Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

🇲🇽 Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D.

The name "Cuernavaca" is an euphonism derived from the Nahuatl toponym "Cuauhnāhuac" and means "surrounded by or close to trees". The name was Hispanicized to Cuernavaca; Hernán Cortés called it Coadnabaced in his letters to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo used the name Cuautlavaca in his chronicles. The coat-of-arms of the municipality is based on the pre-Columbian pictograph emblem of the city which depicts a tree trunk (cuahuitl) with three branches, with foliage, and four roots colored red. There is a cut in the trunk in the form of a mouth, from which emerges a speech scroll, probably representing the language Nahuatl and by extension the locative suffix "-nāhuac", meaning "near".

Cuernavaca has long been a favorite escape for Mexico City and foreign visitors because of its warm, stable climate and abundant vegetation. The municipality was designated a Forest Protection Zone by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1937 to protect the aquifers, the vegetation and the quality of life of residents both in Mexico City and locally. The city was nicknamed the "City of Eternal Spring" by Alexander von Humboldt in the 19th century. Aztec emperors had summer residences there, and considering its location of just a 1½-hour drive from Mexico City, today many Mexico City residents maintain homes there. Cuernavaca is also host to a large foreign resident population, including large numbers of students who come to study the Spanish language.

Economy Most of the economic activity in the municipality is retail trade, concentrated in and around the city of Cuernavaca. Agriculture and fish farming employ the fewest people, although the municipality contains a good quantity of resources for these enterprises. The far north of the municipality generally is not suited to agriculture, due to the terrain and types of volcanic soil found there. Most agriculture is concentrated in the southeast. The lower elevations, at around 1,800 metres (5,900 feet), is best-suited for fishing and fish-farming. The middle range, between 1,800 and 2,100 metres (5,900 and 6,900 feet), has uses mixed between agriculture and forest products, and the elevations higher than 2,100 metres (6,900 feet) are primarily forest. Fish farming areas are under pressure from urban development, especially in the Ahuatepec region east of the city, where irregular and sometimes illegal, housing developments are appearing among the farms.

On the outskirts of Cuernavaca, there are a handful of plant nurseries, specialising in the planting, growing and distribution, including international shipments, of plants, flowers and seeds. Many famous gardens around the world are supplied with flowers from the Cuernavaca region.

Industry is minimal and mostly limited to micro-industries such as printing, framing, ceramics, garment-making, and the production of cleaning supplies. This employs about 28% of the population. Most of the population (67%) is employed in the retail and service industries, both dependent on tourism.

Crafts from this area primarily consist of ceramics and wax products. The wax used is from bees and generally it is shaped into capricious figures. Flowerpots and clay objects from San Antón, handcrafted paper from wood chips with multicolored paintings, and wood lacquered masks are other products of the municipality.