Xico is located in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, east of Mexico City in the centre of the State of Veracruz, at 21 kms from Xalapa, the state capital. 

Xico, a county town, is 1270 mts/ 3810 ft. above sea level (northern latitude 19-25-30 and eastern longitude 2-8-15). The county area is 17.600 hectares or 176.85 square kms/110.5 square miles. To this day it is identical in its size and its boundaries with the original province of Xicochimalco of the prehispanic empire „South Totonacapan“.  At the arrival of the Spaniards the area was controlled by the Totonacs from the Gulf Coast and by the Mexicas (i.e. the Aztecs) from the high plateau, but was administrated autonomously.

Since 1384, the official language was Nahuatl, which displaced the Totonac language. However, today Nahuatl is practically no longer spoken in that region.

 
The boundaries of the county are naturally given: In the west by the mountain range of Nauhcampatépetl (Cofre de Perote or the Perote Chest mountain), in the north by the Huehueyapan river and in the south by the Xoloapan river, from its source to its confluence  with the Huehueyapan river in the east. In this small area the altitude varies between 700 mts and 3000 mts above sea level, to 4,220 mts, the altitude of the Cofre de Perote mountain, (which really should be called Cofre de Xico).  

The climate is generally humid and temperate. There are three climatic areas: subtropical, temperate and fresh in the high regions. 

The county is divided into three „congregations“ or political zones: Coatitlán, Tlacuilolan and San Marcos de León. The area of Xico is subdivided into 27 small areas.  The town has about 17.500 inhabitants (census of 1996), the entire county 32.400.

The official name of the county town is  Santa Maria Magdalena de Xicochimalco. At the beginning of the 19th century the name was simplified to „Xico“ by the administration of President Porfirio Díaz.

In mid-August 1519 Hernán Cortes stayed overnight in Xicochimalco on his way from the coast to Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City). In his second letter to the King of Spain he wrote that access to this fortified, remote and high-lying town  was difficult and that in the surrounding villages there were some 5000 to 6000 warriors (= farmers). This „ancient fortified town“ of Xicochimalco with the former ceremonial centre is a field of ruins today, with a village at the foot of the former temple precinct. The name of that village is „Xico Viejo“ (old Xico). It is located about 4 kms north of the present-day colonial town centre.

Between 1525 and 1530, the families of Xico Viejo moved further down the valley, away from the fortified town, in order to avoid military conflicts with the Spaniards. In 1540, Franciscan monks arrived and organised the new settlement in the Spanish style in a chequered street pattern and established town districts. In order to control the Indios, the Spaniards forced the severely decimated population of the surroundings to live in the new settlement as well.

In this way it was easier to control the taxes to the Spanish crown. It should be emphasized that the Spaniards respected the territory of the Xiqueño Indios and did not hand it over to Spaniards as so-called encomiendas, so that the only taxes that had to be paid were those to the Spanish Crown. The reason was that the Xiqueño Indians had received Cortés and his soldiers peacefully and fed them and that they had also avoided military confrontations in subsequent periods.
Autonomous administration was guaranteed for many decades. The few haciendas (large country estates) that existed were formed by acquisition of land from the neighbouring counties and in one case by illigal appropriation, which was canceled, however, in favour of the municipality of Xico through a law suit in 1875.

Xicochimalco was located at the prehispanic trade route of the Toltecs, Tlaxcaltecs and later the Aztecs, which connected the Gulf coast (Chalchihueyecan, the prehispanic name of Veracruz and the Emerald Coast)  to the Anahuac (the valley of today’s Mexico City). The Xiqueños rendered themselves peacefully to the Mexicas (Aztecs) in 1479, probably due to the consideration that a town on a trade route would increase its wealth through agreements rather than through military conflicts.

In the 16th century the Spaniards established the route from Veracruz to Mexico City via Xalapa-Perote-Puebla, in order to deprive the Indians of their power and to increase the importance of Puebla, the only Spanish foundation. That is why Xalapa, originally  a group of small dispersed settlements, developed into an important town, Pinahuizapan (today’s Perote) as well, and Puebla became the second largest metropolis and religious centre after Mexico City, although today it has been outgrown by Guadalajara and Monterrey.

Xico and the surrounding provinces lost size and importance, almost fell into oblivion and although about 40 Spanish families settled there, there were few economic impulses and the region had little significance until the 17th/18th century. Then there were various agricultural booms for export to the USA: Oranges, tobacco, coffee, beef.

In medicine Xico was known for the export of the laxative „Xalapa“ made out of the root of the plant Escamonea Mexicana or lpomoea Purga, which was an important export product to Germany, as well as the natural fibre out of the plant "Muhlenbergia macroura", which is for-gotten today.  A plant which is still being cultivated is Zarzaparrilla de Indias (Smilax officinalis) which is used for the production of root beer in the USA. Among the original wild-growing plants, the Mexican bramble (Coatlamitl) is worth mentioning, which was described by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the historian soldier under Hernán Cortés, as uva silvestre (wild vine), in his report about Xico and its surroundings. The anise plant from which aniseed is produced, is collected on the hills and fields around the town for making liquor (Verde de Xico) Out of the many plants native to Xico it is worth mentioning tejocote  (= Crataegus mexicana Moc.), a spiny fruit tree with a yellow, very aromatic fruit that looks like a very small apple; Capulín (= Prunus capuli Cav.), that looks very much like the peach-tree with fruits that resemble Europen wild black cherries; Tecapulin or Teshuate  (Conostegia Xalapensis), a bush or tree with fruits that look like black currant, but have a different taste. Its fruits grow year-round, and there are several kinds that vary in colour and taste; the castor-oil plant (Ricinus Communis); the Equimitl or Colorín tree (=Erythrina L. ?), whose red finger-long flowers (gasparitos) used to be mixed with egg and made into hamburgers and whose bark used to provide a yellow colouring, while its leaves and its red seeds contain a poison; Yucca (xiquensis), whose tall white flowers are cooked and  converted into a tasty dish; Oxitl (Liquidambar), which is common today as a street tree on sideways and in parks all over the world. There is the chinini, a large variety of avocado, the jenequil, whose tasty seeds people like to suck, the Berenjena de las India, an egg-shaped red tree fruit that tastes like a mixture of tomato and apple; Poma Rosa, en edible cherry that tastes of perfume, Zapote Negro, Chirimoya, and many others.

Real estate in the area has a high price, because there is rain year-round, which allows vegetation to grow year-round and the climate is almost always spring-like, similar to  European summer, which is healthy for humans. Since there is always a breeze from the Gulf of Mexico, the air is particularly clean. Because of the frequent rainfall there are a lot of fountains, streams and rivers which are very clean, especially in the higher areas. On average there are 152 sunny days per year against 213 cloudy or rainy days.

The inhabitants of the town of Xico are mostly mestizos with a predominant Indian component and a strong sense of traditional customs, intertwined with rites of the Catholic Church, which manifest themselves in „heathen“ dances and folkloristic parades during the countless local festivals (at least one per week).

In 1942 the first asphalted road that connected Coatepec and Xico was built. All the other roads and paths in the region are only paved, covered with gravel or are  just dirt roads or paths. The latter is true especially of the medium and higher region of Xico municipality.

On January 11, 1956 Xico was declared a town.The region is developing as a tourist and recreational area during the weekends for the city of Xalapa and central Mexico. Its attractions are local culinary specialties, (chilacayote, Xonequi, tamal ranchero, mole de Xico, Chileatole, verde de Xico etc.) the friendliness of its inhabitants, the cleanliness and quiet of the town, the 17th century colonial town centre, bridges, natural swimming pools in the river (especially that of Texolo, at which several Hollywood movies were filmed).  In the surroundings there are ancient haciendas and museums, and the Gulf Coast is only 45 minutes away  by car. As regards arts and crafts, there are to be found fruit liquors, preserves, special bakery products baked in wood ovens, bamboo furniture (similar to rattan), saddler’s leather products, pottery, masks and woodcarvings made of coffee wood, and of course the aromatic highland coffee.

Xico is also a point of attraction for scientists, especially biologists who study the wide variety of fog forest plants, before they disappear due to thoughtless deforestation.

There is also a wide variety of species of birds and snakes, and the many canyons of the great Naucampatépetl mountain are a hideout for animals like tejón, toche, armadillo, tlacuache (opossum) , tuza (giant mole) , mapache (racoon), to name just a few.

And also to those who just want to go hiking or horseback riding, or those who want to look for pieces of prehispanic pottery, enjoy the lush vegetation or the views of the mountains, Xico will guarantee some unforgettable holidays.