Chiapas

Chiapas is a state in the south east of Mexico. Chiapas is bordered by the Mexican states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the north west, and Oaxaca to the west. To the east Chiapas borders Guatemala, and to the south the Pacific Ocean. Chiapas has an area of 73,887 km square (28,528 square miles). The 2003 population estimate was 4,224,800 people. ISO 3166-2 is MX-CHP.

The state capital city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez; other cities and towns in Chiapas include San Cristobal de las Casas, Comitan, and Tapachula. Chiapas is also home to the ancient Maya ruins of Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampak, and Tonina[?].

Many of the people in Chiapas are poor, rural small farmers. About one third of the population are of full or predoinantly Maya descent, and in rural areas many do not speak Spanish. The state suffers from the highest rate of malnutrition in Mexico, estimated to affect over 40% of the population.

Some people in Chiapas felt that their poor agricultural area had been largely ignored by the Mexican government for a long time. One of the chief complaints was that many Indian farmers were required to pay absentee landlords, dispite the fact that since the 1920s the Mexican government had been promising the peasants ownership of the land they had farmed and lived on for generations. Such disatisfaction led to the rise of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Zapatistas, or EZLN), which began an armed rebellion against the Mexican government in 1994. The Zapatistas were only marginally successful militarily, but they and their appointed spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, succeeded in attracting sympathy both in Mexico and overseas.

List of the Districts or Municipalities in Chiapas, followed by the district seat:

• Acacoyagua : Acacoyagua
• Acala : Acala
• Acapetahua : Acapetahua
• Aldama : Aldama
• Altamirano : Altamirano
• Amatán : Amatán
• Amatenango de la Frontera : Amatenango de la Frontera
• Amatenango del Valle : Amatenango del Valle
• Angel Albino Corzo : Jaltenango de la Paz
• Arriaga : Arriaga
• Bejucal de Ocampo: Bejucal de Ocampo
• Bella Vista : Bella Vista
• Benemérito de las Américas : Benemérito de las Américas
• Berriozábal : Berriozábal
• Bochil : Bochil
• El Bosque : El Bosque
• Cacahoatán : Cacahoatán
• Catazajá : Catazajá
• Cintalapa : Cintalapa de Figueroa
• Coapilla : Coapilla
• Comitán de Domínguez : Comitán de Domínguez
• La Concordia : La Concordia
• Copainalá : Copainalá
• Chalchihuitán : Chalchihuitán
• Chamula : Chamula
• Chanal : Chanal
• Chapultenango : Chapultenango
• Chenalhó : Chenalhó
• Chiapa de Corzo : Chiapa de Corzo
• Chiapilla : Chiapilla
• Chicoasén : Chicoasén
• Chicomuselo : Chicomuselo
• Chilón : Chilón
• Escuintla : Escuintla
• Francisco León Rivera : El Viejo Carmen
• Frontera Comalapa : Frontera Comalapa
• Frontera Hidalgo : Frontera Hidalgo
• La Grandeza : La Grandeza
• Huehuetán : Huehuetán
• Huixtán : Huixtán
• Huitiupán : Huitiupán
• Huixtla : Huixtla
• La Independencia : La Independencia
• Ixhuatán : Ixhuatán
• Ixtacomitán : Ixtacomitán
• Ixtapa : Ixtapa
• Ixtapangajoya : Ixtapangajoya
• Jiquipilas : Jiquipilas
• Jitotol: Jitotol
• Juárez : Juárez
• Larráinzar : Larráinzar
• La Libertad : La Libertad
• Mapastepec : Mapastepec
• Maravilla Tenejapa : Maravilla Tenejapa
• Las Margaritas : Las Margaritas
• Marqués de Comillas Zamora : Pico de Oro
• Mazapa de Madero : Mazapa de Madero
• Mazatán : Mazatán
• Metapa : Metapa de Domínguez
• Mitontic : Mitontic
• Montecristo de Guerrero : Montecristo de Guerrero
• Motozintla : Motozintla de Mendoza
• Nicolás Ruíz : Nicolás Ruíz
• Ocosingo : Ocosingo
• Ocotepec : Ocotepec
• Ocozocoautla de Espinosa : Ocozocoautla de Espinosa
• Ostuacán : Ostuacán
• Osumacinta : Osumacinta
• Oxchuc : Oxchuc
• Palenque : Palenque
• Pantelhó : Pantelhó
• Pantepec : Pantepec
• Pichucalco : Pichucalco
• Pijijiapan : Pijijiapan
• El Porvenir : El Porvenir de Velasco Suárez
• Villa Comaltitlán : Villa Comaltitlán
• Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacán : Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacán
• Rayón : Rayón
• Reforma : Reforma
• Las Rosas : Las Rosas
• Sabanilla : Sabanilla
• Salto de Agua : Salto de Agua
• San Andrés Duraznal: San Andrés Duraznal
• San Cristóbal de las Casas : San Cristóbal de las Casas
• San Fernando : San Fernando
• San Juan Cancuc : San Juan Cancuc
• San Lucas : San Lucas
• Santiago el Pinal : Santiago el Pinal
• Siltepec : Siltepec
• Simojovel : Simojovel de Allende
• Sitalá : Sitalá
• Socoltenango : Socoltenango
• Solosuchiapa : Solosuchiapa
• Soyaló : Soyaló
• Suchiapa : Suchiapa
• Suchiate : Ciudad Hidalgo
• Sunuapa : Sunuapa
• Tapachula : Tapachula de Córdova y Ordoñez
• Tapalapa : Tapalapa
• Tapilula : Tapilula
• Tecpatán : Tecpatán
• Tenejapa : Tenejapa
• Teopisca : Teopisca
• Tila : Tila
• Tonalá : Tonalá
• Totolapa : Totolapa
• La Trinitaria : La Trinitaria
• Tumbalá : Tumbalá
• Tuxtla Gutiérrez : Tuxtla Gutiérrez
• Tuxtla Chico : Tuxtla Chico
• Tuzantán : Tuzantán
• Tzimol : Tzimol
• Unión Juárez : Unión Juárez
• Venustiano Carranza : Venustiano Carranza
• Villa Corzo : Villa Corzo
• Villaflores : Villaflores
• Yajalón : Yajalón
• Zinacantán : Zinacantán