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Jalisco

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Jalisco
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State (pop., 2000: 6,322,002), west-central Mexico. It covers 31,211 sq mi (80,836 sq km), and its capital is Guadalajara. The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range traverses the state, separating the Pacific coast from a high plateau region. The Sierra Madre region is largely volcanic, and earthquakes are frequent. The state's many lakes include Chapala, Mexico's largest. First invaded by Spaniards in 1526, Jalisco was incorporated into Nueva Galicia. In 1889 its area was much reduced by the separation of the territory of Tepic (now Nayarit state) from its coastal zone. Its economy is based on agriculture, livestock raising, forest products, and mining.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Jalisco
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Jalisco (hälē'skō), state (1990 pop. 5,302,689), 31,152 sq mi (80,684 sq km), W Mexico, bounded on the west by the Pacific. Guadalajara is the capital. Jalisco is dominated by the southern end of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the western extremity of the chain of volcanic mountains extending across central Mexico. The hot, tropical plains of the coast are broken by spurs of the Sierra, and most of the eastern part of the state lies within the central plateau. In the central part of Jalisco is an intermontane basin containing Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake; it is drained by the Lerma-Santiago system.

Because of the variety of climate, landform, and elevation, nearly every kind of fruit and vegetable grows somewhere in Jalisco. Corn and wheat from the central plateau make it known as the "granary of Mexico"; rice and wheat are grown in the south; and the mountains yield timber and minerals (especially iron, silver, some gold, and precious stones). The raising of livestock and the production of food products and blue agave for tequila are also important.

Although Jalisco was explored as early as 1522, a serious invasion of the area, later included in Nueva Galicia, was not undertaken until 1529 by Nuño de Guzmán. Shortly before the War of the Reform (1858-61), Jalisco became a leading state in the great liberal revolution heralded by the Plan of Ayutla. It was occupied by the French in the wars of intervention but was recaptured in 1866. In 1884 the territory of Nayarit was separated from Jalisco. There has been significant outmigration from Jalisco to the United States in recent years.

Wikipedia: Jalisco
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State of Jalisco
Estado de Jalisco
—  Settled by the Spanish and
it was part of Nueva Galicia  —

Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Jalisco es México (Jalisco is Mexico)
Location within Mexico
Coordinates: 20°34′00″N 103°40′35″W / 20.5666667°N 103.67639°W / 20.5666667; -103.67639
Country  Mexico
Capital  Guadalajara
Municipalities 125
Largest City Guadalajara
Government
 - Governor Emilio González Márquez (PAN)
 - Federal Deputies PAN: 18
PRI: 1 PRD: 2
 - Federal Senators Eva Contreras (PAN)
Héctor Pérez (PAN)
Ramiro Hernández (PRI)
Area Ranked 6th
 - Total 79,085 km2 (30,534.9 sq mi)
Population (2005)
 - Total 7,000,000 (Ranked 4th)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 - Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
HDI (2004) 0.8097 - high
Ranked 13th
ISO 3166-2 MX-JAL
Postal abbr. Jal.
Website www.jalisco.gob.mx
- State flag adopted in 2007[1]

Jalisco (Spanish pronunciation: [xalisko]) is one of the 31 Mexican states that, together with the Mexican Federal District, conform the 32 federal entities of Mexico.

Jalisco is located in central-western Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Nayarit to the northwest, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí to the north, Guanajuato to the east and Colima and Michoacán to the south. To the west, Jalisco has a significant share of coastline on the Pacific Ocean.

Jalisco is the fourth most populated federal entity in Mexico. It is also one of the most developed in terms of cultural, trade and economic level in the country. Some municipalities in the state have a standard of living comparable to the one found in countries like Spain and Italy, but, like in the rest of Mexico, these living standards are not representative of all of the state's municipalities due to the widespread economic inequalities found in the state. The capital of Jalisco is the city of Guadalajara, whose metropolitan area includes the municipalities of Guadalajara, Juanacatlán, El Salto, Tlaquepaque, Tonala, Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos and Zapopan, forming the second largest metropolitan area in Mexico after Mexico City.

Contents

Etymology

The state's name, meaning "sandy plain," derives from the Nahuatl words xalli (meaning "sand" or "gravel") and ixtli (meaning "face," or, by extension, "plain") with the suffix -co (place).

Geography

Lake Chapala

Jalisco is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the state of Nayarit to the northwest, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes to the north, Guanajuato to the east, and Colima and Michoacán to the south. It has an area of 80,386 km2 (31,037 sq mi), which constitutes about 4% of the total territory of Mexico.

The state is formed by four characteristic physiographic regions, which are the Mexican Plateau, Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre del Sur, and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

Mexico's largest freshwater lake, Lake Chapala, lies within the boundaries of Jalisco.

Flora and fauna

There are a variety of species of vegetation and wildlife in Jalisco. Notably this is an original location of the domestication of the Wild turkey and also the northern extent of the range of the subspecies of the Wild turkey that occurs in this region.[2]

Government and politics

The Constitution of the State of Jalisco provides that the government of Jalisco, like the government of every other state in Mexico, formally consists of three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.

Executive power rests with the Governor of Jalisco, who is directly elected through secret ballot to a 6-year term, with no possibility of reelection. Legislative power rests with the Congress of Jalisco which is a unicameral legislature composed of 40 deputies. Judicial power is invested in the Superior Court of Justice of Jalisco.

Municipalities and regions

Main article: Municipalities of Jalisco
Guadalajara is Jalisco's largest city

Like the rest of Mexico, the state of Jalisco is divided into municipalities (communes), most of which are named after the town that serves as the municipal seat. Unlike English-language municipalities, Mexican municipalities (or municipios) include both a central city or town and surrounding villages, towns and rural land. Each municipio has a municipal president. The largest municipio in Jalisco is Mezquitic.

The municipalities are grouped into the following regions (regiones):[3]

  • Altos Norte
  • Altos Sur
  • Centro
  • Ciénega
  • Costa Norte
  • Costa Sur
  • Norte
  • Sierra de Amula
  • Sierra Occidental
  • Sur
  • Sureste
  • Valles

Demography

Congregation of people at a street crossing

The population of Jalisco was 6,753,114 inhabitants according to the 2005 INEGI census. The 2000 INEGI census indicated that at that time there were about 4,000,000 people in the greater Guadalajara metropolitan area. The overall population growth rate for Jalisco in the 2000-2005 period was 1.8%, and it is estimated that the economically active population is 1,756,501 [4]

As is usually the case through the whole nation, the base of the population pyramid is considerably wide as 56% of the Jalisco inhabitants are under 30 years of age.

In terms of other particulars, life expectancy is recorded at 73 years for men and 77,8 years of age for women; infant mortality is lower the 0,5%; birthrate in the state is located around 0,2%; 95% of the population in Jalisco follow Catholicism, one of the highest numbers nationwide; and finally, regarding ethnic diversity, only 1% of those over 5 years of age speak an indigenous dialect, the most common of which are the Huichol, Nahuatl and Purepecha.

Education

The educational statistics are rather worrying as 6 in 100 within that young segment do not attend school, 35 in 100 could not finish primary school, and only one in 100 earns a professional degree.

Institutions of higher education include:

Culture

Tequila

Jalisco is the center of the Mexican tequila industry, and the town of Tequila, Jalisco, which gave its name to the famous liquor, is located there. The volcanic soil covering much of the state of Jalisco is particularly well suited for the cultivation of the blue agave plant, which is used as the base for tequila.

The small town Quila is also a city in Jalisco.

Mariachi

Mariachis in Guadalajara

There are many hypotheses about where this lively music originated from, but most people agree that Cocula, Jalisco was its birth place. Today, Mariachis are seen as a symbol of the Mexican Revolution and as the Mexican pride. Mariachi groups are usually hired for festive occasions, such as birthday parties, quinceañera (traditional parties for girls who are turning 15 years of age), and weddings.

Huichol people

A Huichol artisan in traditional dress.

In the north of Jalisco, the indigeneous Huichol people live in towns that are difficult to access due to their relative isolation in mountainous areas. They call themselves wixarica, "The People," in their own language. The name "Huichol" is derived from the name that was given to them by Nahuatl speakers.

Related to Nahuatl, the Huichol language belongs to the Coracholan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ley sobre el Escudo, Bandera e Himno del Estado de Jalisco" (in Spanish) (Word Document). Congreso del Estado de Jalisco. 2007-02-22. pp. Page 2. http://www.congresojal.gob.mx/Servicios/BibVirtual/busquedasleyes/archivos/Ley%20sobre%20el%20Escudo,%20Bandera%20e%20Himno%20del%20Estado%20de%20Jalisco.doc. Retrieved 2008-12-08. 
  2. ^ C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Wild turkey: Meleagris gallopavo, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
  3. ^ Municipios de Jalisco
  4. ^ Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
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