Jerez de García Salinas

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Municipio de Jerez de García Salinas

Location

The municipality of Jerez de García Salinas is located in the the center of the state of Zacatecas, Mexico.

The municipality is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Fresnillo and General de Enrique Estrada, to the east by the municipalities of Calera de Víctor Rosales and Zacatecas, to the south by Villanueva and Tepetongo and to the west by the muinicpalities of Valparaíso and Susticacán.

[edit] Population

According to the 2000 Census, the municipality of Jerez de García Salinas had a population of 54,757 inhabitants.

[edit] History

The area around Jerez de García Salinas was inhabited by the Zacatec and Guachichil ethnic groups prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

Jerez de García Salinas, originally named Jerez de la Frontera after the town of the same name in Andalucía, Spain. The first attempt to found the town was by the Spanish Crown was in 1563 to serve as a fortress on the northern frontier and guard against the incessant attacks by Chichimeca natives on the wagon trains that passed through the region en route between the mines in Zacatecas and the viceroyal capital in Guadalajara. These first attempts were unsuccessful and it was not until 1570 that the town's existence is first mentioned as being administered by the government in Tlaltenango. The following year the town was abandoned.

In 1572, the town in resettled by a group of captains waging war against the Chichimecs on the frontier. Among the founders were Pedro Carrillo Dávila, Pedro Caldera (father of Miguel Caldera), Hernán González, Cristóbal Caldera, Juan de la Torre and Rodrigo de Pinedo.