MORELOS, an inland State of Mexico on the southern slope of the great Mexican plateau, lying south of the Federal District, with the States of Puebla on the east and south-east, Guerrero on the south, and Mexico on the west, north and north-east. Pop. (1930) 132,068, including a large percentage of Indians and mixed bloods. Area 2,773 sq. miles. Its surface is roughly broken by mountain ranges extending southward from the Sierra de Ajusco, forming many valleys opening southward. It is drained by the Amacusac river, a northern tributary of the Mescala, or Balsas. There is a wide variation of climate for so small a territory, the higher elevations of the Sierra de Ajusco being cold and humid (the Mexican Central crosses the range at an elevation of 9,974 f t.) ; the lower spurs mild, temperate and healthy, the lower valleys sub-tropical, hot and unhealthy. The rainfall is light in the lower regions and irrigation is generally employed. Morelos is one of the most flourishing agricultural States of Mexico, pro ducing sugar, rice, Indian corn, coffee, wheat, fruit and vegetables.
Although the State is supposed to have several of the minerals found in this part of Mexico (silver, cinnabar, iron, lead, gold, petroleum and coal), its mining industries continue undeveloped and neglected.
After the capital, Cuernavaca, the largest city in the State is Cuautla Morelos, or Ciudad Morelos (pop. 6,555 in 1930), 27 m. east by south of Cuerna vaca, on the Interoceanic railway, and in a rich sugar-producing dis trict ; it has large, modern sugar mills. There are hot sulphur springs here. The town is cele brated in Mexican history for the intrepid defence of the place by Jose Maria Morelos (1765-1815), the patriot leader, against a greatly superior royalist force, from Feb. 19, to May 2, 1812, when he cut his way through the attacking army and escaped. Other important towns are Yautepec (4,315 in 1930), 16 m. east of Cuernavaca, on the Interoceanic line; Tetecala, 13 m. south-west of the capital, a characteristic Indian town near the pyramid of Xochicalco, and Jojutla, 21 m. south of the capital, on the Inter oceanic railway near the southern boundary of the State. Lake Tequesquiten was formed by the subsidence of a large area about the middle of the 19th century, carrying with it an old town. The spire of the old church is still seen in the middle of the lake.