History
[edit]
Pre-Hispanic period[edit]
Guachimontones archaeological site, built and inhabited by the Teuchitlán culture from 300 BCE to 450 CE.
Nomadic peoples moving south arrived in the Jalisco area around 15,000 years ago. Some of oldest evidence of human occupation is found around Zacoalco and Chapala lakes, which used to be connected. This evidence includes human and animal bones and tools made of bone and stone. Other signs of human habitation include petroglyphs and cave paintings found at Cabo Corrientes, San Gabriel, Jesús María, La Huerta, Puerto Vallarta, Mixtlán, Villa Purificación, Casimiro Castillo, Zapotlán el Grande and Pihuamo.
Agriculture began in the same region around 7,000 years ago, giving rise to the first permanent settlements in western Mexico. Ceramics began to be produced about 3,500 years ago for both utilitarian and ceremonial purposes. The oldest pieces of Jalisco area pottery are called El Opeño, after an area near Zamora, Michoacán and Capacha after an area in Colima. The appearance of these styles indicates a certain specialization of labor, with distinct settled cultures established by 1000 BCE. The earliest settled cultures were centered on the site of Chupícuaro, Guanajuato, which has a large zone of influence from Durango east, crossing through modern Jalisco's north. Sites related to these cultures have been found in Bolaños, Totoate, the Bolaños River Canyon and Totatiche as well as other locations in the Los Altos Region. Cultures dating to the early part of the Christian era are distinguished by the use of shaft tombs, with major examples found in Acatlán de Juárez, El Arenal and Casimiro Castillo. The use of this type of tomb is unknown anywhere else in Mexico.
In the 7th century, Toltec and Teotihuacan influence is evident in the area, with a dominion called Xalisco established by the Toltecs in 618. The dominion was established through the military domination of the weaker local groups. More recent archeology of the area has produced evidence of larger cities, large scale irrigation and a kind of script used by various cultures of the area. The Toltec influence had a strong influence over religious development with deities formalizing into gods recognized by the later Aztec civilization such as Tlāloc, Mictlāntēcutli and Quetzalcoatl. A number of cities were built during this time, including Ixtepete, which show many features of Mesoamerican architecture such as the building of pyramid bases, temples and Mesoamerican ballcourts. However, these are sparse because there were very few communities of the size needed to support them. Stones used for building were often cut in angles and with relief such as those found in Tamazula and El Chanal, Colima. Ixtepete from the tenth century has talud/tablero construction showing Teotihuacan influence. By 1112, the tribes dominated by the Toltecs rebelled and brought an end to the domination; however, the area would be conquered again in 1129, this time by the Chichimecas. One reason for ancient civilizations in the area was the large deposits of obsidian and it was the center of the Teuchitlán culture. Evidence of the most advanced pre Hispanic cultures are found in the center and south of the state. The most important site is Ixtepete in Zapopan which dates from between the 5th and 10th centuries and shows Teotihuacan influence.
By 1325, the Purépecha Empire had become dominant in parts of the state, but in 1510, the indigenous settlements of Zapotlán, Sayula and Zacoalco pushed back the Purépecha during the Salitre War.
Jaliscan ceramic Female statuette - Jalisco culture, c. 100 BCE to 150 CE.
Jaliscan ceramic warrior, c. 100 BCE to 150 CE.
Colonial period[edit]
The conquest of Jalisco by Spaniard Cristóbal de Olid and his Tlaxcalan allies, as depicted in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala of 1522.
Over its history, the Jalisco area has been occupied by a variety of ethnicities including the Bapames, Caxcans, Cocas, Guachichiles, Huichols, Cuyutecos, Otomis, Nahuas, Tecuexes, Tepehuans, Tecos, Purépecha, Pinomes, Tzaultecas and Xilotlantzingas. Some writers have also mentioned groups such as the Pinos, Otontlatolis, Amultecas, Coras, Xiximes, Tecuares, Tecoxines and Tecualmes. When the Spanish arrived the main ethnic groups were the Cazcanes, who inhabited the northern regions near Teocalteche and the Lagos de Morenos, and the Huichols, who inhabited the northwest near Huejúcar and Colotlán. Other groups included the Guachichil in the Los Altos area, the Nahuatl speaking Cuyutecos in the west, the Tecuexes and Cocas near what is now Guadalajara, and the Guamares in the east near the Guanajuato border.
Shortly after the conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, the Spanish pushed west. They overpowered the Purépecha in Michoacán, converting their capital of Tzintzuntzan as a base to move further west. One reason for the push towards the Pacific was to build ships and shipping facilities in order to initiate trade with Asia. Another draw was to find more mineral wealth as the Purépecha had already developed copper working along with silver and gold.
Monument to Beatriz Hernández, a Spanish settler who helped establish the city of Guadalajara in 1542.
In 1522, Cristóbal de Olid was sent by Hernán Cortés northwest from Mexico City into Jalisco. Other incursions were undertaken by Alonso de Avalos and Juan Alvarez Chico in 1521, Gonzalo de Sandoval in 1522, and Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura in 1524. The first area explored now belongs to the south of Jalisco down into what it now the state of Colima. In 1529, the president of the First Audencia in New Spain, Nuño de Guzmán came west from Mexico City with a force of 300 Spanish and 6,000 Native American allies, traveling through Michoacán, Guanajuato, Jalisco and Sinaloa. At the end of 1531, Guzmán founded the Villa del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor Españas as the capital of the newly conquered western lands. The name was changed shortly thereafter to Santiago Galicia de Compostela. In 1531, Guzmán ordered his chief lieutenant, Juan de Oñate, to found the Villa of Guadalajara, named after Guzmán's hometown in Spain. It was initially founded in what is now Nochistlán in Zacatecas. Construction began in 1532, but the small settlement came under repeated attacks from the Cazcanes, until it was abandoned in 1533. The town of Guadalajara would move four times in total before coming to its modern site in 1542.
Nuño de Guzmán led a brutal conquest of indigenous kingdoms through much of western Mexico, including Jalisco, resulting in his arrest by Juan de Zumárraga for his abuse and torture of innocent natives.
Most of Jalisco was conquered by Nuño de Guzmán, who then sent expeditions from there into Zacatecas and Aguascalientes in 1530. The first encomiendas were granted to the Spanish conquistadors in Nueva Galicia by Nuño de Guzmán and later by Antonio de Mendoza. Nuño de Guzmán founded five Spanish settlements, San Miguel, Chiametla, Compostela, Purificación and Guadalajara to form the first administrative structure of the area. However, most of these settlements were too small to support the grand plans of many Spanish in America and attracted few settlers. By the end of the early colonial period, all of these settlements either disappeared or were moved to other locations. Guzmán was named the first governor of the region and Franciscans established monasteries in Tetlán and Ajijic.
Guzmán was brutal to the local indigenous populations, sending many to slavery in the Caribbean and committing genocide in areas. This would eventually lead to his imprisonment in 1536 by viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. However, not only Guzmán was to blame for subsequent indigenous hostility. The Spanish in Guadalajara and other locations began to take indigenous peoples as slaves in 1543. These Spanish in the area were looking to enrich themselves as fast as possible, following the success of the same of those who arrived first to the Mexico City area. This led to abuses of the native populations, widespread corruption and confrontations between the Spanish and the indigenous and among the Spanish themselves. Overwork and disease reduced the native population by about ninety percent between 1550 and 1650.
This would begin a history of conflict and uprising in the Jalisco area which would last from the 16th century to the 1920s. Early uprisings include that in Culiacán in 1533, of the Coaxicoria in 1538 and the Texcoixines and Caxcanes in 1541. Subduing the indigenous peoples proved difficult in general due to a lack of large dominion to co-opt as was done in the Mexico City area. In the early colonial period, it was not certain that the Spanish could impose its language or culture onto the native population. The initial effect of colonization was the influence of Nahuatl, as mestizos and indigenous from central Mexico had a greater impact on the local populations than the sparse Spanish.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan, an important pilgrimage site in Jalisco, began construction in 1689.
The most significant early revolt was the Mixtón Rebellion in 1541. United under a leader named Tenamaxtli, the indigenous of the Jalisco area laid siege to Guadalajara. The Spanish provincial government under Oñate could not withstand the assault and Pedro de Alvarado was sent to area from Mexico City but this initial attempt was thwarted. During a battle, a horse fell on Alvarado, mortally wounding him. Viceroy Mendoza then arrived with a force of 300 horsemen, 300 infantry, artillery and 20,000 Tlaxcalan and Aztec allies to recapture the territory held by the indigenous resistance. The Mixtón War prompted Charles V to create the Audencia of Nueva Galicia which extended from Michoacán and into the present states of Jalisco, Colima, and parts of Zacatecas, Durango and Sinaloa. An Indian Council was formed to advise the four members of the new Spanish government. The area was called Nueva Galicia because the Crown wanted to reproduce in the new lands a territory similar to that of Spain. The seat of this colony was moved to Guadalajara in 1561, and it was made independent of Mexico City in 1575.
The aqueduct of Santa María de los Ángeles began construction in 1787.
Most of the evangelization fell to regular clergy instead of monks. The bishopric of Guadalajara was established by Pope Paul II in 1546.
The Chichimeca War began in 1550. In 1554, the Chichimecas attacked a Spanish caravan of sixty wagons at the Ojuelos Pass, carrying off 30,000 pesos of clothing, silver and other valuables. At the end of the century, the Spanish were able to negotiate a peace with most. There later uprisings such as in Guaynamota in 1584, in Acaponeta in 1593, one led by Cogixito in 1617, and one in Nostic in 1704.
The province of Jalisco was separated from Michoacán in 1607 with the name of Santiago.
The Marquis of Concordia ruled as one of the last Indendants of Guadalajara under Spanish rule.
The last major colonial era insurrection occurred in 1801 led by an indigenous named Mariano. The last of the Chichimeca groups were ultimately defeated in 1591. However, these uprisings would gradually be overshadowed by the consolidation of political and economic power and peace treaties negotiated with indigenous groups such as the Coras and indigenous groups such as the Otomi were brought to settle.
Despite these conflicts, the 17th and 18th centuries brought development and economic prosperity to the region. In the colonial period, Guadalajara grew as the center of an agricultural and cattle producing area. Guadalajara grew from about 6,000 people in 1713 to 20,000 in mid century to 35,000 at the beginning of the 19th century.
The region's ceramic tradition began in the early colonial period, with native traditions superimposed by European ones. The center of ceramic production was Tonalá due to its abundance of raw materials. The Guadalajara tradition became famous enough for wares to be exported to other parts of New Spain and Europe. The area was also important to the commerce of New Spain, as its strategic location funneled imported goods to other parts of the colony.
In 1786, New Spain was reorganized into twelve "intendencias" and three provinces. The Intendencia of Guadalajara included what is now Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Nayarit and Colima. Aguascalientes was separated from Jalisco in 1789. The University of Guadalajara was founded in 1792.
Independence[edit]
Memorial to Miguel Hidalgo and the Grito de Dolores, at the Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Colima, parts of Zacatecas and the San Blas region (Nayarit) were still part of the Intendencia of Guadalajara. The area had relative freedom from Spanish colonial authorities and prospered with fewer trade restrictions. This, along with lingering indigenous resentment to Spanish rule since the 16th century, led it to be sympathetic to insurgent movements in the early 19th century.
Political instability in Spain, news of rebellions in South America and Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores prompted small groups to begin fighting against Spanish rule. There were two main groups in Jalisco, one headed by Navarro, Portual and Toribio Huirobo in areas such as Jalostotitlán, Arandas, Atotonilco and La Barca and the other headed by José Antonio Torres in Sahuayo, Tizapán el Alto, Atoyac and Zacoalco. Another insurrection occurred in 1812 along Lake Chapala with Mezcala Island as an insurgent fortress. Skirmishes between the indigenous there and royalist forces lasted until 1816, when lacking supplies, the insurgents accepted an amnesty. Insurgent sympathies led to economic advantages for the Mexican born criollos over the Spanish born with many Spanish families moving into the city of Guadalajara for safety.
The Monument to Mexican Independence in Guadalajara.
Miguel Hidalgo's army entered Jalisco during the Mexican War of Independence. In 1810, Guadalajara José Antonio Torres defeated the local royalist army and invited Hidalgo and his troops into the city. Hidalgo was heading west from the State of Mexico, pursued by Félix María Calleja and his troops loyal to the Spanish king. Hidalgo entered the city in November 1810. Hidalgo's troops arrested many Spanish, and Hidalgo issued a decree abolishing slavery. Hidalgo was able to recruit soldiers for his army in the city, bringing it up to 80,000 men by the time Calleja arrived in January 1811. The rebels took up positions outside the city at a place called the Puente de Calderón. Royalist forces won this battle, ending the initial phase of the War and forcing Hidalgo to flee north. Hidalgo was captured and executed later that year.
The end of Hidalgo did not finish insurgent aspirations. The newspaper Despertador Americano was founded in 1811 in Guadalajara, sympathetic to the insurgent cause. However, no other major battles of the war would be fought in the state.
Independence was won by Agustín de Iturbide's Army of the Three Guarantees, which would make Iturbide Mexico's first emperor, and making Jalisco one of a number of "departments" which answered directly to Mexico City. This act broke Nueva Galicia's tradition of relative independence and provoked support for federalism.
Prisciliano Sánchez, the first Governor of Jalisco of independent Mexican rule.
In 1821, a proposal for a "Republic of the United States of Anáhuac" circulated in Guadalajara which called for a federation of states to allow for the best political union in Mexico. Much of these principles appeared with the 1824 Constitution which was enacted after Iturbide was dethroned. Under this Constitution, Colima, Aguascalientes and Nayarit were still part of Jalisco. Its first governor was Prisciliano Sánchez. The new state was divided into eight cantons: Autlán, Colotlán, Etzatlán, Guadalajara, La Barca, Lagos, Sayula, and Tepic.
Independence and the new Constitution did not bring political stability to Jalisco or the rest of the country. In the sixty-year period from 1825 to 1885, Jalisco witnessed twenty-seven peasant (primarily indigenous) rebellions. Seventeen of these uprisings occurred within one decade, 1855–64, and the year 1857 witnessed ten separate revolts. In 1852, in perhaps the most ranging of all Comanche raids, they reached Jalisco. Along with the rest of the county, Jalisco's states vacillated between state and department as Liberals (who supported federalism) and Conservatives fought for permanent control of Mexico. The peasant rebellions and other political acts were in favor of the Liberals and against centralize rule from Mexico City. Jalisco and other western states tried to form a coalition in 1834 against the rule of Antonio López de Santa Anna, but the leaders of Guadalajara were forced to resign under threat of violence instigated by Santa Anna sympathizers, keeping the state in line.
During the Mexican–American War, Jalisco planned defensive measures along with the states of Mexico, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes. However, although the U.S. Navy came as close as the port of San Blas, the state was not invaded before the war ended.
The Siege of Guadalajara of 1860, during the Reform War.
The national struggles between Liberals and Conservatives continued in the 1850s and 1860s, with Jalisco's government changing eighteen times between 1855 and 1864. While there was support for Federalism, most Liberals were politically aligned against the Church, which enjoyed strong support in the state. During the Reform War, Benito Juárez's Liberal government was forced out of Mexico City, arriving to Guadalajara in 1858. Despite this, Conservatives in power made Jalisco a department under direct rule from Mexico City. Jalisco remained mostly in Conservative hands until 1861. The war was devastating to the state's economy and forcing mass migrations. Of the thirty most important battles of the Reform War, twelve took place in Jalisco territory.
General Bazaine welcomed by the people of Guadalajara in 1864, during the 2nd Franco-Mexican War.
During the French intervention in Mexico, French forces supporting Mexico's second emperor Maximilian I, entered the state in 1865. The emperor was mostly not supported by the people of the state and in the following year, French forces were defeated at the La Coronilla Hacienda in Acatlán by Mexican General Eulogio Parra. This would allow Liberal forces to retake Guadalajara and push French forces out of the state. One permanent result of the French occupation was the separation of the San Blas area into a separately administered military district, which would eventually become the state of Nayarit.
In the 1870s, more than seventy percent of the population lived in rural areas. By 1878, the state of Jalisco extended over 115,000 km2 (44,400 sq mi) with twelve cantons, thirty department and 118 municipalities, accounting for ten percent of the country's population.
The end of the century would be dominated by the policies of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. Livestock, which had been a traditional economic pillar of the state, began to decline during this time. The state's agricultural output also declined slightly relative to the rest of the country during the same period. However, Guadalajara was one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico.
Mexican Revolution to present[edit]
Fábricas de Francia department store, built during the Porfiriato.
Opposition to the Díaz regime was not organized in the state with only isolated groups of miners, students and professionals staging strikes and protests. Presidential challenger Francisco I. Madero visited Guadalajara twice, once in 1909 to campaign and the other in 1910 to organize resistance to the Díaz regime. During the Mexican Revolution, most of the rural areas of the state supported Venustiano Carranza, with uprisings in favor of this army in Los Altos, Mascota, Talpa, Cuquío, Tlajomulco, Tala, Acatlán, Etzatlán, Hostotipaquillo, Mazamitla, Autlán, Magdalena, San Andrés and other places. However, these were isolated incidences and did not coalesce into an organized army to confront the federal government. Carranza vied for power in the state with Álvaro Obregón and Francisco Villa during the early part of the war with skirmishes among the various forces, especially between those loyal to Carranza and Villa.
In 1914, Carranza supporter Manuel M. Diéguez was named governor of Jalisco. Diéguez persecuted the clergy, confiscated the property of the rich and imprisoned or executed the supporters of Victoriano Huerta, whose forces he had pushed out of the city. Villa forced Diéguez to flee and released imprisoned clergy, but he too took money from the rich to give to the poor in exchange for their support. However, by April 1915, Carranza's forces were on the rise again, pushing Villa's forces out and reinstating Diéguez as governor.
The former Chapala train station, built 1917-1920, during a period of infrastructural modernization in Jalisco.
Carranza gained the Mexican presidency in 1915, putting into place various social and economic reforms such as limits on Church political power and redistribution of agricultural lands. One major consequence of the Revolution was the 1917 Constitution. This put severe constraints of the Church including the secularization of public education and even forbade worship outside of churches. One other result was the creation of Jalisco's current boundaries.
The new restrictions on the Church by the Constitution were followed by further laws against the practice of religion which were not supported by many in the state. The lower classes split into those loyal to the church and not. In particular were the "Intolerable Acts" enacted by President Plutarco Elías Calles. In 1926, a boycott was organized against these laws. In 1927, thirteen Catholic unions organized by priest Amando de Alba took up arms against the government in an uprising called the Cristero War. In 1928, Cristero leaders formed a rebel government in areas controlled by them, which was mostly in the Los Altos and far northern areas of the state. The struggle resulted in ten different governors of the state between 1926 and 1932. At its height, the Cristeros had a force of about 25,000 until the conflict was officially ended in 1929, with sporadic outbreaks of violence continuing until the 1930s. This waning of hostilities was due to the lack of enforcement of the Calles laws, despite remaining on the books.
The Arcos del Milenio, by sculptor Sebastián, erected in 1999 to celebrate the new millennium.
During this time, the modern University of Guadalajara was refounded in 1926, but it was closed in 1933, then reopened in 1939.
More successful was the implementation was economic reforms begun by Carranza in 1915. By 1935, various agricultural lands were redistributed in the form of ejidos and other communal land ownership.
From the 1950s, the major concern for the state has been economic development. Most of the state's development has been concentrated in its capital of Guadalajara, resulting is economic inequality in the state.
In 1974, a guerilla group kidnapped former governor José Guadalupe Zuno but released him days after.
Ciudad Guzmán, the center of the 1985 earthquake that destroyed parts of Mexico City, received reconstruction aid. Another major earthquake affected the population of Cihuatlán, Jalisco.
On 21 February 2021, the number of infections from the COVID-19 pandemic in Jalisco that began in March 2020 reached 217,852, and 10,031 people had died.
