[2] It is believed that in 1272, Mixtec women, men, and children who broke away from Iloala (present-day Iguala Guerrero founded the town of Tepalcingo.
Ruins believed to belong to the Pueblo Viejo, located in the hills of Zopiloapan, west of modern Tepalcingo, have been found.
[1] After the Conquest of Mexico, Tepalcingo paid tribute directly to the Spanish crown until 1532 when it was incorporated in the lands of Hernán Cortés when it became subject to Yecapichtlan (Yecapixtla).
Martín Cortés, son of the conquistador, faced an independence struggle of people who did not want to be subjects of the marquisate, and from 1565 Tepalcingo was included in what is called the Tlalnahuac,[1] a group of fifteen towns south of Yecapixtla.
[3] Vicente Guerrero abolished the marquisate in 1829; however, for many years, part of the hacienda properties would remain in the hands of descendants of Hernán and Martín Cortés.
[11] Fifteen people died in Axochiapan, Jantetelco, and Tepalcingo due to adulterated alcohol on Mother's Day.
Its rough topology varies from 700 to 2,240 meters (2,297 to 7,349 feet) above sea level in the Balsas Basin and constitutes a rich reservoir of endemic species to Mexico.
[14] Among the species of animals are jaguars,[15] short-horned Baronia butterfly, beaded lizard, military macaw, roufus-backed robin, Balsas screech owl, Pileated flycatcher, mountain lion, ocelot, margay, bobcat, and jaguarundi.
In the 18th century, a craftsman from Puebla was commissioned to make a larger sculpture of the Patron Saint, but, unlike the Lord of the Column, he was asked to change the figure to Jesus of Nazareth with a cross.
Agustín Pila Dreinhofer, in the book Arquitectura Barroca (UNAM, 2013), highlights the Shrine of Tepalcingo as the best example of popular baroque in New Spain.
The most striking aspect of this temple is its main façade or doorway, in pink - "a true theological treatise", according to Pila Dreinhofer -, with elements, twisted columns, animals, characters and scenes from the Old and New Testaments, from the Creation of the world until the Last Supper; made in stucco, similar to a technique used in pyramids and pre-Hispanic buildings.