Iztapalapa

Geobox|Borough
name = Iztapalapa


area = 117
population = 1820888
population_as_of = 2005
population_density = 15563
leader_type = Delegado
leader = Horacio Martínez Meza
website = http://www.iztapalapa.gob.mx

Iztapalapa is one of the 16 "delegaciones" (boroughs) into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Its name is derived from the Nahua words "Iztapalli" (stone), "atl" (water), and "pan" (on or over), and can be translated as "On the stones of the water," alluding to its former position on the banks of Texcoco Lake.Verify source|date=July 2007

Iztapalapa is located in eastern Mexico City. On the north it borders the borough Iztacalco; on the west Benito Juarez and Coyoacán; on the south Tláhuac and Xochimilco; and on the east, the towns of Nezahualcóyotl, La Paz and Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, in the state of México. At the time of the 2005 census, Iztapalapa had a population of 1,820,888, making it the most populous borough of the Mexican capital, and one of the most populous in the country.

About one million people come to Iztapalapa every year to witness a reenactment of the Passion of Christ, a practice that began in 1833 when the people escaped a cholera epidemic.

The Pre-Columbian pyramid known as the "Hill of the Star" is in Iztapalapa.

Geography

Iztapalapa has an area 117 square kilometers. Its northern half occupies one part of what once was Texcoco Lake, whose last remnant is the artificially regenerated Nabor Carrillo lake. The only water streams going through Iztapalapa's territory are the following:

*Churubusco river: piped during the 50's and that received water from Magdalena, Barranca del Muerto, Mixcoac and San Ángel rivers. One part of Mexico City's "Circuito Interior" was built on top of it and therefore got named after it. This river forms the boundaries with Iztacalco and Coyoacán boroughs.

*Garay's Canal: an artificial canal part of Mexico's southern lakes' sewer systems. It cut Iztapalapa's peninsula through the level between Hill of the Star and Santa Catarina's Hill. It is also tubed and "Periférico Oriente" was built over it.

*National Canal-Chalco's Canal: two of Xochimilco-Texcoco lake's surviving canals. They haven't been tubed but they have become a focus of pollution. Up to the beginning of the 20th Century, it was possible to reach downtown Mexico City through this canals, and this was how crops from Chalco, Xochimilco and Tláhuac were transported.

Iztapalapa's southern half corresponds to what once was a peninsula that separated Texcoco's salty waters from the fresh waters of Xochimilco-Chalco's lake. The territory's main elevations are located over this peninsula. The most emblematic one, the Hill of the Star, has an altitude of 2460 mts. and is located in the central west region of the borough. Its nahua name was "Huzachtépelt" ("hill of the "huisaches") and was declared a National Park in 1936 by president Lázaro Cárdenas. Nonetheless, it is now completely surrounded by hundreds of urban settlements built after the 70's that have brought it close to lose this status because of its critical environmental deterioration.

To the east from the Hill of the Star you can see Santa Catarina's mountain range, a series of small extinct volcanoes from the mezosoic era consisting on 6 peaks (some definitions include the Hill of the Star as the seventh). One of these peaks belongs to the State of Mexico, the rest form the boundary between Tláhuac and Iztapalapa. From west to east, these peaks are called

#Yohualiuhqui, Tezonchichila or "de las Minas" volcano (2 420 m)
#Xaltepec volcano (2 500 m)
#Tetecón hill (2 480 m)
#Tecuauhtzin or San Nicolás' hill (2 640 m)
#Guadalupe or "del Borrego" volcano (2 820 m, Iztapalapas hightest point).

Iztapalapa has some of the warmest and driest versions of the Federal District climate. Precipitation averages only 545 mm (21 in) and average daily highs of 28°C (82°F) in May are amongst the warmest for the entire metropolitan area. Nevertheless nighttime temperatures, particularly in winter, remain cooler than in the downtown.

External links

*es icon [http://www.iztapalapa.df.gob.mx/ Delegación Iztapalapa] Official site