Nochistlán is one of the 58

municipalities 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 of

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

. Founded by the Caxcanes, it was also the first site of Guadalajara in

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 ...

Nochistlán () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the Mexican state of

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (Spanish) or ( Catalan) is a masculine given name of Latin origin (, , , and so on). Its Portuguese form is . Its patronymic is (). Already in the Middle Ages the name was being confused with the similar but distinct name Munio. The meaning of ...

, on December 3, 1531, hired

Cristóbal de Oñate Cristóbal de Oñate (1504, Spain—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as o ...

to establish a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in Nochistlán; the village would be named Guadalajara to honor Guzmán for having been born in Guadalajara. Guadalajara was founded in Nochistlán on January 5, having as officials Cristóbal de Oñate, Sancho Ortiz de Zúñiga and Miguel Ibarra. They worked at this project for only 16 months and created the first layout of Guadalajara. The first news that we have regarding the natives of these lands points to the

Tecuexe The Tecuexe were an indigenous peoples of Mexico, who lived in the eastern part of present-day Guadalajara. History It is believed that the Tecuexe derived from the dispersion of Zacateco groups from La Quemada. Like the Zacatecos, the Tecuexe ...

. These people established settlements around 1000. Later in the 12th century a new group of people moved in, these people were called

Caxcan The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion in 1540-42. During the rebellion, they were described as ...

and they were from the valley in Tuitlán, which is now found in the municipality of Villanueva,

. The Caxcan established Nochistlán by driving out the Tecuexe by force.

Population

In the 2005 census, the Municipality of Nochistlán reported a population of 26,195.Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática Of these, 16,562 lived in the municipal seat,

Nochistlán Nochistlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, on December 3, 1531, hired Cristóbal de Oñate to establish a village in Nochistlán; the village would be named Guadalajara to honor Guzmán for having b ...

, and the remainder lived in surrounding rural communities.

History

The first news that we have regarding the natives of these lands points to the Tecuexes. These people settled in the region around 1000 A.D. Later, in the 12th century, a new group of people called the Caxcanes moved in, they were from the valley in Tuitlán, which is now found in the Municipality of Villanueva, Zacatecas. The Caxcanes established Nochistlán by driving out the Tecuexes by force. On December 3, 1531,

hired Cristobal de Oñate to establish a village in

, (now a town in Zacatecas) the village would be named Guadalajara in honor of Guzmán for his birth in Guadalajara. Guadalajara was founded in Nochistlán on January 5, having as officials Oñate, Sancho Ortiz de Zuñiga and Miguel de Ibarra. They worked at this project for only 16 months and created the first layout of Guadalajara.

Location

*Latitude - 21°48'03" N *Longitude - 102°45'57" W *Population 26,195

References

External links

Nochistlán Government Site (In Spanish)Nochistlán official MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nochistlan De Mejia Municipality Municipalities of Zacatecas