Chavinda is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

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 ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

. It is located at an elevation of and is northwest of

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

and is southeast of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

. The 2015 population was 10,258. To the east, away, is Zamora, one of Mexico's quaintest towns. The town of Chavinda is the municipal seat for the

. Other small towns and villages included in the municipality are La Esperanza, San Juan Palmira, and El Tepehuaje. The name of the town has his origin in the

Purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative "Tarascan ...

word ''sïuini'' (whirlwind); Place of Whirlwinds. The town retains its ancient atmosphere. It consists of largely one-story adobe or plaster-over-brick buildings with red tile roofs. The streets are dusty

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

s traveled by horse and car. La Plaza (the plaza) is Chavinda's central square. Bricks cover the plaza, and a kiosk stands in its center with many tiendas (stores) around. Residents of Chavinda have found seasonal employment in the Napa Valley of California via the United States' H-2A temporary agricultural workers' visa program.

History

The story registers Hernando de Bascones, Lorenzo Sánchez de Ulloa, Juan García de Cueva, Diego de Castro Guzmán and Fernando Bocanegra, as the first five settlers of the region, who were awarded real mercedes of the Chavinda Valley. On 20 November 1861, Chavinda granted the title of municipality, but in 1874 it became dependent on the municipality of Zamora, as "tenure". On July 25, 1879, the title was reinstated. Chavinda Michoacan Mexico train station circa 1900

Chavinda Michoacan Mexico train station circa 1900

A population census of 1880, states that Chavinda was inhabited mainly by Creoles, having a very small indigenous population. During the second half of the last century, Chavinda reached a self-sufficient local economy that unjusted when the train arrived at the population in 1899. This caused the municipality to open up to the national market and to change land tenure and some impetus to agriculture in the region. With the arrival of the train, he began the emigration of Chavinda to the United States, a practice that is preserved. The various events that took place in the early twentieth century in Mexico (the

Mexican Revolution 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 ...

, the

Cristero War The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...

, etc.) frightened trade and, therefore, economic growth.

References

{{authority control Populated places in Michoacán