty and an average age of twenty. Population growth is about 4.10%, above the regional and state averages of 2.37 and 2.06% respectively. As of 2005, the population was expected to double within twenty years.

Economy and tourism

thumb|Inside the Rosalia Store in the city

thumb|Multilingual instructions for the SMS based city tourism and information system.

San Cristóbal has the second-lowest rate of economic marginalization in the state of Chiapas following Tuxtla Gutiérrez. True Chiapas amber is extracted from the town of Simojovel to the north. There is a great price difference between the real and fake amber, and this price difference can be enough to put authentic amber vendors out of business. Many of the sellers of fake amber are successful because many people, especially foreign tourists, do not know how to determine what is real. However, one indicator is price, as true amber cannot be sold for the very low prices that street vendors offer.