Jalisco

Jalisco
Estado Libre y Soberano
de Jalisco
—  State  —

Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Jalisco es México (Jalisco is Mexico)
Location within Mexico
Coordinates:
Country  Mexico
Capital  Guadalajara
Municipalities 125
Largest City Guadalajara
Admission December 23, 1823[1]
Order 9th
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)
AreaRanked 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 0.842 - high
Ranked 12th
ISO 3166-2 MX-JAL
Postal abbr. Jal.
Website www.jalisco.gob.mx
- State flag adopted in 2007[2]

Jalisco (Spanish pronunciation: [xaˈlisko]) is one of the 31 Mexican states, which together with the Mexican Federal District form the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Jalisco was the ninth state to join the federation.

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 populous federal entity in Mexico. It is also one of the most developed in terms of cultural, trade and economic levels in the country. Some municipalities in the state have a standard of living comparable to that 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 because of 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.[3]

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

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 12 regions (regiones):[4]

  • 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 [5]

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 around 0.2%; 95% of the population in Jalisco follow Catholicism, one of the highest numbers nationwide. About 1% of those over 5 years of age speak an indigenous dialect, the most common of which are the Huichol, Nahuatl and Purepecha.

Education

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.

Mariachi

Mariachis in Guadalajara

There are many hypotheses regarding the origins of this traditional Mexican musical form, but Cocula, Jalisco is most commonly named as its birth place. Today, Mariachis are seen as a symbol of the Mexican Revolution and national 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 because of 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. ↑ "La diputación provincial y el federalismo mexicano" (in Spanish). http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=i_GK_-6deKIC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=22+De+Mayo+De+1824+durango&source=bl&ots=eyvDzsrMIz&sig=zYxzmtG7gTQgGV-WNDfHgqcG_kU&hl=es&ei=FtAxS9joN56ltgf-_ojFDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=22%20De%20Mayo%20De%201824%20durango&f=false. 
  2. ↑ "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. 
  3. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Wild turkey: Meleagris gallopavo, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
  4. ↑ Municipios de Jalisco
  5. ↑ Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México
  6. ↑ "CETI - Centro de Enseñanza Técnica Industrial" (in Spanish). 2010-04-17. http://www.ceti.mx/. 

External links

States of Mexico
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Federal District