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State of Morelos The mild climates of the state
of Morelos have always attracted more powerful cultures from less
agreeable lands. Chalcatzingo lay on the western frontier of the Olmec
expansion; a series of bas-reliefs on boulders here give glimpses of the
Olmec religion. Xochi-calco, just southwest of Cuernavaca, became an important
center after the fall of Teotihuacan around AD 700. The city was probably
inhabited by a tribe of Chontal-speaking Putun Maya,
called the Olmeca-Xicallanca (no relation to the Olmecs), from the Gulf
coast who worshipped the Feathered Serpent that surrounds the main temple
here. In 1426, the kingdoms of Morelos were defeated by the Aztecs and
huge piles of tribute were sent over the mountains to Tenochtitlan. The
Aztec Emperor Motecuhzoma I built a luxuriant garden in Oaxtepec near
Cuernavaca (then called Cuauhnahuac), which may have inspired the first
European botanical gardens.
In 1521, Cortes conquered the region, made it part of his encomienda and
constructed the New World's first sugar refinery. He also built a palace
in Cuernavaca, to which he retreated whenever the colonial politics became
too much for him. Many other Spaniards also purchased sugar plantations
in Morelos and imported African
slaves to replace the Indians
who died of disease and overwork. For centuries most of Morelos' land
has been concentrated in the hands of a few, usually absentee landlords
from Mexico
City, and agrarian reform has been a burning issue here. Cuernavaca
became the favorite vacation spot of first the criollo elite, then Emperor
Maximilian, and now movie stars and politicians. The first bandoleros,
peasant revolutionaries, sprang up in 1856 and were later crushed by Porfirio
Diaz. Bandolerismo returned with a vengeance under the leadership of Emiliano
Zapata. After his 'Liberating Army of the South' ousted Diaz' followers,
he instituted his own brand of peasant communism and redistributed millions
of acres of land to campesinos. The rich fled Cuernavaca for Mexico
City. Zapata was assassinated on April 10, 1919 in a treacherous ambush
ordered by President Carranza. At the end of the Revolution, Morelos'
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