The municipality of Zitlala is located north of the capital of the state of Guerrero, in what is known as the central region. As for its municipalities with which it borders, in the north it borders Huitzuco and the municipality of Copalillo, to the south with the municipality of Chilapa de Álvarez, to the east with Ahuacuotzingo and to the west with Mártir de Cuilapan and Tixtla. Zitlala has a territorial extension of 308.20 square kilometers, which represents 3.83% of the regional area and is equivalent to 0.48 percent of the total area of the entire state. The name Zitlala has Nahuatl origin and comes from the words Citlalli 'star' and tla 'place', so its meaning in Spanish is 'Place of stars'.
In 1811 the province of Técpan was created, where Zitlala was established since then. With the consummation of the independence of Mexico and the establishment of the monarchy, the creation of the captaincy general of the south with head in Chilapa was decreed by Iturbide which led Zitlala to remain within its jurisdiction. In 1824, after constituting the federated Republic, the Zitlala City Council became part of the state of Mexico and in 1836, according to the provisional centralist division, Zitlala belonged to the party of Chilapa and the district with the same name. When the State was constituted in 1850 and with the establishment of the first territorial division of the second federated Republic, Zitlala was recognized as City Council within the district of Chilapa.
In 1910, the inhabitants of Zitlala joined the Zapatista ranks when the revolutionary movement began in Guerrero. Zitlala is formed by being an alliance between three different groups. Having three neighborhoods each with its own chapel and its own saints that were unified in order to form a larger one. The climate that predominates in Zitlala, varies depending on the area of the municipality and also the season of the year between humid-warm, subhumid-semicálid, warm and temperate. Its main natural resources are represented by the flora and fauna existing in the territory of this municipality, being very important the type of soil, which is suitable for the proper development of agriculture because it is mostly flat or semi-plane.
The flora of the municipality is characterized mainly by a low deciduous forest type vegetation, small forests and legumes where there are species such as cazahuate, carnizuelo, cuachalalate, among others. Some of the main fauna specimens found in Zitlala include the rabbit, deer, skunk, rattlesnake, tigrillo, tlacoache, zanate, pigeon, viper, iguana, scorpion, raccoon, rat and sparrowhawk. The municipal head, also called Zitlala, has 15,690 inhabitants. It is considered that it has a predominantly young population because more than half of its inhabitants are under 20 years of age and also because the population that is of active age is 58.6% of the population. Among the main communities of Zitlala are Pochahuizco, Topiltepec, Rancho de las Lomas and Tlaltempanapa. Although in Zitlala there are population centers of mestizos, in general the population of the municipality is primarily indigenous, with the Nahuatl ethnicity standing out.
This is why, in addition to Spanish, the language that dominates is Nahuatl. In 2005,58.01% of the population had control over an indigenous language. That is why Zitlala is recognized for the preservation of its traditions and language. As in other municipalities of Guerrero, most of the population is Catholic.41.9% of the population over 15 years old is illiterate, of which 54.5% are women. In 2010, the average level of schooling of the population was 4.5 years. In 2010,89.9% of the total population of Zitlala lived in conditions of poverty, of which 32.2% lived in moderate poverty while 57.7% lived in extreme poverty in part due to the educational backwardness existing in the municipality.