The city is the main commercial center for the Tlacolula Valley area, and best known for its weekly open air market held on Sundays.

This market is one of the oldest, largest and busiest in Oaxaca, mostly selling food and other necessities for the many rural people which come into town on this day to shop.

[3] The city is also home to a 16th-century Dominican church, whose chapel, the Capilla del Señor de Tlacolula, is known for its ornate Baroque decoration and a crucifix to which have been ascribed many miracles.

[5] and a number of a group of one hundred caves and rock shelters which document the pre-historic transition of people from hunting and gathering to agriculture based on the domestication of corn and other plants.

Fray Juan de Torquemada thought that the Zapotecs arrived from a region called Panuco and established themselves first at Tule, with the first dominant settlement at Teotitlán del Valle.

The first settlement nearest the modern city is at what is now San Antonio de la Cal, which was established around 1250 Eventually, the Zapotecs dominated most of the central valleys area.

The first states that it was founded as a way station for Europeans traveling to and from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at the location between the Salado and Seco Rivers.

The other version has the settlement founded by friars Gonzalo Lucero and Bernardino de Minaya as an evangelization center and monastery, to which the native population eventually drifted.

[7] During the Mexican Revolution, factions loyal to Venustiano Carranza and Francisco Villa fought for dominance here, with battles in the Sierra Juárez mountains and at the city itself.

[7] During the 2006 Oaxaca protests, a number of "community radio stations" established to provide alternative outlets of information and propaganda.

Since this time, most of these stations, including Radio Tlacolula (https://web.archive.org/web/20091226234239/http://tlacolularadio.msdnoticias.com/), have not been able to get operating licenses from the federal government and exist illegally.

[3][14] The streets of the city form rectangular grid, which spreads out from the 17th century Church of La Asunción and its adjoining plaza.

Hot chocolate is a widely consumed beverage in the valley, prepared with either milk or water, and usually eaten with locally made "pan de yema" or egg yolk bread.

This market consists of two fifty by twenty meter semi-enclosed areas, each of which houses scores of vendors, mostly selling basic staples.

[19] A notable feature is the Baroque chapel dedicated to a crucifix called the Señor de Tlacolula,[2] one of several "black Christ" images (Chalma, Esquipulas, Ocotitlan) that appeared mysteriously, and to which miracles are attributed.

[4][1] The widespread devotion to the Señor is such that Pope Pius VII issued an indulgence stating that priests officiating at this altar can have the sins of one who has recently died completely forgiven.

[20] The feast of the Christ of Tlacolula is held on the second Sunday of October, lasting five days, which is celebrated not only with traditional Masses, processions, folk dances and fireworks, but also with the Mixtec version of the Mesoamerican ball game.

[7] The Sunday open air market (or tianguis) of Tlacolula is one of the oldest continuous in Mesoamerica and the largest and busiest in the Central Valley region of Oaxaca.

[13] Paying fees for the right, vendors set up stalls all over these main road and along adjoining parts of the cross streets as well.

In addition to the stalls, street vendors walk around the market carrying their goods with them, approaching potential customers to ask for a sale.

[3] Generally, the Sunday merchants sell everyday household items, agricultural products, prepared foods, farm animals, mezcal, clothing, jewelry, kitchen utensils, audio CDs, tools, pottery for everyday use rather than purely decorative or tourist items such as barro negro pottery.

While it is not unusual to see bananas stacked next to blue jeans, next to tools, most vendors of similar items tend to group together in certain zones.

However, not all vendors of the same merchandise choose to sell near their competitors for a number of reasons, they do not want to compete price-wise, the stall space is too expensive or they use loudspeakers to attract customers.

Most of the rural people who come to town on Sunday are indigenous, and seeing women dressed in colorful traditional garb, such as rebozos, embroidered blouses and wool skirts, is more common on this day than even in the municipal market during the week.

(psabor) These women tend to be quite traditional, speaking Zapotec, trading items instead of accepting money and not permitting the taking of their photographs.

[7] While tourism has not been a significant part of the economy, the municipality has taken steps to promote its attractions, such as the 16th century church and its archeological sites.

[22] For this reason, many residents of the municipality has immigrated to the United States, mostly congregating in the Venice Beach area of southern California.

Many Zapotec-speaking peoples from the area work in stalls along the boardwalk or as cooks, waiters and mains in the upscale restaurants and hotels of Santa Monica.

The caves have been studied since the 1960s, especially the Cueva de Guilá Naquitz (white stone in Zapotec), which has some of the best evidence for the domestication of corn and squash, which dates back more than 10,000 years.

As a coyote, the man found that in order to survive, he needed to rob attack farm animals and eat the meat raw, which he had never done before.