Villa de Guadalajara (When settled by Spaniards) December 3, 1531 Area 877 km² Area code 346 | Founded Municipality 1825 Population 27,932 (2010) Capital Nochistlán | |
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Nochistlán is one of the 58 municipalities in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Founded by the Caxcanes, it was also the first site of Guadalajara in Mexico.
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Map of Nochistl%C3%A1n de Mej%C3%ADa, Zacatecas, Mexico
Population
In the 2005 census, the Municipality of Nochistlán reported a population of 26,195. Of these, 16,562 lived in the municipal seat, Nochistlán, 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, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán hired Cristobal de Oñate to establish a village in Nochistlán, (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.