Jalisco history
The territory of the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco has been inhabited for around 15,000 years according to human remains among them skull fragments and a diversity of animal remains, along with other testimonies of manufactured objects, discovered around the Zacoalco and Chapala lagoons, which were then linked together. They have been able to locate arrowheads, deer horn scrapers, needles, awls, whistles, hooks, and bone or tusk pendants.
Jalisqueño territory was inhabited by various indigenous peoples: Bapames, Caxcanes, Cocas, Cuachichiles, Huicholes, Cuyutecos, Otomi, Nahuas, Tecuexes, Tepehuanes, Tecos, Purépechas, Pinomes, Tzaultecas and Xylotlantzingas, and possibly Pinos, Otontlatolis, Amultecas, coras, xiximes, tecuares, tecoxines and tecualmes.
In 618 A.D. C. the Toltecs founded the kingdom of Xalisco.
After the conquest of Tenochtitlán by the Spanish, the rest of the national territory and part of what is now the United States of America passed into Hispanic domain. Due to the low population density, the territory of the Northwest did not cause problems to be conquered and its inhabitants peacefully accepted the Hispanic authority. however, in Michoacán, the Spanish had to face the indigenous people who offered strong resistance to the invader. Many expeditions were mounted: Cristóbal de Olid (1521), Alonso de Ávalos (1521), Juan Álvarez Chico (1521), Gonzalo de Sandoval (1522), Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura (1524), and Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (1530). accompanied by Pedro Almíndez Chirinos and Cristóbal de Oñate. It was really Nuño de Guzmán who made the greatest conquest effort, taking possession of the lands on the right bank of the Lerma River on June 5, 1530, baptizing them as "Conquest of the Holy Spirit of Greater Spain", although the Queen of Spain He ordered in January 1531 that a city be named as the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia and that it be founded with the name of "Santiago de Galicia de Compostela" as its capital (today Tepic, capital of Nayarit). It included, in addition to Jalisco, the current states of Nayarit, Colima and Aguascalientes and part of those of Sinaloa, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. Since 1560 the capital would be the city of Guadalajara.
Guadalajara learned of the insurrection led by Miguel Hidalgo in Dolores on September 25, 1810. At the end of September, the cry of Dolores resounded in Nueva Galicia: the main rebel group, led by the General José Antonio Torres, achieved some victories and temporarily took over the city of Guadalajara. Hidalgo himself fought in the city, but the brigadiers Félix María Calleja and José de la Cruz managed to defeat them and make them flee north. Between 1811 and 1817 there was a "guerrilla war" with three main and different foci of rebellion: the south of the Intendancy, Lake Chapala and the neighboring Alteña area of Bajío. Many families emigrated from the rest of the Intendancy and other more remote places to the tranquil neo-Galician capital and Guadalajara reached in 1814 the 60,000 inhabitants, compared to the ="white-space:nowrap">30,000 from the early 19th century.
When the Empire disappeared, local leaders sought complete autonomy and an intense campaign in favor of federalism was unleashed, supported by two great figures: Francisco Severo Maldonado and Prisciliano Sánchez. On January 31, 1824, the federal Constitutive Act was approved, which was immediately sent to all the states, being sworn in on February 7, 1824 by the authorities of Jalisco, despite the fact that faculties were granted to the General Congress and the Executive that would allow them to control the entire Nation from the center. The first constitutional governor was Prisciliano Sánchez who took office on January 24, 1825.
Another important event for this state occurred when the president of the country Miguel Miramón decreed the creation of the Territory of Tepic on December 24, 1859, separating it from Jalisco. When the Liberal Union appeared on the political scene in the 1867 elections under the auspices of Ignacio L. Vallarta, at the head of a group of Jalisco intellectuals, it began to have some influence at the national level. A few years later, on May 5, 1877, Porfirio Díaz became president, which he held until 1911, being re-elected several times. Jalisco hoped that the Díaz administration, in which Vallarta held important positions, would reincorporate the former canton of Tepic into its territory, which did not happen since it became federal territory in 1884.
Around 1878, the area of Jalisco —calculated at the time at 115,000 km²— contained in its twelve cantons, 30 departments and 118 municipalities, more than 10% of the 9.5 million Mexicans; more than 70% lived in rural areas and had agriculture as their main occupation, so that in 1877, the Jalisco harvests reached 16.5% of the national agricultural production and Jalisco was the largest producer of corn, beans and wheat. On May 15, 1888, the first railroad arrived in the city of Guadalajara.
Pre-Columbian times
Human presence has existed in the region for approximately 15,000 years as indicated by human remains found in archaeological excavations, including fragments of skulls, and diversity of animal remains, along with other testimonies of manufactured objects, discovered around the Zacoalco and Chapala lagoons, which were then linked together. It has been possible to locate arrowheads, deer horn scrapers, needles, awls, whistles, hooks and bone or tusk pendants, horse bone hammers, and even a whale vertebra with two blows produced by the edge of an instrument. rough, which was located at the end of the XIX century in Zacoalco de Torres.
The many petroglyphs and cave paintings found —in Cabo Corrientes, San Gabriel, Jesús María, La Huerta, Puerto Vallarta, Mixtlán, Villa Purificación, Casimiro Castillo, Zapotlán el Grande and Pihuamo— testify to the human presence. It is thought that the first human settlements in western Mexico may date from about 7,000 years ago. Two stages of development are generally considered: the first is the beginning of agriculture and settlement in villages, around the year 1500 BC. It would last about 2000 years and in addition to living from agriculture, the natives would practice hunting and gathering. That sedentary life, as in many other cultures, allowed them to have time to dedicate themselves to the manufacture of ceramics, to practice religious and funeral ceremonies, and that was when barter began. The shaft tombs —underground burial chambers— date from this stage in Jalisco, among which the tombs found in Acatlán de Juárez, El Arenal and Casimiro Castillo stand out.
The second stage of Western Mexican cultures has been called "Toltec" and in it appears the military dominance of some peoples over others. The ceramic works are more sophisticated, the metallurgy of gold, silver and copper appears; and commercial activity, both local and foreign, is more intense. Although until now it was thought that pre-Hispanic cultures were minor in western Mexico, recent excavations show that there were rich cultures, with monumental architecture, large settlements and irrigation systems, as well as a possible ideographic writing system.
There are many archaeological zones in the state, highlighting "El Ixtépete" and "El Grillo" (in the municipality of Zapopan); "El Arenal" and "Palacio de Ocomo" (in Etzatlán); “Huitzilapa” and “Cerro de la Navaja” (in Magdalena); "Guachimontones" (in Teuchitlán); "Coyula" (in Tonalá); “Atitlán”, “El Mirador”, “El Reliz” and “Las Cuevas” (in San Juanito de Escobedo); "Portezuelo" in Ameca; “Las Pilas”, “Huaxtla” and “Santa Quitería” (in El Arenal); “Cerrito del Istle” (Hiztle) (in Huejuquilla el Alto); “Las Calles” (Portezuelo hill) (in La Barca); “Ixtapa Ceremonial Center” (in Puerto Vallarta); “Santa Inés” and “La Tepalcatera” (in Sayula); "Table of San Francisco" (in Tamazula).
Jalisqueño territory was inhabited by various indigenous peoples: Bapames, Caxcanes, Cocas, Cuachichiles, Huicholes, Cuyutecos, Otomi, Nahuas, Tecuexes, Tepehuanes, Tecos, Purépechas, Pinomes, Tzaultecas and Xylotlantzingas, and possibly Pinos, Otontlatolis, Amultecas, coras, xiximes, tecuares, tecoxines and tecualmes.
In 618 A.D. C. the Toltecs founded the kingdom of Jalisco. Its origin and development is located in the classical and postclassical horizon. From what is currently known, the Jalisco lordship was one of the most important in the region, with commercial relations that extended to the towns of central Mesoamerica with whom they exchanged agricultural products, as well as necessary articles in the daily life and ornament.
The lordship of Jalisco comprised populations located in the west towards the Bay of Banderas. Important archaeological remains have been located in this region that show the level reached. Among its main populations were Tepique, Atemba, Pochotitán, Tecuitazco, Xalcocotán, Zacualpán, Xaltemba and Mazatán. The center of the manor was located on the slopes of the Coatepec hill, an elevation that reaches 1,560 m and dominates the entire Matatipac valley, in the current municipality of Xalisco.
Even with this, there were also more manors in Jalisco lands, to which were added the Sayultecas, the Tecuexes who inhabited the areas of Xallostotitlán, Tzapotlán, Tecpatitlán, Tecomatlán, Ayahualicán, Teocaltitlán, Mexticacán, Acatic and Tonallan that were in constant confrontations with its neighbors such as the Teocaltiche señorío, populated by huachichiles and caxcanes. Meanwhile, the lordships of Colima and Autlán, in the south of the state, also stood out; as well as the Teuchitlán Tradition in the lands of Ameca, Tequila, Etzatlán and Teuchitlán where the circular pyramids of Guachimontones are located. And in the center of the state, in the lands of Guadalajara and Tonalá, there existed the Cocas, a tribe closely related to the tecuexes from Tepatitl and as commercial exchanges were carried out with those settlers, the name of tapatío arose. i> for the inhabitants of Guadalajara, that this name was how the barter that the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Tepatitlán gave to the cocas was known. All of these minor, but equally remarkable tribes were influenced by the Toltecs, Chichimecas, Mezcala Style, Chupicuaro Style, Nayarit Style, and the Shaft Tombs Style.
Viceregal period (1542-1786)
Spanish conquest
After the conquest of Tenochtitlán in 1521 by the Spanish, what is now national territory and part of the United States of America gradually began to integrate the Spanish Empire. Due to its low population density, the territory of what will be Nueva Galicia did not cause problems to be conquered. However, in Michoacán, the Spanish had had to face the Tarascans who offered strong resistance to the invader. Once subdued, two reasons made the Spaniards continue heading westward: the search for a suitable port to establish a shipyard and set sail from it in search of the Asian coasts; and locate the deposits that had supplied the Tarascans with precious metals.
Thus, at the end of 1522, Cristóbal de Olid penetrated through the Sierra de Mazamitla until he reached what is now Tamazula, but he soon returned to Tzintzuntzan —the ancient Purépecha capital that served as his base of operations—, leaving Hernando de Saavedra, a cousin of Hernán Cortés, in charge of the mines in the explored area. On Hernando's instructions, on July 25, 1523, Gonzalo de Sandoval founded a Spanish town between Tecomán and the sea, to which he gave the name of Colima, establishing another platform to dominate the region. In the month of August 1524, Cortés arranged for his nephew Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura to be his lieutenant in Villa de Colima and its regions, to distribute land and Indians and to carry out expeditions to the north to discover the coast. and search for precious metals.
The towns they passed through and received them in peace were turned into encomiendas by the Spanish, subduing those who opposed them. In this way, from Colima to La Barca, in addition to ruins, some expeditionaries also began to settle which would serve both to facilitate the return by the same path that was followed on the way out, and to ensure Cortés' power in the entire area.
The Kingdom of Nueva Galicia
In 1529 the Spanish Crown rehabilitated Hernán Cortés and granted him the title of Captain General of New Spain and to return to Mexico, so Nuño de Guzmán, his declared enemy, decided to abandon his position as President of the Royal Audience and organize a private military expedition to the northwest of Mexico. The purpose of this first expedition was to confirm the rumors of the existence of a territory further north, and if so, to found towns. At the end of December, Nuño left Tenochtitlán commanding 500 Spaniards, in addition to some ten thousand auxiliary natives. from the Valley of Mexico —to which 10,000 from Michoacán would later join— well supplied with supplies and in charge of transporting 12 pieces of light artillery. Passing through Tzintzuntzan he tried to obtain all the gold that might have been in the hands of the Tarascans, even causing his cazonci to be killed after great torture. However, the conquistadores were far from fully consummating domination, since while some groups of aborigines went back and settled in very inaccessible places in the Sierra Madre, others would cause even more problems before fully submitting to the colonial order. Returning to the Pacific slope, after his ill-fated incursion through Durango, Guzmán's contingent had to remain several months in Culiacán: he had to let the rainy season pass for the rivers to go down and consolidate control in the region. For the latter, it was convenient to found a town of Spaniards, founded on September 29, 1531, with a group of Spaniards and with Indians who would not be necessary for the return, which would begin on the following October 15. After arranging the foundation of Chiametla to serve as support for communication with the north, Guzmán ordered Cristóbal de Oñate to advance there to prevent his arrival. Faced with the emptiness that he found in Tepic, Oñate continued to Ahuacatlán, where he learned that an envoy from the Audiencia, Luis de Castilla, was with instructions to found a Spanish town in the direction of Xalisco to increase the Spanish territory.
Nuño de Guzmán imposed the name "Conquest of the Holy Spirit of Greater Spain" to the territories explored and conquered by him, however the Queen of Spain —Isabel of Portugal, wife of Emperor Carlos I of Spain, who ruled for absence of the Emperor -, was not satisfied and by Royal Decree issued in Ocaña (Spain) on January 25, 1531 ordered that it be named as the Kingdom of New Galicia and a city with the name of "Santiago de Galicia de Compostela" be founded. as capital. The Spanish Crown thought to reproduce as much as possible the peninsular map in America, so that the northwest of what had been conquered up to then would be called the same as the Iberian northwest. That kingdom of Nueva Galicia included the current states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Aguascalientes and part of Sinaloa, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. Once the Royal Certificate was received, Guzmán proceeded to rename the "Villa del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España" with the name of "Santiago de Galicia de Compostela", a town that is currently the city of Tepic, capital of the state of Nayarit. Nuño also intended to connect Nueva Galicia with the province of Pánuco, of which he was governor, to govern a territory from sea to sea that would counteract the power of Cortés, settling Spaniards near Nochistlán
Back in New Spain from the early 1530s, Hernán Cortés waited for the officials of the Royal Audience of Mexico to be changed to claim the rule of Tamazula and Amula; but, in addition, he counterattacked by also requesting Ahuacatlán and Xalisco, arguing that his previous envoy Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura had been the first to occupy them.
The five towns founded on the initiative of Nuño de Guzmán —San Miguel, Chiametla, Compostela, Purificación (1533) and Guadalajara (1532, actually Nochistlán, later moved from the site)— gave rise to the first administrative division of the territory. However, their number was small to impose the way of life to which the Spaniards aspired, and their initial instability reflects that the places chosen with the criteria of a conqueror were not the most suitable for colonization. Indeed, after a decade none of these villas remained in the same place.
When Nuño was heading to Pánuco at the beginning of 1533, he visited the site where this town was located and understood that the effort required to live there was too much in exchange for the meager benefits. Consequently, he agreed to the request to find another seat, but without the colonists crossing the ravine to the south, in order to maintain his presence in the caxcana. However, the inhabitants did not abide by this requirement and, when Guzmán returned in the middle of 1534, he found them installed in the Tonalá Valley, more fertile and populated than any place in the entire Caxcana, and with the additional advantage that they had a hand suitable work because they are sedentary natives.
In 1535 the viceroyalty of New Spain was officially established, with Antonio de Mendoza being named first viceroy (r. 1535-1550). A Royal Audience, subordinate to the Royal Audience of Mexico, was established on February 13, 1548 in Compostela, being transferred to Guadalajara in 1560.
The presence of a Hispanic population in those places was not only of interest to Guzmán, as shown by the fact that, in order to improve the legal situation of Guadalajara, in 1539 the King responded to the request of the town council and it granted the prerogatives of the city and a brand new coat of arms. In this way, the aborigines of Nueva Galicia passed into their new state full of virulence and, therefore, prone to insubordination.
Little by little some of these isolated groups would acquire greater coherence, so that, in 1538, symptoms of an incipient revolt began to emerge, the so-called rebellion of the Caxcanes, since it occurred in the region known as Caxcanes, in Jalisco and Zacatecas; In the long run, it would cause serious problems for the Spaniards and would cause substantial changes in the political map of Nueva Galicia.
The two main rebel indigenous chiefs who are remembered are Coaxícar, in the Hostotipaquillo area, and Tenamaxtli, victors of Pedro de Alvarado, in Nochistlán, Zacatecas. He died from a wound in the Mixtón War. This rebellion is also known as the Mixtón War (1540-1551), because that is the name of the mountain where the most important battle took place; Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza annihilated the resistance in Mixtón, in October 1541.
It was around 1540 when Oñate understood that Neo-Galician resources were not enough to deal with the situation and he asked Mendoza for help. He sent some reinforcements directly to Guadalajara and ordered Pedro de Alvarado to urgently come to the defense of his countrymen in danger. Finally, the viceroy managed to lead one of the largest armies seen in action throughout the colonial era to go and pacify Nueva Galicia. It is said that it exceeded 50,000 individuals, who on September 29 set out on the road to Guadalajara as fast as possible for such a contingent.
Nueva Galicia had been "pacified" "by fire and blood", "of six parts of the Indians five died", which simply means that it had been devastated by Mendoza's army, but not that it had been established complete peace. His weakness, which prevented her from defending herself against the revolt, had increased. Now, because of it, it was under the military authority of the viceroy of New Spain and he, in turn, would bear the responsibility of protecting it, establishing a bond of dependency on Mexico City that would persist throughout the colonial era.
The news about the bloody War of the Mixtón not only spread throughout New Spain, but also drew the attention of the peninsular authorities, who decided, in 1544, that one of the oidores of the Audiencia de México appear in Nueva Galicia, order your government provisionally and render a report on the situation. As for the bishop, he proposed that he be someone from the regular clergy to promote evangelization and, as for the Audiencia, that he also interfere in the regions of Zacatula and Colima, and that, to avoid abuses, his authority be diluted among four hearers. Evidence that the Council of the Indies took into account what the oidor said is that it did not take long for what he requested to be carried out.
Most of the neo-Galician encomiendas had been granted by Nuño de Guzmán to his followers, in addition to others that were arranged by Antonio de Mendoza in the hands of his companions who wanted to settle in the "pacified" lands and had done enough merit during the campaign. Maritime traffic along the neo-Galician coasts was reduced to that between Culiacán and the port of Barra de Navidad, from where Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo had left in June 1541 and where he returned in April 1543 after exploring the north coast and discovering California. But little traffic there was afterwards. This changed when Viceroy Velasco received from Felipe II the order to mount a great expedition to the Molluscas and to find a route to go to and return from the Philippines. Velasco put Miguel López de Legazpi in charge and Barra de Navidad was chosen as the port of departure again. That supposed a great development of the region, but also great mortality among the Indians. The expedition set out on November 21, 1564 and reached its destination in March 1565. The friar and pilot of the expedition, Andrés de Urdaneta, undertook the return trip that took him back to Acapulco on October 3. This new commercial route in the Pacific brought many benefits to the merchants of New Spain and Cádiz, but very few to those of Nueva Galicia.
In 1587, Thomas Cavendish, after seizing the Manila galleon, attacked the neo-Galician coast and devastated the precarious facilities of Chacala, Chamela and Mazatlán. That caused the suspension of alleged expeditions to California, to which since 1580 expeditions went in search of pearls. In 1596 Sebastián Vizcaíno tried to found a colony there, but failed, although he managed to better explore its coastline. In 1602, Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, then viceroy, appointed Vizcaíno general to direct the exploration of the Californian coast in search of safe havens for the Manila galleon, which annually made the return trip from Manila to Acapulco. From May 5 of that year to February 21, 1603, he explored the American coast, from the port of Acapulco to Cape Mendocino further north, and made detailed cartography.
Transfer from the capital to Guadalajara
It is evident that the viceroyalty represented a greater calamity for the natives than the war itself to subjugate them. And the excessive work, the scarce food, the punishments, the epidemics, etc., were the direct causes of the greatest demographic disaster in the history of Mexico. Approximately a reduction of 91% is estimated between 1550 and 1650.
Finally, in 1560 Guadalajara became the capital of Nueva Galicia. Both President Morones and the new bishop, Pedro de Ayala, supported the Guadalajara claim and on May 10 of the aforementioned year the certificate was issued that granted the change of residence. Morones made his entrance on December 10, but the Franciscan Ayala did not have to move since he had resided for twelve months in the convent that his order had in the city.
The inhabitants of western Neo-Galician, where mining was not an economically important activity, could not remain impassive before the evidence that the greatest resources emigrated without benefiting them, but they could not achieve more, while the viceroy even tried to transfer the capital of Nueva Galicia to Zacatecas, to which the Spanish Crown did refuse. But what was done, in 1571, was to establish a Royal Fund in Zacatecas with all of the law and completely independent from the Fund of Guadalajara.
Among the most serious difficulties faced by the Spaniards in their eagerness to set up a new society in the subject territory was the problem of communication; First of all, because the victor had not yet succeeded in implanting his language; secondly, because different languages were spoken on earth, causing even the treatment between the natives themselves to be uncertain. In this way, despite the official provisions and the efforts of the secular clergy in favor of Castilianization, Nueva Galicia experienced a Nahuatlization process during the 16th century, both of Indians with other languages and of the few Spanish inhabitants, after the which would supervene the miscegenation of uses and customs.
The life of wealthy neo-Gallicians, as in the rest of Spanish America, revolved around their homes. In them one was born and died; private festivities and some common ones were commemorated; They had fun and attended to businesses, and above all, they played cards in many different ways. Except to go to the temple or to public events, that oligarchy took to the streets only for what was essential. They rarely moved on foot; They almost always resorted to horse or carriage, even if the stretch to be traveled was short. The means of locomotion was so linked to status that it was difficult to do without it. Only servants and low-level employees came out of the Spanish houses from time to time to the public thoroughfare. The squares, with troughs in the center, fulfilled more of a commercial function. The vendors who set up their shops in the morning and removed them in the afternoon in order to store the merchandise in the warehouses that each person owned at home settled in its surroundings. The wealthy liked to live in the center; so that the further away a family dwelt, the poorer it was undoubtedly. Until the end of the 17th century, not a single private house is known to have been entirely made of stone. In reality, neither the public buildings were, except the cathedral and the church of San Francisco.
Three things attracted the attention of the newcomer from Europe around 1621: one was the propensity to bathe in the numerous springs, for simple pleasure or to cure sores and pains; the second consisted of the widespread consumption of chocolate and the last was the use of tobacco (chewed or smoked) repeatedly.
One of the important works referring to Novogalaic history is the Crónica Miscelánea de la Sancta Provincia de Xalisco, written by Fray Antonio Tello (1567-1653) and published in six volumes.
According to the level reached by Neo-Galician education and architecture in the XVII century, almost nothing can be said about the development of letters and arts. Tonalá, for example, one of the most populated places when the Spanish arrived, maintained a pottery skill that would acquire great renown thanks to the consumption that the inhabitants of Guadalajara made of its products and the acquisitions to send to Mexico and, even, to Spain.
In the field of letters, the panorama was seen to be more retrograde, due to the fact that Guadalajara did not have a printing press until the year 1793. In this way, if the writers could not get their works printed outside of Nueva Galicia, they could only aspire to make a few copies of their originals and circulate from hand to hand among a meager group of readers. In any case, a few managed to see their texts in block letters.
Under such conditions, the first effects of an increase in human and economic resources were soon felt, which would manifest itself, among other things, in an accelerated development of Guadalajara and other important towns in the Province of Nueva Galicia.
Growth of Guadalajara
At the beginning of the 18th century, the French and English already showed clear signs of being interested in also participating in the colonization of America. The Russians soon joined, increasing the concern of the Spanish authorities who envisioned competition and danger to their northernmost domains, in addition to the risk of losing the probable wealth of the lands not yet colonized. In any case, the colonization of lands still untouched by the Spanish conquest occupied an important place in the history of Nueva Galicia, above all because it gave rise to a further far-reaching economic, political, and demographic metamorphosis experienced by the region. Guadalajara, therefore, became the concentration point for a long series of interests of all kinds, mainly economic. In 1767, the situation would change suddenly where the Jesuit missions prevailed. Carlos III, annoyed by his resistance to royal power plus the numerous accusations that the Society of Jesus was subjected to, prepared to outlaw it and expel all its members from Spanish domains. In Guadalajara, the process went smoothly. At dawn on June 25, by order of the Governor, the 12 Jesuits who were in the city were apprehended and the next day they were sent to Veracruz, where they were shipped to Italy. Then followed the Jesuits from what are now the states of Nayarit, Sonora, Sinaloa and California. The Jesuits were however replaced by the Franciscans.
After the decrease in inhabitants suffered in almost the entire viceroyalty until the middle of the XVII century, due to the continuous wars With the natives, Nueva Galicia began a considerable growth that was accentuated from 1720, and even more after 1760. Around 1713, the population of Guadalajara reached around seven thousand inhabitants, while by 1738 it was estimated at around 12,000, 20,000 mid-century and almost 35,000 at the beginning of the 19th century. The same proportion was always maintained between the different types of inhabitants: a third of Indians, a third of peninsular Spaniards and Creoles, and a third of blacks, mulattoes, and other castes. Guadalajara quickly became a privileged center of commerce. The mayors and corregimientos came to be called "partidos", remaining subject to their respective administration through sub-delegates imposed by the intendant himself. It was intended to put an end to the old collusion of merchants and mayors, as well as to impose order in official management and, above all, to prevent tax evasion. The Caja Real de Guadalajara increased benefits, increasing, for example, its income by doubling between 1770 and 1800.
With a total of 26 political parties, the Municipality of Guadalajara began under his command, but it didn't take long for some important changes to take place. After 1803, Juchipila and Aguascalientes joined Zacatecas; Colima passed to Guadalajara, and the government of the borders of San Luis de Colotlán disappeared completely, whose territory adhered to Bolaños's party, although the subdelegate established his residence in Colotlán. Finally, Compostela and the naval department of San Blas also became part of the Municipality of Guadalajara.
To give rise to independence, Creoles had to face off against peninsulars, forming perfectly defined opposing factions. Contrasted with this assumption is the already established fact of how many of the peninsular Spaniards were, by themselves, more at the service of the privileged Creole nuclei than that of the King himself; This without considering that the unfavored criollaje, apart from prominent families, was suspicious of both groups, and that more than one member of these high spheres still had not digested or forgotten their deep resentment for having been displaced by some and relegated by others. With the establishment of the municipalities from 1786, the Creole revulsion towards public employees "gachupines" worsened even more.
Independence of Mexico (1786-1821)
Oath of loyalty to Ferdinand VII (1787-1809)
The news that Carlos IV had abdicated in favor of his son Fernando was known in Guadalajara in July 1808, and its authorities got ready to organize the oath of the new King, as had been done twenty years before with Carlos IV. However, the report later reported on July 16 Ferdinand VII's pressured decision to abdicate in favor of his father and he in favor of Napoleon Bonaparte. This manoeuvre, known as the Bayonne Farce by the Spanish, sparked opposition from almost all Americans. In Spain and its colonies, the Suarecian Doctrine of Power was upheld, gaining momentum the idea that the people were the original source of power and that the King could not dispose of it without his consent. That is why Joseph I, Napoleon's brother, was considered the illegitimate king. In Spain, a series of oppositions broke out involving the Junta movement and the Spanish war of independence against England.
Thus, in the particular case of Mexico, and given the events that agitated the Peninsula, it was up to the components of the city councils to decide what would be done. During the following days, people of all orders appeared before the president, offering themselves in defense of "Religion, King and Fatherland." Envoys from the indigenous communities even came to the capital of Nueva Galicia, to also offer themselves for the sake of Fernando VII.
In April 1809, the authorities of the Intendancy swore to obey the Supreme Central Government Board of Spain and the Indies, just as had been done in Mexico City, while they elected Bishop Cabañas as their delegate in the Supreme Board. But since Spanish soil, during the first semester of 1809, was attacked by the invading force, and the prospects of Spanish triumph seemed very remote, Cabañas did not move from Guadalajara. On the other hand, revolutionary news began to arrive from South America: cities like Caracas, Buenos Aires and Bogotá had decided to dispense with the Spanish government and aspired to take over the leadership of their respective provinces.
Government of Miguel Hidalgo (1809-1811)
Guadalajara received news of the insurrection led by Miguel Hidalgo in Dolores on September 25, 1810. Canon José Simeón de Uría, recently elected deputy to the Spanish Cortes for the Guadalajara Intendency, sent the word from the vicinity of Querétaro alert to the neo-Galician authorities. By the end of September, the cry of Dolores resounded in Nueva Galicia; two small rebel groups made an appearance: one, led by Navarro, Portugal and Toribio Huidrobo, would move between Jalostotitlán, Arandas, Atotonilco and La Barca; another, led by General José Antonio Torres, nicknamed "El Amo" Torres, would visit Sahuayo, Tizapán el Alto, Atoyac and Zacoalco.
On November 28, Mercado's insurgents positioned themselves in front of the port of San Blas, demanding its surrender, which occurred three days later, despite the fact that there were sufficient elements for the defense. When Torres seized Guadalajara, he immediately informed Hidalgo and Allende of his achievements and invited them to take possession of the newly subjugated city. Hidalgo received the offer in Valladolid (today Morelia) and, without delay, moved to the neo-Galician headquarters at the head of almost seven thousand horsemen. On November 25, the various civil and ecclesiastical corporations of the city came to Tlaquepaque to receive him and escort him during his entry. On November 29, he issued a first decree to abolish slavery addressed to the entire Nation, but a week later, on December 6, he issued another, more concise one, where his signature was accompanied by that of Ignacio López Rayón, as of secretary.
After the overthrow of Hidalgo (1811-1821)
In order to quell the rebellion, Brigadiers Félix María Calleja and José de la Cruz advanced towards Guadalajara. Hidalgo, upon learning of this, went out to meet them at the head of his "army," made up of eighty thousand men. Among them were the seven thousand Indians of Colotlán commanded by the priest Calvillo, who only knew how to handle the arrow and the sling. Even when the insurgent numerical superiority managed to put his opponent in serious trouble, his best discipline and technique made him win the battle. Immediately afterwards, the main rebel leaders, accompanied by a small escort, escaped to the north, where the epilogue of the daring undertaking would take place. Calleja, for his part, entered Guadalajara on January 21. That same afternoon José de la Cruz also appeared in the city. From that very moment they proposed to erase any vestige of Hidalgo and to finish off the insurgents that remained in the Intendancy.
Nevertheless, there the ideas of independence remained in the popular spirit. Especially since the government of the viceroyalty continued to show itself incapable of opposing the solutions leading to this unleashed discontent. Between 1811 and 1817 there was a "guerrilla war" with three main and different foci of rebellion: the south of the Intendancy, Lake Chapala and the neighboring Alteña area of Bajío. At the end of 1812, the indigenous peoples settled on the banks of Chapala and on the island of Mezcala also rose up in arms. The direct cause was the persecution undertaken against Encarnación Rosas, an aboriginal ex-combatant. To avoid being apprehended, Rosas armed a group with slingshots and stones and "they received the gachupines with such fury that they returned to Chapala defeated...". A long series of confrontations between riverside residents and soldiers of the Intendancy followed that would last until 1816.
The situation calmed down in Guadalajara in 1814 and the Creole economy experienced remarkable development. Trade, for example, received a great boost when the port of San Blas was opened to foreign trade. On the other hand, from 1811, a large number of families had emigrated from the rest of the Intendancy and other more remote places to the reassured neo-Galician capital in search of refuge and protection that their persons and fortunes were denied in the convulsed places where resided. Thus, Guadalajara reached 60 thousand residents in 1814, compared to the figure of 30 thousand, calculated at the beginning of the XIX century.
Given the danger that the Constitution and the liberalism prevailing in the new Cortes represented for the most privileged groups of the entire Viceroyalty, a first defensive mechanism would be that of the opposition within the Cortes themselves. The province of Guadalajara collaborated with Iturbide, when he made his triumphant entry into Mexico City, at the head of the Triguarante Army, on September 27, 1821. Later, the Private Constitution of 1824 of Nueva Galicia expressly prohibited slavery in their territory and on each political chief fell the responsibility of freeing those who retained that condition.
What would straighten the country's ship just by consummating Independence had not happened as expected, and there were even those who began to consider it wrong to have separated from Spain. Ultimately, an important political turn had been made: Independence, not expected especially by large sectors of the population, nor consummated in the way imagined by the insurgents of 1810. In other words, the essential social transformations had not been carried out to counteract the burden in which the vast majority of the inhabitants lived.
In one way or another, the neo-Galicians had to adapt to their changing scenario from the simplest and most intimate home customs, to the complex and urgent mechanisms of subsistence. Implicit in this was the allegation of new formulas for entertainment, transportation, religious behavior, education, and dealings with visitors —national or foreign— who began to tour the entity in search of commercial and other contacts.
In short, the times of peaceful neo-Galician life lay buried in the memory of their ancestors. The Kingdom of Nueva Galicia was from that moment on the Department of Jalisco.
The Republic (1821-1835)
Federalism and the Federal Pact of Anahuac (1786-1823)
When the Empire disappeared, it is said that the local leaders sought complete autonomy, for which an intense campaign was unleashed in favor of federalism that was supported by two great figures: Francisco Severo Maldonado and Prisciliano Sánchez, both backed by the own political chief Quintanar (1772-1837).
Since March 1821, the Association Contract for the Republic of the United States of Anahuac had circulated in Guadalajara, where Maldonado maintained that the federal system was the most appropriate to govern a large territory and to give greater cohesion to the inhabitants of each province.
For its part, the Federal Pact of Anahuac, by Prisciliano Sánchez, published in 1823, asserted that federalism constituted "a happy invention" of politics because it adjusted to the natural conditions of man, in order to represent the only means capable of moderating the strength of the central government and the most effective way for each individual to fully develop their civic virtues. About Prisciliano Sánchez there is a very complete biographical study called Revindication of Don Prisciliano Sánchez, Precursor of Mexican Federalism and Founder of the State of Jalisco, published in 2003 by historian Marco Antonio Cuevas Contreras.
Officialization of the Republic and government of Prisciliano Sánchez (1823-1826)
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For its part, in Mexico the new National Congress was finally installed on November 7, 1823 and, after heated debates, on January 31, 1824, the federal Constitutive Act was approved, article 50 of which stipulated that the republic it would have to be organized on the basis of federalism. It was sent immediately to all the states, being sworn in on February 7, 1824 by the Jalisco authorities, despite the fact that it granted such powers to the General Congress and the Executive that would allow them to control the entire Nation from the Center.
The first constitutional governor, Prisciliano Sánchez, and his lieutenant governor, Juan N. Cumplido, as well as the I State Legislature, took office on January 24, 1825.
The administration of the first governor, which was to conclude in 1829, was interrupted by his sudden death, victim of an infection, on December 30, 1826, giving rise to Juan N. Cumplido becoming the main political figure from Jalisco. Until the day of his death (in 1851) he was appointed interim governor six times in terms ranging from two months to a year, in addition to being elected local deputy three times.
Successors of Sánchez (1826-1835)
In general, the successors of Prisciliano Sánchez continued with the same political line of this one. In the year 1827, the Government managed to intervene in the management of tithes and, in March 1829, the Church was deprived of its option to acquire real estate and found pious works.
On the other hand, the extensive use of the freedom of the press gave rise to a profuse Ticket Office that made possible the written expression of all those ideas that the previous restrictions had silenced. Now, neither censorship nor any court could prevent, much less punish, open criticism of whatever was in vogue.
The first school in Guadalajara, supported exclusively with City Hall funds, dates back to 1821; but it was not until the government of Prisciliano Sánchez when an intense schooling campaign was carried out, while the local Constitution established the commitment to create primary schools in all the towns of the entity and to elaborate a general study plan. This was published on March 20, 1826 and established that official education in Jalisco would be "public, free and uniform", at its four levels: municipal, departmental, cantonal and state. Likewise, the Colegio de San Juan Bautista and the University of Guadalajara were closed due to their marked colonial tendency, and the State Institute was founded with a broader academic program and in accordance with what the Government expected of higher education.
Regarding the education of girls, the Plan prescribed that public schools should also be established "in all the towns of the State" so that they could learn to "read, write, count, draw, and work appropriate to their sex."
Although in fact it already was since the triumph of the proposals of Cuernavaca, it was not until October 23, 1835 when federalism was officially suppressed throughout the country. Jalisco and the other entities became completely dependent on Mexico, while the supporters of centralism, excited by the victory, launched themselves to show that things were going to go better from now on.
The Reformation (1836-1877)
In June 1836, José Antonio Romero stepped down as interim governor of Jalisco as he passed to the presidential cabinet, taking his place lieutenant governor Antonio Escobedo, who was responsible for making known the so-called Seven Constitutional Laws that were proclaimed in Mexico City on December 30, 1836.
In the now "department" of Jalisco, the three governors between 1835 and 1841: Romero, Escobedo and José Justo Corro —who covered an interim period from November to December 1837—, were faithful executors of the will of the Center, despite the fact that the three were from Jalisco birth.
The enthusiasm for the advent of federalism was soon dampened by news of the invasion of United States military forces and that the American sloop of war Cyane had anchored in San Blas on September 2, 1846. No It is known with certainty how long the aforementioned ship remained blockading the port, but it is evident that it prevented, or at least made it difficult, the operations of the neighboring merchants, apart from the shock it caused among the inhabitants.
Although it is true that Jalisco saw the siege of the North American troops take place from a distance, since they did not show signs of attempting an advance or a landing on western lands, the state government did not stop preparing devices for the defense in preventing the war from unexpectedly changing its course. Thus, in the middle of 1847, the negotiations tending to establish an alliance with the states of Mexico, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes crystallized, since he met in Lagos with their representatives to discuss the leading military maneuvers. In mid-August, Governor Angulo went to Zamora with his colleagues from Mexico, Zacatecas and Guanajuato to define new precautions aimed at safeguarding the area.
At the beginning of January 1848, the ships Lexington and Whiton arrived in San Blas, whose crew seized some unimportant baggage. The port was not attacked or held by the enemy; In any case, the close foreign presence intimidated the Government of Jalisco. Very soon—on February 2—the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo came to an end, ending the war. According to such pact, Mexico lost, in addition to Texas, Alta California, Arizona and New Mexico, which together represented a little more than half of the national territory.
Post-invasion situation
These were bad times: the Santa Anna dictatorship (1853-1855), the Ayutla Revolution (1854-1855) and the Three Years War (1858-1861), caused serious damage to education. In this way, in 1860 —a year before the death of López Cotilla— only 19 official schools remained in Guadalajara and, even worse, when the republican regime was reestablished in 1867, after the French invasion, Guadalajara would not have more than 11 schools. municipal services that cared for a total of 590 boys and 69 girls.
France, Spain and England agreed on October 31, 1861 to intervene militarily in the Mexican Republic, by virtue of the suspension of payments ordered by President Juárez. Subsequently, only the French continued the venture, for the sake of other ends. Contrary to the indifference shown when the US invasion 15 years ago, this time Jalisco was ready to truly mobilize in defense of the Nation. Congress itself established, before dissolving itself, that Jalisco citizens between 18 and 50 years of age had to provide military service, so that on May 2, Governor Ogazón was able to order the organization of 10 infantry and cavalry corps.
On January 6, 1864, the French army arrived in the capital of Jalisco led by Marshal Aquiles Bazaine, Forey's substitute. No one put up any resistance, since Arteaga had been out with the troops for two days to the south of Jalisco, giving rise to the contemptuous expressions of the Jalisco soldiers that Bazaine made public, predicting that "pacification would be very quick." But guerrilla warfare proved far more damaging to the invader in the long run than open confrontation.
As a consequence of the defeats suffered by the French in Europe in October 1866, the total withdrawal of the expeditionary forces in Mexico became imminent, especially since the imperial army was already showing serious cracks and was beginning to make serious tumblings in different parts from the country.
Benito Juárez was re-elected President of the Republic by majority resolution of Congress in 1868; but he would remain in power, greatly weakened by the dissidence of Lerdo de Tejada and Porfirio Díaz, who already headed two liberal factions. Said weakening that did not stop having repercussions in Jalisco, since the "Liberal Union" became the main enemy of the Governor, promoting a bitter political struggle that would only end when the Vallartistas managed to consolidate their power in 1871. While the deputies waited for Once Gómez Cuervo's constitutional term came to an end, he completed the necessary number of magistrates to reinstate the Supreme Court of Justice in November, suspended as a result of the dismissal of its president. In February 1871, the Legislature was already constitutionally in good time to regularize its functions, but the governor, alleging his previous misconduct, did not recognize it.
Around 1878, the area of Jalisco —calculated at the time at 115,000 km²— contained in its twelve cantons, 30 departments and 118 municipalities that made up the territorial structure from the state, more than 10% of the 9.5 million Mexicans; although the Seventh canton —Tepic—, with six departments and 28 municipalities, in fact no longer belonged to Jalisco since, in 1867, it had been converted into a military district; either way, its settlers numbered 857,000, more than any other entity. More than 70% lived in rural areas and had agriculture as their main occupation, so much so that in 1877, the Jalisco harvests reached 16.5% of the national agricultural productivity. Jalisco was the largest producer of corn, beans and wheat. The first place corresponded to corn and the second to the other two cereals, accompanied by cotton, sugar cane and tobacco, whose respective volumes, in addition to satisfying the local industry, managed to place surpluses elsewhere. Next was the cultivation of the agave which, year after year, became a growing agro-industrial wealth as a result of the greater consumption of "mezcal wine" or tequila, which had come about as a result of the gold rush in Alta California. Likewise, although in much smaller quantity, the Jalisco soils harvested sesame seeds, potatoes, lentils, rice, barley, chili peppers, cumin, chickpeas, broad beans, etc.
The Porfiriato (1877-1910)
Porfirio Díaz in power
When Porfirio Díaz was elected by a large majority in February 1877, Ignacio L. Vallarta won the presidency of the Supreme Court of Justice, which gave rise to his aspirations to succeed Díaz and caused the split between the two commanders.
Among the main actions of the new government was founding a Monte de Piedad and Savings Bank. Likewise, to promulgate in May 1887 a new Regulation of Primary Instruction by means of which the State Government absorbed the expenses of elementary education and, in June 1889, another Organic Law of Public Instruction that imposed secularism. In addition, in the middle of 1888 he began the construction of a market in Guadalajara and arranged suitable reforms to the School of Medicine.
Similarly, in 1889, Corona was able to boast that public tranquility had been maintained "quickly and vigorously quelling the attempts of some criminals."
Changes
Economic improvements
The main action of the government of Ramón Corona focused on promoting trade through the suppression of the alcabalas, starting in March 1888, and the introduction in Guadalajara of the railroad from Mexico City, whose first trip ended on May 15, 1888 in the midst of great parties.
Since 1882, Governor Fermín González Riestra had obtained authorization to found the "Banco de Jalisco". However, the proposed statutes were not approved because they conflicted with several articles of the Constitution. It was not until a year later, when Francisco Tolentino returned to the charge and the local Congress authorized him to designate the group of shareholders that would ultimately establish the Banco de Jalisco, an institution that would carry out, exempt from any encumbrance, operations of deposit, discount, circulation and issue of money.
In contrast, before the end of 1883, a branch of the Banco Nacional de México could be established, which ended up promoting the beginning of credit activities in Jalisco in which, in addition to participating as a partner of some capitals, the state was favored with the opening of a credit account for up to 30 thousand pesos. Years later, in 1889, a branch of the Bank of London and Mexico would also be established in Guadalajara.
Cattle raising, which since ancient times had been one of the most important economic activities, when the Porfiriato declined also registered a certain decline. In such a way that, if in 1903 it had a value greater than 18.5 million pesos, by 1909 it was less than 17; such decrease can also be valued through the number of bovines; a million in 1903 that in 1909 dropped to 735 thousand. Despite this, until 1902 Jalisco was the first producer of cattle and milk with 10% of the national stock, and pigs with 9%. Regarding its price, it also rose almost 40% between 1890 and 1910.
By 1895 the total value of the crops in Jalisco almost reached 15 million pesos, 8% of the national total; in 1901 it rose to 23 million (almost 9%) but in 1904 it fell to 17 million (7%), and although it rose again in 1906, it no longer recovered the level of 1901.
New technologies
The growing interest in perpetuating one's own face found a new satisfaction in the camera. Especially since the cost of a photograph, much lower than the fees of any painter, allowed many more people to own the reproduction. Indeed, even though the first to be photographed were the wealthiest, soon innumerable traveling photographers would travel through towns and cities in search of low-income clients willing to pose in front of their bulky devices. It seems that it was Jacobo Gálvez, in 1853, one of the first to bring to Guadalajara, after his trip through Europe, the technical elements to reproduce almost instantaneous images: a camera obscura to fix images, not on sheet as was already done in that time and according to the method of Daguerre, but on paper.
At the end of the 19th century, those who had remained at the top of the socioeconomic pyramid of Jalisco were in fact concentrated in Guadalajara, where they enjoyed the increasing comforts and better pecuniary prospects that the environment offered. More now, this minority was surrounded by a good number of Europeans who had settled in Guadalajara, attracted by its commercial possibilities, and many even married the daughters of the most opulent, thus incorporating their surnames into the upper echelons of that society.
From 1904 to 1909, Porfirio Díaz chose Chapala to rest every year during Holy Week and Easter, with which he also contributed to making the population fashionable among the rich families from Guadalajara, who ended up transforming the village into a true place of rest.
Around 1909, motorboats and water sports appeared; In 1910 the Yacht Club and the Compañía de Fomento were founded, which built the station and the railway and owned the Viking and La Tapatía steamships, both destroyed due to strong waves in 1926. A year earlier, the old Camino Real de Guadalajara had been conditioned, which would greatly boost the tourist flow to Chapala.
Long before 1908, there was no truly organized opposition political force in Jalisco. Rather, it manifested itself in small groups of students, professionals, and certain miners and textile workers who carried out some strikes. In fact, the most far-reaching criticism was due to characters such as Roque Estrada, Ignacio Ramos Praslow and Miguel Mendoza López, united around a party named "Socialist Worker", from which a publication called Aurora Socialista emerged.. But in February 1908, Porfirio Díaz told an American journalist his desire to withdraw from power soon and the pleasure with which he would see an opposition party for the 1910 elections.
Accompanied by Roque Estrada, Francisco I. Madero was in Guadalajara in December 1909. Despite the obstacles put up by the Government, he was able to carry out a meeting that demonstrated great popularity; but the turnout was even greater in May 1910, when he returned to Guadalajara already as a formal candidate for the Presidency of the Republic and with a more precise project in which, in addition to the political instances that he had handled before.
Francisco Madero assumes power (1910-1914)
As soon as the results of the votes that gave Madero the victory were announced, the Government of Jalisco set about the task of restoring constitutional order. Municipal elections were called for November 5, already manifesting a clear preponderance of the National Catholic Party (PCN), which won most of the mayoralties. This was endorsed when the local Legislative Power was restored, in March 1912, with twelve deputies proposed by the reference party.
In Jalisco, in addition to the fact that Congress enunciated its proposal that territorial property be accessible to a greater number of inhabitants, it also declared itself in favor of improving the condition of workers and putting an end to injustices. Changes, they said, were to be brought about by slow and steady evolution, "without class struggle, but with strong measures."
In March the mandatory Sunday rest was established and in July the right of workers to organize was recognized and legal personality was conferred on the unions, at that time controlled by the majority of the clergy. Furthermore, on the other hand, the militarization of commercial employees was ordered and any unauthorized strike was promptly repressed.
Manuel Diéguez in power (1914-1920)
First Government
On July 8, 1914, with Álvaro Obregón at the helm, the constitutionalist forces displayed their triumphalism, demonstrating their anti-clerical spirit. The advance had passed along the Pacific coast, where the vanguard forces of Manuel M. Diéguez, Rafael Buelna, and Lucio Blanco had led the way after seizing Acaponeta, San Blas, and Tepic.
The occupation of the Guadalajara capital was carried out peacefully, since the square had been evacuated, but Huerta governor José María Mier and his troops were surprised in El Castillo by Lucio Blanco and Enrique Estrada: the army was disbanded and Mier was killed.
The revolutionary forces were not well received in the capital of Jalisco. Not only members of the clergy, as Obregón claimed, opposed the new government. The rejection became more evident as the reforms and decrees issued by the constitutionalist government began to be implemented.
On December 11, Medina defeated the Carrancistas and made Diéguez retreat to Ciudad Guzmán, so that, as soon as Villa caught up with him, they were able to enter Guadalajara together without much difficulty. Here they were received with great enthusiasm, given the hope that they would annul the constitutional provisions. In the first place, Villa appointed Julián Medina governor of Jalisco, who immediately prohibited the Carrancista currency and put his own into circulation; In turn, he promised security both to work and to the capital and decreed that the properties of the wealthy class, confiscated by General Diéguez, return to their former owners, while he ordered the reopening of the temples that were closed during the government. of Diéguez and release the imprisoned priests.
Second Government
By the first days of 1915, Diéguez had strengthened his army and was returning to Guadalajara, so he reinstated his government in Guadalajara without much retaliation and immediately prepared to continue the campaign. On April 18, 1915, Diéguez seized Guadalajara again, after defeating General Medina who fled to Lagos. Later he appointed Manuel Aguirre Berlanga, once again, as interim governor, while he went in search of Obregón, who was putting the finishing touches on his campaign against the remnants of the enemy army. On the other hand, the lawsuit in the very bowels of the Revolution made the resolutions referring to a radical change in the national socioeconomic structures, reflected mainly in worker-employer relations and in land tenure, acquire an ambiguous character, standing out better the precision of the proposals of the Catholic social doctrine.
The Carrancista agrarian legislation of January 6, 1915 —incorporated into the state by Diéguez in March of the same year— had not been prevailing. Hence the peasant claims and that soon some agricultural workers began to take over land, despite the fact that Aguirre Berlanga threatened to severely punish the perpetrators of such "outrages". The conflicts continued to the point that Diéguez himself asked the Constituent Assembly of Querétaro that the new Charter keep poor mestizo peasants in mind and not only the indigenous people.
The result of the 1917 Constitution was also an increase in the delivery of land; however, not all the claimants and those in need received it at the moment. As the agrarian reform worked in direct relation to peasant pressure, the first groups to benefit were either dispossessed indigenous communities not long before, or those towns most affected by the crisis of the beginning of the century that had distinguished themselves by their active participation in the revolutionary movement.
Álvaro Obregón assumes the presidency (1920-1926)
Already being president-elect, in October 1920, Álvaro Obregón declared himself in favor of small property and that each farmer had a piece of land ceded by the landowners. Consequently, after taking office on December 1, he issued a series of decrees aimed at regulating the extension and operation of the ejidos and established town attorneys to provide communities with the necessary legal assistance, he also legislated on large and small private properties, declaring unaffected those that constituted agricultural-industrial production units.
In October 1921, a Congress of Free Workers was held in Guadalajara, in which 35,000 workers affiliated to the country's Catholic unions were represented. They all demonstrated against unionization and in favor of mutualism as a form of labor organization, in addition to condemning the strikes and everything that had to do with the "red workers" from the CROM (Mexican Regional Workers' Confederation) and from the recently founded CGT (General Workers' Confederation).
Although it is true that in 1926 the working conditions guaranteed by the civil power exceeded those that a regime presided over by Catholics was willing to concede, it is no less true that the problem of land tenure was far from being satisfactorily resolved.
That is why, when the violent clash between the Church and the State began, while the workers deserted the Catholic ranks, these were swelled by peasants willing to defend their means of subsistence. Historical stages of Mexico Category: From Independence to Current Mexico Mexico has a thousand-year history that goes back to ancient times in which the first men began to arrive from Asia to America through the Bering Strait, these men and women were unknowingly heading to the territory that today makes up Mexico.
With the discovery of agriculture, and consequently the cessation of their nomadic life, they began a stage known as the pre-Hispanic era, which ended in 1521 with the arrival of the Spanish in Mesoamerica. Then began the conquest of the pre-Hispanic peoples and the subsequent establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which would last nearly 300 years until independence was declared.
Since independence, Mexico has gone through other historical stages that created the nation that today continues to evolve day by day, nourished by the miscegenation and the strength of its current inhabitants who are building a better future. Below we present a summary of the historical stages that we consider essential to know to begin to understand the history of Mexico.
Ancient Mexico – Pre-Hispanic Period When the nomadic tribes discovered that in certain climatic conditions the seeds that they threw to the ground flourished and bore fruit, they began to create populations that they sustained through the practice of agriculture, this gave way to the definition of two large cultural areas called Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica.
The first was a hostile land that did not allow the flourishing of great civilizations, the second was a fertile land, where great cultures would grow and decrease through the cultural horizons, in which the pre-Hispanic past of Mexico was divided.
During the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic periods, which together cover a period of time from 2000 B.C. to 1521 A.D., a mixture of religious ideas was created in Mesoamerica, clearly stratified societies were created, architectural ideas were shared, and maize was used as main livelihood of the Mesoamerican peoples. You can go deeper into this period with the following information: Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican Cultures, Cultural Horizons of Mesoamerica.
atlanteans of tula
The conquest, Viceroyalty of New Spain With the fall of Tenochtitlan at the hands of the Spanish conquerors and the indigenous peoples, who fought to subdue the city that capitulated on August 13, 1521, the process of subjugation of the peoples that previously paid tribute to the Mexica empire began. A political structure began to be created on the ruins of Tenochtitlan that led to the creation of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
The viceregal period in Mexico lasted almost 300 years, in this period the cultural and racial miscegenation began, the children of Spaniards born in New Spain felt that they had nothing to do with the land of their parents, a nationalist feeling of this sector population during the viceroyalty was the one that forged the war of independence, in addition to other factors external to New Spain. Learn more about this period: Fall of Tenochtitlan, Viceroyalty of New Spain.
sor juana ines de la cruz
Independence: Early Years as a Nation
In 1808 Spain was invaded by France and in the viceroyalty voices were raised for New Spain to govern itself autonomously, until the legitimate Spanish King returned to the throne. This was the external cause that triggered independence movements, the internal cause would be that with the Bourbon reforms the Creoles were limited even more in government affairs, which caused discontent among them.
On September 16, 1810, the war of independence would begin, which through an 11-year struggle, finally managed on September 27, 1821 to declare itself independent from the Spanish crown. The new nation was formed as an empire, this form of government did not last long and gave way to the creation of a republic whose first president would be Guadalupe Victoria.
Spain would not recognize the independence of its former viceroyalty until December 27, 1836. Various conflicts were experienced during the first years of Mexico as a free nation, federalism was abandoned to opt for a centralist republic, and after the fall of this regime again turned to federalism. There was a war with the United States that mutilated the country, liberals and conservatives got involved in the reform war, and at the end of it the French invasion was suffered, which established the second Mexican empire. When the second empire was defeated, the period known as the restored republic began, which ended with the victory of the Tuxtepec Plan, beginning the Porfiriato. More from this period: Independence of Mexico, First Mexican Empire, Mexico centralist government, Mexico-United States War 1846-1848, Reform War, Second French intervention, The Restored Republic.
The Porfiriato and the Mexican Revolution
The Porfiriato was born ironically from the fight of Porfirio Díaz to the non-reelection of Lerdo de Tejada to the presidency. Díaz governed Mexico for 30 years, during which time the country grew economically thanks to the foreign investment that came from the facilities granted by the Porfirian government, as well as social discontent grew due to the exploitation of peasant workers and workers by large foreign and Mexican capital that paid misery for the work done to the workers; Social discontent joined political discontent and from this mixture the Mexican Revolution broke out, which sought to overthrow the Díaz government, achieve democratic elections and social justice. More information on this period: The Porfiriato, Plan de San Luis, Mexican Revolution.