San Juan Cotzocón
Municipality and town in Oaxaca, Mexico
San Juan Cotzocón
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Municipality
and town
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Coordinates: 17°10′N 95°47′W / 17.167°N 95.783°W / 17.167; -95.783 | |
Country | Mexico |
State | Oaxaca |
Area
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• Total | 945.4 km 2 (365.0 sq mi) |
Population
(2005)
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• Total | 22,478 |
Time zone | UTC-6 ( Central Standard Time ) |
• Summer ( DST ) | UTC-5 ( Central Daylight Time ) |
San Juan Cotzocon is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico . It is part of the Sierra Mixe district within the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca Region.
Name
The name "Cotzocón" or "Cozogón" means "Dark Mountain". [1]
Geography
The municipality covers an area of 945.4 km². The territory is rugged, with grazing and cultivation of coffee and corn practiced only the lower irregular plains. The Chiquito River runs through the northern part, a tributary of the Rio Grande. The climate is warm and humid, with rain almost all year round. The forested areas contain pine, cedar, and ceiba. [1]
Population
As of 2005, the municipality had 5,030 households with a total population of 22,478 of whom 10,712 spoke an indigenous language. The main town is now María Lombardo de Caso, located at a height of 140 meters above sea level. Although in a Mixe area, many of the people in this town are Mazatec or Chinantec who moved here after being displaced by the Miguel Alemán Dam in the 1960s. [1] In the 1950s the remote municipality, accessible only via dirt track, drew visitors from the USA investigating use of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms in the traditional Mixe ceremonies. [2]
Economy
The main economic activity is coffee cultivation, followed by livestock raising. [1] Some of the Mixe women of the village of San Juan Cotzocon use back strap looms to weave traditional huipil , rebosos, napkins, table cloths and other textile crafts. [3] The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region , a cooperative founded in 1982, assists in production and distribution of the local products, notably coffee, under a fair trade label. [4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "San Juan Cotzocon" . Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México . Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal . Archived from the original on 2007-05-28 . Retrieved 2010-07-22 .
- ↑ Terence K. McKenna, Thomas J. Riedlinger (1997). The sacred mushroom seeker: tributes to R. Gordon Wasson . Inner Traditions / Bear & Company. p. 138ff. ISBN 0-89281-338-5 .
- ↑ "Cotzocon Mixe" . Mexican Indigenous Textile Project . Retrieved 2010-07-22 .
- ↑ "Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region" (PDF) . GPIAtlantic . Retrieved 2010-07-18 .