Chalchihuites is a municipality in the
Mexican state
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
of
Zacatecas
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, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
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in northwest
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. The archaeological site of
Altavista
AltaVista was a Web search engine established in 1995. It became one of the most-used early search engines, but lost ground to Google and was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, which retained the brand, but based all AltaVista searches on its own sear ...
, at Chalchihuites, is located 137 miles to the northwest of the city of Zacatecas and 102 miles southeast of the city of
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
. Located to the west of
Sombrerete
Sombrerete () is a town and municipality located in the northwest of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, bordering the state of Durango.
It was founded in 1555 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Tolosa as a mining center, due to the wealth that the mine ...
in the northwestern corner of the
Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
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state, it is believed that the site was a cultural oasis that was occupied more or less continuously from AD 100 to AD 1400.
History
It was a
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
o ceremonial center lying on the
Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...
. It has a number of important features, including
petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s, a processional walkway and the Hall of Columns. It has some of the best evidence for astronomical alignments at an archaeological site but remains poorly known.
The archaeologist
Manuel Gamio
Manuel Gamio (1883–1960) was a Mexican anthropologist, archaeologist, sociologist, and a leader of the ''indigenismo'' movement. Although he rejected full sovereignty for indigenous communities in Mexico, he argued that their self-governing org ...
referred to Chalchihuites as a "culture of transition" between the Mesoamerican civilizations and the so-called
Chichimeca
Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that des ...
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
s who lived in the arid plateau of central Mexico. Chalchihuites and
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 ...
were both outposts of Mesoamerican settlement in an ecological and cultural frontier area. However, in this transition zone, climatic changes caused continual shifts in the available resource base, discouraging most attempts at creating permanent settlements.
It is also known for a large church that is located in its colonial center.
It founded by the Spanish captain Martin Perez in 1556 of a community from Guadalajara, in the first years after the conquest, became known as a mining center since 1591, when a group of Spaniards and Tlaxcalans were to be placed there by order of the viceroy Don Luis de Velasco. It is known that Don Lucas de Montealegre governed that colony as governor. The municipality dates from the same period as that of Sombrerete; From immemorial time it was part of the Mayor's Office of the same name, having constitutional character the year of 1824. Formerly it was called Real of Mines of the Valley of San Pedro de los Chalchihuites, they formed three districts or divisions: Chalchihuites, Tonalá and Nueva Tlaxcala, But in 1857 this last part, that belonged to
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
, was added to the State of
Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
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by constitutional declaration.
Geography
The municipality of Chalchihuites is physically located in the Sierra Madre Occidental and Mesa Central. It has a territorial extension of approximately 891 km², and limits to the north with the municipality of
Sombrerete
Sombrerete () is a town and municipality located in the northwest of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, bordering the state of Durango.
It was founded in 1555 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Tolosa as a mining center, due to the wealth that the mine ...
, to the south with the municipality of
Jiménez of Teúl and to the west with the State of Durango. The word Chalchihuites is of Nahuatl origin and means Emerald or precious stone. In the municipality of Chalchihuites five minutes away you will find a very beautiful place better known as Gualterio which has a hot springs spa.
Climate
The climate is very hot during the summer months and cold in the winter. The site sits lonely in the
badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...
about four miles east of the town of Chalchihuites. It is also close to the colonial town of
Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
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, which has a distinctive cathedral.
Notable residents
*
Ricardo Moreno
Ricardo Moreno Escamilla (February 7, 1937 - June 25, 2008) was a Mexican professional boxer in the Super Featherweight division. Moreno was ranked #76 on The Ring's list of 100 All time Greatest Punchers.
Early life
Moreno was born and raised ...
, a former
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
in the
Super Featherweight
Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and .
The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...
division and ranked #76 on
The Ring's list of 100 All time Greatest Punchers.
*
Luis Moya Regis, a General of
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and Public figure, statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in Ten Tragic Da ...
during the
Revolución Mexicana
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
.
*
Roberto Guadarrama, a band member of
Los Bukis
Los Bukis (The Bukis, ''buki'' translates as ''Little Kid'' in the Yaqui language) are a Mexican Grupera band from Ario de Rosales, Michoacan. In 1973, the band was founded by cousins Marco Antonio Solís and Joel Solís. Their first song was ...
.
*
Los Buchis De Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, a
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 ...
polka band.
References
{{Zacatecas
Municipalities of Zacatecas
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro