San Marcos is a town 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 ...
, 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 ...
in central-western
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 municipality covers an area of 292.85 km
2.
As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 3,533.
History
The area now incorporating the settlement of San Marcos was originally called Chistic or Xistic and was originally inhabited by the Toltec tribe under the rule of the Tonallan kings. Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura arrived followed in 1530 by Nuño de Guzman, and Juan de Escárcena. In 1542 San Marcos was visited by the Viceroy D. Antonio de Mendoza on his way to put down a large indigenous rebellion.
The town itself was founded on June 28, 1740, by Fray Antonio de Jesus who was instrumental in construction of the church. As late as 1825 the town had no city hall and was subordinate to Etzatlán Township. The city was officially founded by decree on April 17, 1907, which became effective the following April.
In the early 1900s, during the rule of Mexican dictator
Porfirio Diaz Porfirio is a given name in Spanish, derived from the Greek Porphyry (''porphyrios'' "purple-clad").
It can refer to:
* Porfirio Salinas – Mexican-American artist
* Porfirio Armando Betancourt – Honduran football player
* Porfirio Barba-Jac ...
, the Mexican government forcibly marched thousands of Yaquis some 200 miles over the mountains from
San Blas to San Marcos and its train station.
[Turner, John Kenneth, ''Barbarous Mexico'', Chicago: C.F. Kerr & Co. (1910), pp. 43-47] There, the Yaqui survivors were sold at sixty pesos a head to the owners of
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
and the tobacco planters of the
Valle Nacional, while thousands more were sold to the
henequen
Henequen (''Agave fourcroydes'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is reportedly naturalized in Italy, the Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Cayman Islands and ...
plantation owners of the
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...
.
By 1908, at least five thousand Yaqui had been sold into forced slavery.
[Spicer, pp. 80-82] Most died within the first year of their captivity.
Government
Municipal presidents
References
{{Jalisco
Municipalities of Jalisco