Juchipila
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Juchipila (
Caxcan The Caxcan are an ethnic group who are Indigenous to western and north-central Mexico, particularly the regions corresponding to modern-day Zacatecas, southern Durango, Jalisco, Colima, Aguascalientes, Nayarit. The Caxcan language is most often ...
: ''Xuchipilan'', "place of flowered nobles") is a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
state of
Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...
, located approximately southwest of the state capital
Zacatecas City Zacatecas () is the principal city within the municipalities of Mexico, municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the ...
.


Geography

The municipality of Juchipila is located at an elevation between in the
Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...
in southwestern Zacatecas. The municipality spans the canyon of the
Juchipila River The Juchipila River is a river of Mexico. It is a tributary of the Río Grande de Santiago. See also *List of rivers of Mexico This is a list of rivers of Mexico, listed from north to south. There are 246 rivers on this list. Alternate names for ...
, a tributary of the
Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the longest rivers in Mexic ...
, which is flanked by the
Sierra de Morones The Sierra de Morones is a mountain range in west-central Mexico. Geography The Sierra de Morones extends north and south through the state of Zacatecas. The Sierra, together with the Sierra Fría to the east and the Sierra los Huicholes to the ...
to the west and the Sierra de Nochistlán to the east. The municipality borders the municipalities of
Apozol Apozol is a city in the state of Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities a ...
to the north, Nochistlán de Mejía to the east,
Moyahua de Estrada Moyahua de Estrada is a municipality in the Mexican state of Zacatecas at the border with the state of Jalisco. It has a population of around 3500 people. More than 2000 people from Moyahua live in the United States, most of them in California ...
to the south,
Mezquital del Oro Mezquital del Oro is a municipality in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, located approximately southwest of Zacatecas City, the state capital. Geography The municipality of Mezquital del Oro lies at an elevation between in the Sierra Madre Occide ...
to the southwest, Teúl de González Ortega to the west, and
Santa María de la Paz Santa María de la Paz is a municipality in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, located approximately southwest of the state capital of Zacatecas City. Geography The municipality of Santa María de la Paz is located at an elevation between in the S ...
to the northwest. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.4% of the state's area. As of 2009, 15.8% of the land in Juchipila is used for agriculture. The remainder of the land cover consists of
tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
(47.4%),
temperate forest A temperate forest is a forest found between the tropical and boreal regions, located in the temperate zone. It is the second largest terrestrial biome, covering 25% of the world's forest area, only behind the boreal forest, which covers about 3 ...
(28.9%), grassland (7.1%), and urban areas (0.7%). Juchipila's climate ranges from semiarid in the Juchipila River canyon to temperate in the mountains surrounding it. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .


History

Prior to Spanish contact, Juchipila was a
Caxcan The Caxcan are an ethnic group who are Indigenous to western and north-central Mexico, particularly the regions corresponding to modern-day Zacatecas, southern Durango, Jalisco, Colima, Aguascalientes, Nayarit. The Caxcan language is most often ...
'' taxtukayul'' called the in Spanish sources. The Caxcanes had invaded the area in the 13th century from Tuitlán, now known as
La Quemada La Quemada is an archeological site. It is located in the Villanueva Municipality, in the state of Zacatecas, about 56 km south of the city of Zacatecas on Fed 54 Zacatecas–Guadalajara, in Mexico. History Given the distance between La ...
. The archaeological site of , also known as the Peñol de Juchipila, is located next to the village of
El Remolino El Remolino is a community that is located in the municipality of Juchipila in the state of Zacatecas in Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and ...
, south of the municipal seat of Juchipila. Structures at the site date from the late
Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...
and
Postclassic In world history, post-classical history refers to the period from about 500 CE to 1500 CE, roughly corresponding to the European Middle Ages. The period is characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and the developme ...
periods, and other structural and archaeological remains indicate inhabitation as early as the first centuries AD. Las Ventanas was one of the most heavily fortified of ancient Mesoamerican sites. Its upper citadel, set above sheer cliffs and accessible only by a steep and narrow stairway with switchbacks, features some of the finest stonework of its kind in all of Mesoamerica. Beneath the citadel is a settlement zone covering more than . Xiuhtecuhtli, the leader of Juchipila, was based at Las Ventanas (then known as Tlatlan or Tlaltan) when the Spanish first arrived in the area around 1530–1531. He and other Caxcan leaders led a vigorous resistance to Spanish colonization attempts throughout the 1530s, until the Spanish finally prevailed in the
Mixtón War The Mixtón War (1540–1542) was an uprisng by Caxcan people aimed at pushing the Spanish conquistadors out of northwestern Mexico and bringing the area back under indigenous control. The war was named after Mixtón, a hill in Zacatecas which s ...
of 1540–1542. Franciscan friars founded the first monastery in what is now the town of Juchipila around 1532. The church of St. Francis of Assisi, the first built in the region and one of the first in
Nueva Galicia Nuevo Reino de Galicia (New Kingdom of Galicia; ) or simply Nueva Galicia (''New Galicia'', ''Nova Galicia''), known in Nahuatl as Chimalhuacán (‘the land of shield bearers’), was an autonomous kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It w ...
, dates to 1627. From 1548 to 1786, Juchipila was designated an ''alcaldía mayor'' of Nueva Galicia, its territory extending from Villaneuva in the north to Moyahua in the south. It then became a ''subdelegacíon'' under the Intendancy of Guadalajara until 1804, when it was transferred along with
Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...
to the Intendancy of Zacatecas. After Mexican independence, Juchipila became of the original eleven ''partidos'' in the 1825 Constitution of Zacatecas, losing its eastern territories to Aguascalientes and its northern territories to the new ''partido'' of Villanueva. The ''partido'' of Nochistlán was separated from Juchipila in 1852. When ''partidos'' were abolished in 1916, Juchipila was divided into the municipalities of Apozol, Juchipila proper, Moyahua, and Mezquital del Oro.


Administration

The municipal government of Juchipila comprises a president, a councillor (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
: ''síndico''), and ten trustees (''regidores''), six elected by
relative majority A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast. For ...
and four by
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
. The current president of the municipality is Jose Maria Castro Felix.


Demographics

In the 2020 Mexican Census, Juchipila recorded a population of 12,251 inhabitants living in 3888 households. The 2010 Census recorded a population of 12,284 inhabitants in Juchipila. There are 30 inhabited localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also called Juchipila, is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 5836 inhabitants in the 2020 Census. Juchipila and its neighbouring municipalities have experienced high rates of emigration to the United States since the second half of the 20th century.


Culture and education

The oldest festival in Juchipila is the Fiesta de Xúchitl, celebrated in June on the eve of the octave of Corpus Christi. The tradition has pre-Hispanic roots and was originally dedicated to
Xōchipilli is the god of beauty, youth, love, passion, sex, sexuality, fertility, arts, song, music, dance, painting, writing, games, playfulness, nature, vegetation and flowers in Aztec mythology. His name contains the Nahuatl words ("flower") and (eit ...
, the god of flowers, music, song and dance, being celebrated near the summer solstice and at the onset of the wet season. It was declared
intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. In ...
of the state of Zacatecas in 2015. Another notable festival celebrated in Juchipila is the Festival of the , held sometime around the feast day of Saint James at the end of July. The first investigations of the archaeological site of Cerro de Las Ventanas were made by
Aleš Hrdlička Alois Ferdinand Hrdlička, after 1918 changed to Aleš Hrdlička (; March 30,HRDLICKA, ALES ...
, who visited the site in 1898 and 1902. The site was opened to the public in August 2019, although it was closed during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The Polytechnic University of Southern Zacatecas (''Universidad Politécnica del Sur de Zacatecas'', UPSZ) is located in the village of El Remolino just south of the municipal seat of Juchipila.


Economy and infrastructure

The main economic activities in Juchipila include commerce, services, agriculture and cattle farming. Important crops grown include corn, ornamental plants, and agave. Remittances from the United States also form a large part of the municipality's income. Federal Highway 23 runs north–south through the municipality, connecting it to
Jerez Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Located in southwestern Iberia, it lies on the Campi ...
and
Fresnillo Fresnillo () is a city in north central Mexico, founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra. It is the second largest city in Zacatecas state and the seat of Fresnillo municipality. As a rail and highway junction, Fresnillo is the center of a rich ...
in the north, and to
Zapopan Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, Zapopan is the largest city in the state. It's best known as the home of the Virgin of Zapopan, an image of the Virgin ...
and
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
in the south.


References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Zacatecas 1825 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1825