Ixtlahuaca

Ixtlahuaca lay in the Mazahua highlands northwest of Toluca, on routes leading from central Mexico toward Michoacan. Its older Mazahua settlement was known as J'apui and was associated with the lordship of Jocotitlan. During the later fifteenth century, Mexica campaigns subjected the wider Mazahua country to tribute. Spanish conquest brought another change of rulers in 1521.

Hernan Cortes assigned Ixtlahuaca in encomienda to Juan de la Torre, whose tenure lasted until 1535. It became a colonial administrative centre for a broad district including Jiquipilco, Jocotitlan, Atlacomulco and Temascalcingo. The Spanish parish settlement developed west of the older J'apui, shortening the road, and received recognition as a pueblo under Viceroy Luis de Velasco in 1552. Houses gathered around the parish site as church and government institutions reshaped the local centre. The road continued to carry travellers toward western Mexico. A further institutional change came on 16 July 1820, when Ixtlahuaca installed its first constitutional ayuntamiento under the restored Cadiz constitutional system, before Mexican independence.