Ocotlán is a city and

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Its industry includes furniture production. Is the seat of the Región Ciénega.

Etymology

''Ocotlán'' means "near the pines" or "place of the ocote (pines)".

Ocote Ocote is a common name for various species of pine trees in the genus ''Pinus'' that occur in the Spanish speaking Americas—Latin America. They include: *''Pinus apulcensis'' *''Pinus ayacahuite'' *''Pinus cooperi'' *''Pinus devoniana'' *''Pi ...

is from

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 ...

''ocōtl'', ''

Pinus montezumae ''Pinus montezumae'', known as the Montezuma pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is known as ocote. The tree grows about 35 m high and 80 cm in diameter; occasion ...

'', a species of pine.

History

Ocotlán was founded in 1530. Two main cathedrals line the plaza. One is the church named La Purisima ("The Most Pure"), which is one of the oldest buildings in Jalisco. The altar is dipped in gold. The other cathedral, more recent than La Purisima, was built in the late 1800s and dedicated to Nuestro Señor de Misericordia (Our Merciful Lord), which honors a vision of Christ seen after an extremely destructive earthquake. The current municipal president is Lic. Josué Avila, from the

MORENA Morena is the headquarter city of Morena district, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is governed by a municipality corporation. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Chambal division. It is from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. G ...

party in Mexico.

Appearance of Christ

On October 2, 1847 at approximately 0730, a large and powerful earthquake destroyed most of the city, including the original church. The following day, a Sunday, when the faithful were attending a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

outside of the destroyed church, a vision of the crucifix was claimed to have been seen. It is said that they saw the vision of Christ, which is why the people of Ocotlán celebrate this day with high regards. It is a recognized event, not to be forgotten. It has become a tradition passed from generation to generation, with celebrations taking place in Ocotlán, and in different parts of the United States by those who have migrated from Ocotlán.

Geography

Ocotlán borders Poncitlán and

Tototlán Tototlán is a town and municipality in Jalisco in central-western Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It ...

and is only 50 minutes drive east-southeast from the city 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 ...

. It is on the northeast end of

Lake Chapala Lake Chapala ( es, Lago de Chapala, ) is Mexico's largest freshwater lake. It lies in the municipalities of Ocotlán, Chapala, Jocotepec, Poncitlán, and Jamay, in Jalisco, and in Venustiano Carranza and Cojumatlán de Régules, in Mich ...

, Mexico's largest lake. As of 2010, the city had a population of 92,967. The municipality of Ocotlán, which has an area of 247.7 km² (95.64 sq mi), had a population of 89,340. The proper

gentilic A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for the inhabitants is ''Ocotlense''. The altitude of the city is 5020 ft, and the

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

is UTC-6.

Businesses

Some of the businesses in Ocotlán are

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

Celanese Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. A Fortune 500 corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of acetic acid, produc ...

, Forrajes El Nogal, Maderas primas de occidente, Triplay y Aglomerados, Fábrica de Muebles La Cibeles and many other furniture factories, like EMMAN, an MDF manufacturer. Celanese closed its

acetate An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...

flake plant, built in 1947, on 31 October 2019, eliminating 200 jobs.

Architecture

One of the most important buildings is the new library and media center, recently opened to the public in 2000, and operated by the

University of Guadalajara The University of Guadalajara ( es, Universidad de Guadalajara) is a public higher education institution in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. The university has several high schools as well as graduate and undergraduate campuses, which are distr ...

. The modern building is inspired by the lineal constructions of the university center. It features an impressive lobby of multiple heights in which the main elements of the visual composition of the space are the books themselves. The building was designed by the young architecture fir
LeAP
based in

. It has been published and exhibited locally and internationally.

Notable people

Carlos Salcido Carlos Arnoldo Salcido Flores (; born 2 April 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer. He started his career as a centre-back and played most of it as left-back, then converted to defensive midfielder and ended it as centre-back. He ...

(

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

) * Miguel Basulto (footballer) *

Jonny Magallón José Jonny Magallón Oliva (born 21 November 1981) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. A defender capable of playing as a centre back and full-back, he started his senior career with Guadalajara in 2003. ...

(footballer) *

Ismael Íñiguez Ismael Íñiguez González (born 23 July 1981) is a Mexican former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and winger. He was part of the Mexico 2004 Olympic football team, who were eliminated in the first round, having finished thir ...

(footballer) *

Flavio Santos Flavio Jesús Santos Carrillo (born 1 March 1987) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a winger. Santos began his playing career in the Atlas youth teams in 2006. He managed to break into the first team on February 2, 2008, during ...

(footballer) * Oscar Macías (footballer) * Alejandra Muñoz ( Entrepreneur)

Sister cities

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

, United States * Olathe, United States *

Oxnard Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

, United States * Stone Park, United States

References

Jalisco
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

Ocotlán Ciudad del Mueble
Official website www.ocotlanciudaddelmueble.net
Ocotlán Sitio de la Comunidad
Official website www.ocotlanjalisco.net
Ocotlán Municipal Government
Official website
Map of Ocotlán and surrounding areas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocotlan, Jalisco Municipalities of Jalisco Populated places established in 1530