diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ exclude =
     versioneer.py
     tools/gh_api.py
     tools/github_stats.py
+    .tox
+    .eggs
 
 per-file-ignores =
     setup.py: E402

diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
@@ -158,14 +158,18 @@ before_script: |
   fi
 
 script:
+  # each script we want to run need to go in it's own section and the program you want
+  # to fail travis need to be the last thing called
   - |
     echo "Calling pytest with the following arguments: $PYTEST_ADDOPTS"
     python -mpytest
+  - tox -e pytz
   - |
     if [[ $RUN_FLAKE8 == 1 ]]; then
       flake8 --statistics && echo "Flake8 passed without any issues!"
     fi
 
+
 before_cache: |
   rm -rf $HOME/.cache/matplotlib/tex.cache
   rm -rf $HOME/.cache/matplotlib/test_cache

diff --git a/INSTALL.rst b/INSTALL.rst
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ Matplotlib requires the following dependencies:
 * `dateutil <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-dateutil>`_ (>= 2.1)
 * `kiwisolver <https://github.com/nucleic/kiwi>`_ (>= 1.0.0)
 * `pyparsing <https://pyparsing.wikispaces.com/>`_
-* `pytz <http://pytz.sourceforge.net/>`_
 
 Optionally, you can also install a number of packages to enable better user
 interface toolkits. See :ref:`what-is-a-backend` for more details on the

diff --git a/build_alllocal.cmd b/build_alllocal.cmd
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 :: This assumes you have installed all the dependencies via conda packages:
 :: # create a new environment with the required packages
-:: conda create -n "matplotlib_build" python=3.5 numpy python-dateutil pyparsing pytz tornado cycler tk libpng zlib freetype
+:: conda create -n "matplotlib_build" python=3.5 numpy python-dateutil pyparsing tornado cycler tk libpng zlib freetype
 :: activate matplotlib_build
 :: if you want qt backend, you also have to install pyqt
 :: conda install pyqt

diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-06-01-PG-pytz-ectomy.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-06-01-PG-pytz-ectomy.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Removed ``pytz`` as a dependency
+--------------------------------
+
+Since ``dateutil`` and ``pytz`` both provide time zones, and matplotlib already depends on ``dateutil``, matplotlib will now use ``dateutil`` time zones internally and drop the redundant dependency on ``pytz``. While ``dateutil`` time zones are preferred (and currently recommended in the Python documentation), the explicit use of ``pytz`` zones is still supported.
diff --git a/doc/glossary/index.rst b/doc/glossary/index.rst
@@ -90,12 +90,6 @@ Glossary
       language widely used for scripting, application development, web
       application servers, scientific computing and more.
 
-  pytz
-      `pytz <http://pythonhosted.org/pytz/>`_ provides the Olson tz
-      database in Python. it allows accurate and cross platform
-      timezone calculations and solves the issue of ambiguous times at
-      the end of daylight savings
-
   Qt
       `Qt <https://www.qt.io/>`__ is a cross-platform
       application framework for desktop and embedded development.

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
@@ -1747,8 +1747,8 @@ def axis_date(self, tz=None):
         # the registered converter can be selected, and the "units" attribute,
         # which is the timezone, can be set.
         if isinstance(tz, str):
-            import pytz
-            tz = pytz.timezone(tz)
+            import dateutil.tz
+            tz = dateutil.tz.gettz(tz)
         self.update_units(datetime.datetime(2009, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, tz))
 
     def get_tick_space(self):

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/dates.py b/lib/matplotlib/dates.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 """
 Matplotlib provides sophisticated date plotting capabilities, standing on the
-shoulders of python :mod:`datetime`, the add-on modules :mod:`pytz` and
-:mod:`dateutil`.
+shoulders of python :mod:`datetime` and the add-on module :mod:`dateutil`.
 
 
 .. _date-format:
@@ -46,19 +45,17 @@
 
 All the Matplotlib date converters, tickers and formatters are timezone aware.
 If no explicit timezone is provided, the rcParam ``timezone`` is assumend.  If
-you want to use a custom time zone, pass a :class:`pytz.timezone` instance
+you want to use a custom time zone, pass a :class:`datetime.tzinfo` instance
 with the tz keyword argument to :func:`num2date`, :func:`.plot_date`, and any
 custom date tickers or locators you create.
-See `pytz <http://pythonhosted.org/pytz/>`_ for information on :mod:`pytz` and
-timezone handling.
 
 A wide range of specific and general purpose date tick locators and
 formatters are provided in this module.  See
 :mod:`matplotlib.ticker` for general information on tick locators
 and formatters.  These are described below.
 
 
-The `dateutil module <https://dateutil.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_ provides
+The `dateutil module <https://dateutil.readthedocs.io>`_ provides
 additional code to handle date ticking, making it easy to place ticks
 on any kinds of dates.  See examples below.
 
@@ -110,7 +107,7 @@
       :class:`matplotlib.dates.rrulewrapper`.  The
       :class:`rrulewrapper` is a simple wrapper around a
       :class:`dateutil.rrule` (`dateutil
-      <https://dateutil.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_) which allow almost
+      <https://dateutil.readthedocs.io>`_) which allow almost
       arbitrary date tick specifications.  See `rrule example
       <../gallery/ticks_and_spines/date_demo_rrule.html>`_.
 
@@ -149,6 +146,7 @@
                             SECONDLY)
 from dateutil.relativedelta import relativedelta
 import dateutil.parser
+import dateutil.tz
 import numpy as np
 
 import matplotlib
@@ -175,23 +173,7 @@
 _log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-# Make a simple UTC instance so we don't always have to import
-# pytz.  From the python datetime library docs:
-
-class _UTC(datetime.tzinfo):
-    """UTC"""
-
-    def utcoffset(self, dt):
-        return datetime.timedelta(0)
-
-    def tzname(self, dt):
-        return "UTC"
-
-    def dst(self, dt):
-        return datetime.timedelta(0)
-
-
-UTC = _UTC()
+UTC = datetime.timezone.utc
 
 
 def _get_rc_timezone():
@@ -201,8 +183,7 @@ def _get_rc_timezone():
     s = matplotlib.rcParams['timezone']
     if s == 'UTC':
         return UTC
-    import pytz
-    return pytz.timezone(s)
+    return dateutil.tz.gettz(s)
 
 
 """

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 
 def test_tinypages(tmpdir):
+    pytest.importorskip('sphinx')
     html_dir = pjoin(str(tmpdir), 'html')
     doctree_dir = pjoin(str(tmpdir), 'doctrees')
     # Build the pages with warnings turned into errors

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import datetime
 
-import pytz
+import dateutil.tz as dutz
 
 import numpy as np
 from numpy import ma
@@ -5331,8 +5331,9 @@ def test_bar_uint8():
 @image_comparison(baseline_images=['date_timezone_x'], extensions=['png'])
 def test_date_timezone_x():
     # Tests issue 5575
-    time_index = [pytz.timezone('Canada/Eastern').localize(datetime.datetime(
-        year=2016, month=2, day=22, hour=x)) for x in range(3)]
+    time_index = [datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 22, hour=x,
+                                    tzinfo=dutz.gettz('Canada/Eastern'))
+                  for x in range(3)]
 
     # Same Timezone
     fig = plt.figure(figsize=(20, 12))
@@ -5348,8 +5349,9 @@ def test_date_timezone_x():
                   extensions=['png'])
 def test_date_timezone_y():
     # Tests issue 5575
-    time_index = [pytz.timezone('Canada/Eastern').localize(datetime.datetime(
-        year=2016, month=2, day=22, hour=x)) for x in range(3)]
+    time_index = [datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 22, hour=x,
+                                    tzinfo=dutz.gettz('Canada/Eastern'))
+                  for x in range(3)]
 
     # Same Timezone
     fig = plt.figure(figsize=(20, 12))
@@ -5366,8 +5368,9 @@ def test_date_timezone_y():
                   extensions=['png'])
 def test_date_timezone_x_and_y():
     # Tests issue 5575
-    time_index = [pytz.timezone('UTC').localize(datetime.datetime(
-        year=2016, month=2, day=22, hour=x)) for x in range(3)]
+    UTC = datetime.timezone.utc
+    time_index = [datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 22, hour=x, tzinfo=UTC)
+                  for x in range(3)]
 
     # Same Timezone
     fig = plt.figure(figsize=(20, 12))

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py
@@ -2,17 +2,25 @@
 import tempfile
 from unittest.mock import Mock
 
-import dateutil
+import dateutil.tz
+import dateutil.rrule
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
-import pytz
 
 from matplotlib.testing.decorators import image_comparison
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 from matplotlib.cbook import MatplotlibDeprecationWarning
 import matplotlib.dates as mdates
 
 
+def __has_pytz():
+    try:
+        import pytz
+        return True
+    except ImportError:
+        return False
+
+
 def test_date_numpyx():
     # test that numpy dates work properly...
     base = datetime.datetime(2017, 1, 1)
@@ -180,8 +188,8 @@ def test_RRuleLocator():
 
 def test_RRuleLocator_dayrange():
     loc = mdates.DayLocator()
-    x1 = datetime.datetime(year=1, month=1, day=1, tzinfo=pytz.UTC)
-    y1 = datetime.datetime(year=1, month=1, day=16, tzinfo=pytz.UTC)
+    x1 = datetime.datetime(year=1, month=1, day=1, tzinfo=mdates.UTC)
+    y1 = datetime.datetime(year=1, month=1, day=16, tzinfo=mdates.UTC)
     loc.tick_values(x1, y1)
     # On success, no overflow error shall be thrown
 
@@ -482,8 +490,8 @@ def test_date_inverted_limit():
 
 def _test_date2num_dst(date_range, tz_convert):
     # Timezones
-    BRUSSELS = pytz.timezone('Europe/Brussels')
-    UTC = pytz.UTC
+    BRUSSELS = dateutil.tz.gettz('Europe/Brussels')
+    UTC = mdates.UTC
 
     # Create a list of timezone-aware datetime objects in UTC
     # Interval is 0b0.0000011 days, to prevent float rounding issues
@@ -575,10 +583,7 @@ def tz_convert(*args):
     _test_date2num_dst(pd.date_range, tz_convert)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("attach_tz, get_tz", [
-    (lambda dt, zi: zi.localize(dt), lambda n: pytz.timezone(n)),
-    (lambda dt, zi: dt.replace(tzinfo=zi), lambda n: dateutil.tz.gettz(n))])
-def test_rrulewrapper(attach_tz, get_tz):
+def _test_rrulewrapper(attach_tz, get_tz):
     SYD = get_tz('Australia/Sydney')
 
     dtstart = attach_tz(datetime.datetime(2017, 4, 1, 0), SYD)
@@ -593,6 +598,25 @@ def test_rrulewrapper(attach_tz, get_tz):
     assert act == exp
 
 
+def test_rrulewrapper():
+    def attach_tz(dt, zi):
+        return dt.replace(tzinfo=zi)
+
+    _test_rrulewrapper(attach_tz, dateutil.tz.gettz)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.pytz
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not __has_pytz(), reason="Requires pytz")
+def test_rrulewrapper_pytz():
+    # Test to make sure pytz zones are supported in rrules
+    import pytz
+
+    def attach_tz(dt, zi):
+        return zi.localize(dt)
+
+    _test_rrulewrapper(attach_tz, pytz.timezone)
+
+
 def test_DayLocator():
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         mdates.DayLocator(interval=-1)

diff --git a/requirements/testing/travis_all.txt b/requirements/testing/travis_all.txt
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@ pytest-rerunfailures
 pytest-timeout
 pytest-xdist
 python-dateutil
-sphinx
 tornado
+tox
diff --git a/setupext.py b/setupext.py
@@ -1341,7 +1341,6 @@ def get_install_requires(self):
             "kiwisolver>=1.0.1",
             "pyparsing>=2.0.1,!=2.0.4,!=2.1.2,!=2.1.6",
             "python-dateutil>=2.1",
-            "pytz",
         ]
 
 

diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
@@ -18,3 +18,11 @@ commands =
     pytest --pyargs matplotlib
 deps =
     pytest
+
+[testenv:pytz]
+changedir = /tmp
+commands =
+    pytest -m pytz {toxinidir}
+deps =
+    pytest
+    pytz
-Original file line number
+Diff line change
@@ Expand Up / @@ -1341,7 +1341,6 @@ def get_install_requires(self): @@
                 "kiwisolver>=1.0.1",
                 "pyparsing>=2.0.1,!=2.0.4,!=2.1.2,!=2.1.6",
                 "python-dateutil>=2.1",
-                "pytz",
             ]
@@ Expand Down @@