Otumba or Otumba de Gómez Farías is a town and municipal seat of the municipality of Otumba located in the northeast of the State of Mexico, just northeast of Mexico City. Historically, this area is best known as the site of the Battle of Otumba and as an important crossroads during the colonial period where incoming viceroys ceremoniously were handed power by their predecessors. Today, it is a rural municipality undergoing changes as urbanization arrives here from the Mexico City area. However, one element from the past that is still remembered is that of burros or donkeys. During the colonial period, Otumba was an important market for the animals, and they are still culturally important. Each year, the municipality sponsors a Feria de Burros or Donkey Fair, where the animals star in fashion shows, costume contests, and races. There is also a donkey sanctuary for unwanted animals.
The name Otumba comes from Nahuatl and means "place of otomis." The appendage "Gómez Farías" was added in honor of Valentín Gómez Farías. The Aztec glyph for the area depicts an Otomi character with the sign meaning place. The municipality is represented by this glyph and by a Spanish coat of arms.
In 2023, Otumba was designated a Pueblo Mágico by the Mexican government, recognizing its cultural and historical importance.
History This area was most likely settled by the Otomi although it is said that these Otomi descended from the Chichimeca. A series of villages were established in this area in the Classic period between 200 and 900 AD with the first known ruler being Motolina. When the chiefdom of Xaltocan fell in 1200, many other Otomis came to take refuge here, founding the town.
The area came under the rule of Azcapotzalco during the reign of Tezozomoc. Aztec rule was established here by Nezahualcoyotl from Texcoco, who made Otumba a regional capital, serving as a point of collection for tribute. As an Aztec city, it contained a sacred plaza with a temple and perhaps a lord's palace. Outside this plaza area was the residential area for the elite called the pipiltin, consisting of large houses occupied by extended families. There was probably also a central market. Outside of that was a second residential zone for the common population, called the macehualtin. The organization of the city reflected that of Texcoco but at a smaller scale. There is evidence that this city produced crafts such as ceramics on a large scale.
The Battle of Otumba is part of the story of the fall of Tenochtitlan, specifically La Noche Triste. The Spanish had to flee the Aztec capital and reach Tlaxcalan, where they would find allies. After being beleaguered on the causeway leading out of the city, Hernán Cortés fled towards Tlaxcala, and was intercepted by a group of warriors of the Tenocha, Tepanec, Xochimilca, and other peoples. However, despite the fact that they had already seen horses, seeing Spanish knights in full regalia proved to have shock value, as the warriors had never seen such in open battle. The fight lasted for four hours until Cortés attacked a warrior named Cihuacóatl Matlatzincatzin, the tallest and most adorned of the attackers. He and thirteen knights charged the army's leader and killed him. This charge broke the natives’ ranks and they fled. This battle gives Otumba the denomination of "La Heroica Otumba." Despite the poor condition and heavy losses of the Spanish army and the overwhelming number of Aztec warriors, the Spanish prevailed and were able to reach Tlaxcala to regroup.Gruzinski, Serge. The Aztecs: Rise and Fall of an Empire. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987. Some 20,000 Aztecs were killed. While the town lends its name to this battle, it really occurred in a place called Temalacatitlán.
After the battle, people from Otumba and other surrounding areas sent ambassadors to Cortes to ask forgiveness for fighting against him with the Aztecs. The ambassador from Tenochtitlan, however, still expressed the city's opposition to him. Cortes had the natives from Otumba capture the ambassador from Tenochtitlan for him as proof of their loyalty.
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Cortes passed through here a second time sometime later to visit mines in Pachuca. The Spanish divided Otumba into among a number of encomiendas, many of which belonged to Cortes himself. When Cortes went to Spain in 1528, the Otumba area was seized by Nuño de Guzmán who declared it a province of the crown, along with a number of other areas. When Cortes returned, he retook Otumba and installed his son Martín Cortés as tribute collector.
For the rest of the colonial period, Otumba was an important stopping point on the royal roads that connected Mexico City with Puebla, Hidalgo and especially the port of Veracruz. It was also the place where incoming viceroys would meet their predecessors and receive the scepter of rule before entering Mexico City itself. Because of the road traffic, the town grew into an important commercial center for the rest of the colonial period.
During the Mexican War of Independence, one important insurgent, Eugenio Montaño, was from Otumba. He, along with José Francisco Osorno, fought mostly in the Apan area until 1813, when the royalist forces battled his troops near Calpulalpan. Montaño lost and his body was found by the royalists at the Tepetates Hacienda. Looking for vengeance, the royalists cut off Montaño's head and cut the rest of the body into four pieces. The head was sent to his family and the body parts were hung in at the four corners of his house in Otumba. The parish priest tried to bury the body in at the church but the royalist dug it back up and rehung the pieces. A short time later, the body was permanently interred in the baptistery of the church.
Here Guadalupe Victoria proclaimed his Montano Plan in 1827. Here also, Nicolás Bravo was proclaimed the president of Mexico in 1839.
For much of its colonial history, Otumba had been a district seat of one type or another. Its current status of municipality was established in 1821. In 1861, it was officially declared a town. A rail line was constructed through here in the late 19th century and the municipal palace was constructed in 1890. A second rail line would be constructed in the mid 20th century. The train station would become the scene of some important incidents of the Mexican Revolution. In 1915, General Rodolfo Fierro, allied with Francisco Villa, seized the local telegraph station and sent orders in Álvaro Obregón's name to that General's troops to perform maneuvers that were beneficial to the Villa army. Another occurrence was an attack on a train called El Dorado, which was carrying Venustiano Carranza. The attack was carried out by forces loyal to Alvaro Obregon, but did not succeed in killing Carranza.
Ángel María Garibay K., who was a noted linguist, humanist and canon law expert, was the parish priest of Otumba from 1932 to 1941. While stationed here he wrote a number of important works.
Today Today, the municipality of Otumba is in transition towards a more urban area. Crime rates have risen as well as the frustrations of the local populace. In 2006, police intervened to prevent the public lynching of a 15-year-old who was caught trying to steal a computer and chair from a distance education center in the community of San Marcos Ahuatepec.
In 2008, Sergio Cid Arandas was kidnapped from his home in Ecatepec and found dead on the highway between Otumba and Ciudad Sahagún. The body was decapitated and mutilated. One year later, about 200 farmers confronted police, destroying a police vehicle in protest over the detention of a person in Santiago Tolman. The incident occurred when two police were arresting a local teacher. The residents detained the police for three hours, suspecting that they were kidnapping the teacher, and threatened to lynch the officers. The people were dispersed by an anti-riot squad, but a number of protesters regrouped and blocked the Mexico City-Tulancingo highway, demanding the return of the suspected kidnappers, Later, two police vehicles were torched in protest of the police intervention.
The municipality is also the home of the Topochico prison, containing more than 900 inmates. In 2009, more than twenty prisoners began a revolt in the maximum security area, claiming mistreatment. Two prison workers were taken hostage as the riot spread to other parts of the facilities. Control of the prison by authorities was achieved about eight hours later.
The town
For several years, the government has worked on restoration and beautification projects with the aim of being included as one of the Pueblos con Encanto del Bicentenario (Bicentennial Towns with Charm). The program was initiated in 2008, with Otumba as one of the eighteen towns selected. The hope is also that the improvements and designation will attract tourists. Like most towns in Mexico, the center of Otumba is a main plaza surrounded the most important buildings of the community. The main plaza is decorated with leafy trees and a kiosk, which has a small café inside, surrounded by the Parish of the Purisima Concepción with its cloister from the 16th century, the municipal palace and the Gonzalo Carrasco Museum.
The Parish of the Purísima Concepción began as the Franciscan monastery, probably built in the 1530s. The parish was established in 1603 with important aspects of the parish church dating to the 18th century. It was one of the most important and visited constructions in the early colonial period. The church is constructed over a pre-Hispanic platform. On its saints day, the town of Otumba lays out a carpet of flower petals on the atrium of the church along with decorative floral portals, dances, barbacoa and mole. A stone monument from the colonial era called La Picota is situated in the atrium of the parish church. It was broken after the Mexican War of Independence, reducing its height from four meters to two. Beside this monument is where new viceroys received their power symbolically from the outgoing viceroy. The vandalism of the column is thought to be a popular repudiation of the colonial system. The portal is in Plateresque and has an arch framed by thin columns on which wind sculpted vines and flowers. The door is surrounded by an alfiz, a design that is repeated in the choir area. The interior is covered by a barrel vault, which probably dates from the 18th century. The facade of the cloister contains an open chapel with the interior of simple design and murals.
The municipal palace is a sober Neo-colonial construction. The facade has two levels of arches with windows and ironwork balconies on the other sides. These details and the balustrade make the building appear older, but it was constructed in the 20th century. It was built this way to respect the colonial look of its predecessor.