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Xico is a city in Mexico State, Mexico, located . It serves as the municipal seat of Valle de Chalco Solidaridad municipality, with which it is, for all practical purposes, coterminous. The municipality lies adjacent to the east side of the Federal District (Distrito Federal) and is part of the Mexico City metropolitan area. The city and municipality lie on the old lakebed of Lake Chalco, which was drained like much of the Mexico Basin. The city name comes from the nearby Xico hill (Cerro de Xico) and the name of the municipality comes from the old lake plus a reference to the "Programa Nacional de Solidaridad" (National Program of Solidarity) which was initiated here. The municipality's glyph and shield make reference to both names. It is a distinct entity from the city and muncipality of Chalco, which is nearby. "Chalco" in both names refers to the Chalca tribe that were one of the original inhabitants of the area.

The city

Early pre-hispanic history refers to the area around the Cerro de Xico and the Island of Xico as most of the modern city was underwater until relatively recently. The area was mostly fishing villages from 900 BC to 100 AD. However, from 550 to 650, the area was dominated by the Teotihuacan culture. From 650 to 750, an Otomi settlement gained prominence. The Acxotecas arrived around 1328, the same time that chinampa farming began here. Xico was conquered by the Aztec Tezozomoc in 1381, after which groups of Mexicas settle here extending the chinampa farming system in the 14th and 15th centuries. The area was ceded to Hernán Cortés by the Spanish kind in 1529. The modern area began in the 19th century when Porfirio Díaz ordered the draining of Lake Chalco which devastated the economies of the former coastline communities. The Mexican Revolution tried the compensate these communties by the creation of ejidos, the two largest here being Estación Xico with 507 hectares and San Miguel Xico with 250 hectares. These ejidos, as well as the present-day city and municipality, rest almost entirely on former lakebed.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

The only notable sites in the area are The Cerro del Marqués which contains architecture and archeological remains but these are not open to the public. However, there is the Museo Comunitario (Community Museum]] which displays local archeological finds located in the Casa de Cultura “Chalchiuhtlicue”. The is also the Ex – Hacienda de Xico which was constructed at the same time the lake was drained.

The municipality

As municipal seat, Xico has governing jurisdiction over the following communities: Las Bombas, Comalchica, Santa Cruz, El Triángulo, El Invernadero, Colonia Ampliación (San Miguel Tláhuac), and Ejido Tulyehualco (Tabla Número Nueve) as well as 13 unnamed communties. It has a total popuation of 332,279.

The municipality borders the municipalities of Ixtapaluca, Chicoloapan, Los Reyes Acaquilpan, al oriente con Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias and borders to the south with the Distrito Federal. It covers a total surface area of 46.36 km² (17.9 sq mi).

References

1. ^ "Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico Estado de Mexico Valle de Chalco Solidaridad". Retrieved 2008-Apr 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
2. "Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005] INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática". Retrieved 2008-Mar-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

• Cities, towns and villages in the State of Mexico
• Municipalities of the State of Mexico
• Mexico City metropolitan area