San Juan Guelavía is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 17.86 km². It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region.
San Juan Guelavía | |
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Municipality and town | |
![]() ![]() San Juan Guelavía Location in Mexico | |
Coordinates: 16°57′N 96°32′W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | Oaxaca |
Area | |
• Total | 17.86 km2 (6.90 sq mi) |
Population (2005) | |
• Total | 2,940 |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central Standard Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (Central Daylight Time) |
As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 2,940.[1]
San Juan Guelavia is on the river and one of the few communities in the valley that had historically set up irrigation canals.[2]
Early Spanish migration to the area consisted of cattle ranchers who moved their cattle from communal usage pastures in the mountains to communal pastures in the valley.[3] In 1539, Bartolome Sanchez was granted an estancia de granado mayor (permanent land holding rights) near what is now San Juan Guelavía.[3]
Guelavia's sixteenth century church has a large number of colonial-era santos, statues of Roman Catholic saints.[4]
During the Mexican Revolution, in 1914, General Juan M. Brito stationed his troops near San Juan Guelavia to oppose the Federalist aims of Venustiano Carranza.[5] After the war, Brito spent time in a prison in the Federal District of Mexico City before returning to San Juan Guelavia, where he established himself as a businessman running a store and also the local jefe strong man controlling the local communities through force of his armed followers.[5]
Municipalities of Tlacolula District, Oaxaca | |
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See also Municipalities of Oaxaca |
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