Jalisco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| State of Jalisco | |||
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| Country |  Mexico |
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| Capital | Guadalajara | ||
| Municipalities | 126 | ||
| Largest City | Guadalajara | ||
| Government | |||
| - Governor | Emilio González Márquez (PAN) | ||
| - Federal Deputies | PAN: 18 PRI: 1 |
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| - Federal Senators | Eva Contreras (PAN) Héctor Pérez (PAN) Ramiro Hernández (PRI) |
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| Area Ranked 6th | |||
| - Total | 79,085 km² (30,534.9 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| - Total | 6,752,113 (Ranked 4th) | ||
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) | ||
| HDI (2004) | 0.8007 - high Ranked 13th |
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| ISO 3166-2 | MX-JAL | ||
| Postal abbr. | Jal. | ||
| Website: www.jalisco.gob.mx | |||
Jalisco is a state of Mexico. The capital of Jalisco is the city of Guadalajara. In the 2005 census, Jalisco had a population of 6,752,113 people. Jalisco is known for being the birthplace of mariachi music and tequila.
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[edit] 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").
[edit] Geography
The state of Jalisco borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the states of Nayarit to the northwest, Zacatecas, Durango, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí to the north, Guanajuato to the east, and Colima and Michoacán to the south. It has an area of 79,085 km² (30,535 sq mi).
Mexico's largest freshwater lake, Lake Chapala, lies within the boundaries of Jalisco.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Municipalities and regions
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 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):[1]
- Altos Norte
- Altos Sur
- Centro
- Ciénega
- Costa Norte
- Costa Sur
- Norte
- Sierra de Amula
- Sierra Occidental
- Sur
- Sureste
- Valles
[edit] Demography
The population of Jalisco is around 6,753,114 inhabitants according to the 2005 INEGI census. The 2000 INEGI census indicates that there are 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 people.[citation needed]
The majority of Jalisco's population is of Spanish descent, including many from the Criollo caste. People of Amerindian descent, mostly of Huichol origin, make up about 0.4% of the population. In addition to those of Huichol descent, some Nahua communities exist along the coast as well as in the interior of the state near present day towns of Tenemaxtlán and Atenguillo. The state also contains a large Mestizo population, who are of mixed European and Amerindian descent, centered mostly in and to the east of Guadalajara. According to the latest available census that shows ethnic information, the population was 47.41% of European descent (White), 43.83% Mestizo, and 6.76% Amerindian[2].
[edit] Mestizos
The high population of Mestizo people in Jalisco may have a number of causes. One theory states that Spanish colonial policies favored fairer skinned Amerindians and easily accepted them into European society as long as they acculturated, which allowed for extensive mixing of the races.[citation needed] While this may have been common practice throughout the Spanish Empire, it would have been especially effective in Jalisco due to the many different indigenous tribes (estimates range from 45 to over 60) living within such a small geographic area.
In addition, banning of the Native languages and cultural traditions or migrations within Jalisco (forced or otherwise) led to mixing of many different Amerindian cultures as smaller groups were absorbed into larger groups. Jalisco was also the center of the Amerindian slave trade whereby the Spanish colonial authorities (along with their indigenous allies) raided villages and captured indigenous people for slave labor. The slaves were commonly sent to other areas of Jalisco as well as to other parts of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Some were traded as far away as New Mexico, the Philippines, and Peru), so racial mixing was extremely widespread.[3]
[edit] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Jalisco State Government
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