Huajuapan

Huajuapan occupied an important place in the Mixtec valley before Spanish rule. Its earlier settlements lay on surrounding slopes, while the area functioned as an economic, cultural and ceremonial centre. Spanish control followed the conquest of Mexico, but surviving colonial records for the district begin only in 1542. The older Indigenous landscape therefore preceded the administrative town that the newcomers later established.

In 1561 viceregal authorities ordered a new town on the valley floor and required inhabitants of Huajuapan and nearby San Andrés Acatima to settle there. During Mexico's independence struggle, royalist forces besieged Huajuapan in 1812. The defenders, led by Valerio Trujano, held out until José María Morelos arrived and helped break the siege on 23 July.