Tepic () is the capital and largest city of the western Mexican

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

, as well as the seat of the

Tepic Municipality The Municipality of Tepic is one of the 20 municipalities dividing the Mexican state of Nayarit; its head city (the seat of the municipal government), the city of Tepic, is also the capital of the state. Geography The municipality of Tepic is l ...

. Located in the central part of the state, it stands at an altitude of above sea level, on the banks of the

Río Mololoa The Mololoa River is a tributary of the Río Grande de Santiago. Located in the Mexican state of Nayarit, it runs through the state capital of Tepic. Condition

It is very water pollution, polluted, but in the past was a recreational area fo ...

and the

Río Tepic Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

, approximately north-west of

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the 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 Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

. Nearby are the extinct

Sangangüey Sangangüey is an eroded stratovolcano standing 2340 meters tall in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of Mexico. The volcano is located immediately southeast of Tepic in the state of Nayarit in Mexico. There has been no confirmed historical eruptio ...

volcano and its crater lake. Tepic is the primary urban center of this rich agricultural region; major crops include sugarcane, tobacco and citrus fruits. The city was founded in 1531 as ''Villa del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España''.

Population

Indigenous population

Tepic has the second-largest indigenous population in the State of

, 4,375. The most prominent groups among them are the

Huichol The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California ...

or Wixárika (3,276), Cora (527) and

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 ...

(101).

Religion

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

is the most prominent religion in Tepic with 94.2% of the population. Its Catedral de la Purísima Concepción, dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

, is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

episcopal see of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Tepic The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tepic ( la, Dioecesis Tepicensis)) is a suffragan Latin diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Guadalajara in western Mexico. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Catedral de la Pur ...

, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

see in the ecclesiastical province of the

Archdiocese of Guadalajara The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guadalajara ( la, Archidioecesis Guadalaiarensis) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese based in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. It currently covers an area of 20,827 km² (8,044 Square Miles). The di ...

Notable locals

* Juan Escutia: Boy hero of the

Battle of Chapultepec The Battle of Chapultepec was a battle between American forces and Mexican forces holding the strategically located Chapultepec Castle just outside Mexico City, fought 13 September 1847 during the Mexican–American War. The building, sitting a ...

. Born in Tepic, between 1828 and 1832, on the morning of 13 September 1847, he fought to prevent invading U.S. forces from capturing

Chapultepec Castle Chapultepec Castle ( es, Castillo de Chapultepec) is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name ''Chapultepec'' is the Nahuatl word ''chapoltepēc'' which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". The castle has s ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. After a brave defense, he is reported to have wrapped himself in the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

and leaped to his death. *

Luis E. Miramontes Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas (March 16, 1925 – September 13, 2004) was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the progestin norethisterone used in one of the first three oral contraceptives. Miramontes was born in Tepic, Nayarit ...

: Chemist, co-inventor of the first contraceptive pill *

Amado Nervo Amado Nervo (August 27, 1870 – May 24, 1919) also known as Juan Crisóstomo Ruiz de Nervo, was a Mexican poet, journalist and educator. He also acted as Mexican Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay. His poetry was known for its use of metaphor a ...

: Poet and diplomat. *

Antonio Rivas Mercado Antonio Rivas Mercado (26 February 1853 – 3 January 1927) was a Mexican architect, engineer and restorer. His most notable project was the design of the Independence Column in downtown Mexico City. He was the father of Antonieta Rivas Mercado ...

. * Emilia Ortiz: Contemporary painter, caricaturist and poet, after whom the major downtown ''Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Emilia Ortiz'' has been named. *

Gustavo Ayón Gustavo Alfonso Ayón Aguirre (born April 1, 1985) is a Mexican former professional basketball player. His last team was Capitanes de Arecibo of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He also represents the senior Mexican national basketball te ...

: NBA basketball player *

Francisco Guerrero Francisco Guerrero is the name of: *Francisco Guerrero (composer) (1528–1599), Spanish composer of the Renaissance * Francisco Guerrero (politician) (1811–1851), Alcalde of San Francisco *Francisco Guerrero Marín (1951–1997), Spanish composer ...

: Mayor of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, 1836-1842. *

Luis Ernesto Franco Luis Ernesto Franco (born December 21, 1983) is a Mexican actor, writer, producer and model. He is known for playing the titular role in seasons three and four of the serie '' Señora Acero''. Filmography Film Television Awards And N ...

: Mexican actor. *

Joaquín Cosío Joaquín Cosío Osuna (born 6 October 1962) is a Mexican actor and poet. He is best known for roles such as Rubén "Mascarita" in ''Matando Cabos'' (2004), General Medrano in ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008), Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo in '' Narco ...

: Mexican actor. * Manuel Lozada.

Sports

Nayarit had small stadiums built for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and baseball. Both now demolished, there are plans to construct new, modern, and bigger stadiums; the state has three sport private clubs. There are multiple football fields and places to play "cascaritas" (pick-up games), indoor football courts, a basketball center and gym (with wooden flooring), several volleyball courts, and a bowling alley. In addition to common sports, in the city's main park there is an olympic swimming pool and a squash field. In Tepic,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

is a popular sport, but the most popular is football (

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

is also commonly played in the city. The city also has a

bullring A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are o ...

, as do most Mexican cities. Tepic has several state teams, one or more for each sport. Both the football and the basketball teams are named "Coras".

Climate

Tepic has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cwa''), with most rain falling in the wet season from April to November, sometimes in December.

Transport

Tepic is served by

Tepic International Airport Amado Nervo National Airport or Tepic Airport is an international airport located at Tepic and the main airport in the Mexican state of Nayarit. Operated by Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares, a federal government-owned corporation, it was Trans ...

, with two commercial passenger airlines flying to it.

Twin towns – sister cities

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba *

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States *

Caborca Caborca is the municipal seat of the Caborca Municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora. The city has a population of 67,604, while the municipal population was 89,122 as of 2020. Municipal boundaries are with Pima County, Arizona, in the Unite ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

, Mexico * Compostela,

, Mexico

Notes

References

Sources and external links

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática *
Nayarit
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México * (Ayuntamiento de Tepic) {{Authority control Capitals of states of Mexico * Municipalities of Nayarit Populated places established in 1531 1531 establishments in New Spain