Xalapa is one of the oldest towns in the state of Veracruz. In the 14th century, four indigenous groups settled there: the Totonacs, Chichimecas, Toltecs and Teochichimecas. These groups gave rise to four towns: Xallitic, Techacapan, Tecuanapan and Tlalnecapan. Over time, they grew and ended up uniting into a single town called Xallapan, which comes from Nahuatl and means “spring of sand” or “water in the sand” because abundant water flowed from one of its original neighborhoods, among the sandy slopes.
Another interesting fact about Xalapa is its name. For decades, it had two spellings, Xalapa and Jalapa, but in 1978, the local congress of Veracruz decreed that the official name of the city would be X. Before this, in 1892, the city obtained its “surname” and its official name was established as Xalapa de Enríquez, in honor of Governor Juan de la Luz Enríquez Lara, who governed from 1884 to 1892.
Xalapa is a wooded city with a great deal of vegetation. It is a deciduous forest, a mesophilous mountain forest, and is adorned with oak and pine forests. The parks, the medians, some street corners, the outskirts of houses and the hills are full of trees, giving rise to wildlife such as birds, insects and mushrooms. Although Xalapa has grown greatly, it still retains its “green” style of vegetation. Urban green areas represent a space for leisure, recreation, tourism, ornamentation, protection, environmental rehabilitation, research, safeguarding wild species and climate buffering. They also motivate art and landscaping, recreating the view of its green avenues. Xalapa is beautiful.
Trees and plants are the lungs of cities because they absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen; they also act as the liver of ecosystems, filtering atmospheric pollutants, for example, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Xalapa’s trees and plants are a set of easily available particle purifiers, since they produce “life.”
It is common in the city to hold courses in ecological parks and night tours for wildlife observation, activities that are carried out, for example, on Macuiltépetl Hill, the Tecajetes Park and the Sculpture Park; biologists, educators and researchers participate in these. A recurring question in this tree-lined city with so much vegetation is why there is a water shortage? I believe that one of the causes is the urban sprawl that has grown rapidly, in addition to the fact that invasions or irregular settlements were allowed in high and difficult-to-access areas. The municipality of Xalapa belongs to the “Hydrological Region 28, Papaloapan River” because the Actopan River and the Antigua River basins are close by.
We are fortunate to live in a tree-lined, beautiful city with an unprecedented history!
Source: oem
