Huasca de Ocampo

Huasca
Town & Municipality
Huasca de Ocampo
Streetview looking towards parish church
Seal
Location of the municipality of Huasca de Ocampo in Hidalgo.
Huasca
Coordinates: 20°12′10″N 98°34′33″W / 20.20278°N 98.57583°W / 20.20278; -98.57583Coordinates: 20°12′10″N 98°34′33″W / 20.20278°N 98.57583°W / 20.20278; -98.57583
Country	Mexico
State	Hidalgo
Founded	18th century
Municipal Status	1864
Government
• Municipal President	Álvaro López Vaca
Elevation (of seat)	2,100 m (6,900 ft)
Population (2005) Municipality
• Municipality	15,201
• Seat	543
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
Postal code (of seat)	43503
Website	Website

Huasca de Ocampo (Spanish  [wa'ska de oka'mpo] ) is a town and municipality of the state of Hidalgo in central Mexico. It is located 34 km from Pachuca and 16 km from Real del Monte in the Sierra de Pachuca Mountains. While the town itself is just within the mountain range, much of the municipal land is located in a valley that opens up to the east of the town. While one of the first haciendas to be established in Mexico is located here, economic development started with mining haciendas built by Pedro Romero de Terreros in the 18th century. By the mid 20th century, none of these haciendas were in existence, having been broken up into ejido lands and some even fully or partially under lakes created by dams. While agriculture remains important economically, the area has been promoted as a tourism destination, especially for weekend visitors from Mexico City, with attractions such as canyons, traditional houses, old hacienda facilities and waterfalls.

The original name for the area was “Huascazaloya.” This come from Nahuatl and has three possible meanings. The first and most probable means “place of happiness and abundance.” The second derives from a phrase that means “place of water.” The third comes from a phrase that means “place where they make precious cotton shawls (mantas).” The appendage “de Ocampo” was adopted in honor of Melchor Ocampo, who lived briefly here in the mid 19th century.