Cojumatlán de Régules 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 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

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 ...

, located west of the state capital of Morelia.

Geography

The municipality of Cojumatlán de Régules is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in northwest Michoacán at an altitude between . It borders the Michoacano municipalities of

Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a February ...

to the east,

Sahuayo Sahuayo ( Nahuatl: ''Tzacuātlayotl'') is a city in the state of Michoacán, in western México, near the southern shore of Lake Chapala. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. Sahuayo is an important c ...

to the southeast, Jiquilpan to the south,

Marcos Castellanos Marcos Castellanos is a municipio (municipality) in the Mexican state of Michoacán near the southern shore of Lake Chapala Lake Chapala ( es, Lago de Chapala, ) is Mexico's largest freshwater lake. It lies in the municipalities of Ocotl� ...

to the southwest. It also borders Tizapan El Alto in

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 ...

to the west, while its northern border runs along the southeastern shore of Lake Chapala, which is administered by the Jaliscan municipality of

Poncitlán Poncitlán is a town and municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 672.31 km2. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 43,817. Place Names Poncitlán means "place of cilacayotes", ...

. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.2% of the state's area. Cojumatlán's climate is temperate with rain in the summer. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .

History

The settlement of Cojumatlán was founded in 1531. Its name means "place of weasels", from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

word ''cutzamalí'', "weasel". It was incorporated as the municipality of Régules in the district of Jiquilpan on 2 April 1910, taking its name after Nicolás de Régules, a general who fought against the French intervention in Mexico. In 1985 the municipality changed its name to Cojumatlán de Régules.

Administration

The municipal government comprises a president, a councillor ( Spanish: ''síndico''), and seven trustees (''regidores''), four elected by

relative majority A plurality vote (in American English) or relative majority (in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all vote ...

and three by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. The current president of the municipality is Enrique Mújica Sánchez.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the municipality of Cojumatlán de Régules recorded a population of 9980 inhabitants living in 2638 households. The 2015 Intercensal Survey estimated a population of 10,450 inhabitants in Cojumatlán. There are 14 localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also known as Cojumatlán de Régules, is classified as urban. It recorded a population of 6763 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.

Economy

White pelicans staging at Squaw Creek NWR (6366886293)

The main economic activities in Cojumatlán de Régules are agriculture, fishing, and livestock production. Main crops grown include corn, tomatoes, alfalfa, and other vegetables. The main fish caught are carp and tilapia, which are filleted in small local

maquiladora A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...

s. The arrival of thousands of

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winte ...

s from November to March at the fishing village of Petatán has become a tourist attraction. The pelicans are dubbed ''borregones'' by the locals, in reference to the sheep-like flocks created by these large white birds. A mass feeding of fish scraps from the local filleting operations occurs in the afternoon of every day except Sundays.

References

{{Michoacán, state=collapsed Municipalities of Michoacán 1910 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1910