''For the
French lubricants company, see
MOTUL SA''
'Motul' is a small city in
Yucatán state,
Mexico, located some 44 km east of
Mérida at . The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding
municipality of the same name.
In the census of 2005 the population of the town of Motul was 21,508 people, while the municipality had a population of 31,547, living on an area of 297.63 km² (114.92 sq mi).
History
Motul was a site of the
Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, said to have been founded in the
11th century by a priest named Zac Mutul. The city was ruled by the Pech family. After the fall of Yucatán's central government in
Mayapan in the
1440s, the Pech ruled a regional kingdom called 'Cehpech' with its capital in Motul.
With the
Spanish conquest of Yucatán,
Conquistador Francisco de Montejo made Motul a
Spanish colonial town. Motul has a Spanish colonial era
Franciscan monastery with interesting
frescos.
Motul was granted the status of a
city on
22 February 1872.
Motul was the birthplace of
Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a former
Governor of Yucatán who was assassinated in
1924. In his honor, the formal name of the city of Motul was changed to 'Motul de Carrillo Puerto'.
Motul is known as the place of origin of the popular dish ''
huevos motuleños''.
References
★
Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
★
Yucatán Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México