Oaxtepec

Oaxtepec is a town within the municipality of Yautepec and the Cuautla metropolitan area in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Morelos. Its main industry is tourism, mostly aimed at the inhabitants of nearby Mexico City, and the town possesses various aquatic resorts and hotels. The climate is tropical and the countryside very lush. The population of Oaxtepec is 7,097 (2020). Oaxtepec had 6,939 inhabitants in 2010. During the XIX Olympiad in 1968, Oaxtepec was the venue and staging area for the World Youth Camp component of the Cultural Olympiad. Equestrian events at the 1968 Olympiad were held in Oaxtepec. In pre-Columbian times, already one of the largest towns in the region, it was conquered by the Aztecs under the rule of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. During Moctezuma Ilhuicamina's reign (1440–1469), the first leisure center for nobles was created in the warm territory of Oaxtepec, as well as low lands to the south of Tenochtitlan valley, today's Morelos. Moctezuma ordered to use the water springs of Oaxtepec to create an irrigation system for agriculture and preservation of important vegetation of the Aztec empire. An elaborate royal garden was established here where both flowers and other plants were cultivated. This was the first botanical garden in the Americas. When the Spanish first arrived in the region, they marveled at the beauty of the place. They praised Oaxtepec in their chronicles of the Aztec conquest. In the 16th century, thanks to the great number of medicinal plants found in the region, the Spaniards decided to build the Santa Cruz de Oaxtepec hospital. Bernandino Álvares directed the project in 1569 and for the next two hundred years it was administrated by the Hermanos de la Caridad (Brother of Charity). The Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Church of Saint Dominic of Guzman) was built on the ruins of the main pyramid of Oaxtepec. A major event occurred in 1964 when the Centro Vacacional Adolfo López Mateos IMSS Oaxtepec (waterpark run by Mexican Social Security Institute) was built on 120 hectares of land.