Santiago Tianguistenco (), often simply called Santiago by locals, is a city located in Mexico State about thirty km south of the state capital of Toluca. It is the municipal seat for the municipality of Tianguistenco. It is located in the southwest part of the Valley of Toluca at the edge of the Ajusco mountain range that separates it from Mexico City. The name Tianguistenco (Tyanguistengko) is from Nahuatl and means “at the edge of the tianguis,” which is a traditional Aztec market. (Santiago comes from the town's early Spanish name of “Villa de Santiago.”) The section of the city where the industrial park is still bears this name. Historically, the area was known as having one of the richest and best-stocked markets in the Toluca Valley. Today, it is still home to a large permanent municipal market as well as a weekly tianguis that covers much of the historic center.
In addition to the commerce, the municipality is home to a major industrial site that produces commercial trucks. The municipality is also home to a community called Gualupita, famous for its wool items, Santiago Tilapa, which as a patron festival known in Mexico State and the Atenco Hacienda where bullfighting in Mexico got its start.
History
No archeological finds in this area date before the Postclassic period. However, Olmec era finds in neighboring Almoloya del Río indicate that there was human inhabitants here at least as early as 1300 BCE. Evidence of Teotihuacan settlement or influence was found in the same area. Most of the archeological finds are concentrated on what used to be the shores of a lake in this area and the Tetépetl Mountain. In the municipality proper, the remains of a population center called Teotenanco appear between 1050 and 1260 C. E. with constructions reminiscent of Teotihuacan. In the center is a ceremonial precinct that was probably the center of a local theocracy. The earliest known ethnic group here is the Matlatzincas. This area, along with the rest of the Toluca Valley, was conquered by Axayacatl and brought into the Aztec Empire in the 1470s.
When the Aztec Empire fell in 1521, the lands around Tenochtitlan-Mexico City were mostly divided up into encomiendas. Around 1523, the territory of Tianguistenco was part of the encomienda of Xalatlaco and Atlapulco, which were controlled by Leonel de Cervantes. The encomiendo remained in the family until 1617. It then became a minor province of Matlazingo. For much of the rest of the colonial period, the area would be a dependency of a number of political entities such as Metepec and Tenango del Valle, with parts of the current municipality such as the communities of Coatepec and Huhutitlán belonging to Malinalco. Many of the indigenous villages were governed under a system called the Republica de Naturales (Republic of Natives), which gave a certain amount of autonomy. This republic was initiated in the first half of the 17th century with records indicating that Tomás de Alarcón as governor of Tianguistenco. However, by 1778, this lateral governing system was abolished by the viceroy.
Economically, the most important center for much of the colonial period was the Purisima Concepcion Hacienda, which was established by Hernán Cortés himself on part of his lands as the Marques of the Valley of Oaxaca. It remained in Cortés family hands. However, the rest of the lands that make up the current municipality switch hands constantly among a number of political and economic entities over the colonial period.
By the second half of the 18th century, the town of Tianguistenco had grown in size and importance to merit a customs house that covered the areas of San Nicolás Coatepec, San Lorenzo Huehuetitlán, San Pedro Tlaltizapán, San Bartolomé Capulhuac and Santa María Coaxusco. The town also became the center for mail service in the area around the same time. The parish church was begun in 1756.
During the Mexican War of Independence, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla passed through here in 1810 with his army. In 1812, guerillas were operating in the nearby Ajusco Mountains under Manuel Gonzalez and Ignacio López Rayón was stationed here for a time. Most of the fighting seen here were incursions by guerrillas in the mountain areas. The first municipal government under the Cadiz Constitution was formed here in 1820 with the town of Tianguistenco as the seat. This government would recognize Mexican Independence in 1821. In 1825, this municipality was reorganized as part of the State of Mexico. This municipality included the communities of de Xalatlaco, Capulhuac, San Pedro Tlaltizapán, Santiago Tilapa, La Magdalena Los Reyes, Santa Cruz Atizapán, Almoloya del Río, Texcalyacac, San Pedro Techuchulco and Santa María Guadalupe Yancuictlalpan.