Barranca de Oblatos (), also known as Barranca de Huentitán, is a

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

carved by the

Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the longest rivers in Mexic ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in the state of

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

. It lies on the northeast side of the municipality of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

and on the edge of the municipalities of Tonalá,

Zapotlanejo Zapotlanejo is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, there were 64,806 inhabitants in the municipality. The municipality has a territorial extension of 718.8 km2. Toponymy Zapotlanejo is a h ...

, Ixtlahuacán del Río and

Zapopan Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, Zapopan is the largest city in the state. It's best known as the home of the Virgin of Zapopan, an image of the Virgin ...

in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. Its beauty and structure make it physically resemble a smaller version of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, or Barranca del Cobre in Chihuahua.''Barranca de Oblatos (Jalisco)''
"Escuela Secundaria 5 Mixta U" It includes approximately and it has an average depth of . The difference in elevation between the rim of the canyon () and the river () is at the point of a funicular. This canyon is also named Oblatos-Huentitán due to the areas in the city crossed by it, called Oblatos and Huentitán respectively.

Human history

Several important events in the history of Guadalajara occurred in the canyon. In the 19th century, during the

Spanish Conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

combat between the indigenous natives of Huentitán and the Spaniards took place in this area. This was also the location of many battles of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

and

Cristero War The Cristero War (), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 3 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementation of secularism, secularist and anti-clericalism, anticler ...

. A flooding took place during the ''Porfiriato'' era (1876-1911).

Protected area

The Canyon is considered a biogeographic corridor since it is home to several types of vegetation:

Tropical Forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

Deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

Riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

vegetation and secondary vegetation. Several species of flora and fauna are endemic to the canyon. It is often visited by national and international investigators since it includes great biological diversity. On June 5, 1997 the canyon was declared a

Nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

, under the category of Zone subject to Ecological Conservation

Protected Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

by the World Conservation Union of all the area belonging to the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area because it is the most urbanized area. Great Horned Owls, Collared Peccaries, Bobcats, Gray Foxes, Opossums, Red-tailed Boas, Barn Owls, Leaf Cutter Ants and Vampire Bats are among the species making a home in the canyon. The Guadalajara metropolitan area extends towards the Eastern side of the canyon and subsequently many buildings are near or overlook the canyon, complexes such as the

University of Guadalajara The University of Guadalajara () is a public university, public research university located in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was originally established in 1586 and officially founded on 12 February 1791 as the Royal and Pontifical University of Gu ...

campus of the CUAAD Center of Art, Architecture and Design, the Guadalajara Zoo, and the now closed Guadalajara Planetarium. In addition to several residential areas, there are also sporting and recreational facilities that include soccer fields, basketball, tennis and fronton courts, picnic spaces, a running strip, a recreational park and an outdoor theater. The canyon is also a popular destination for hiking. There were plans to build the next Guggenheim Museum in early 2008, the controversial Arcediano dam project and a high-rise project called ''Puerta Guadalajara'' (Guadalajara Gate) which would have included a shopping mall, a convention center, two hotels, two museums, 9 residential towers and two more corporate towers. None of these projects were started and it seems likely that they have now all been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. However, work is in progress on the construction of an art museum in the Mirador park, on the site formerly intended for the Guggenheim museum project.

References

External links

Barranca de Oblatos at TripAdvisor.comThe Birds of Barranca de Oblatos
- 1958 survey By ROBERT K. SELANDER and DONALD R. GILLER, of

UTA Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States *University of Texas at Austin, in the United States *University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a R ...

{{Coord missing, Jalisco Nature reserves in Mexico Canyons and gorges of Mexico Landforms of Jalisco Tourist attractions in Jalisco Río Grande de Santiago Protected areas of Jalisco