Guadalajara

Guadalajara is the commercial, industrial, and transportation center of western Mexico and with a population of approximately 6 million, the second largest city in the country. The capital of the state of Jalisco, Guadalajara lies about 325 miles (520 kilometers) west of Mexico City and at an altitude of 5,141 feet (1,569 meters). The city's rainy season lasts from midsummer to early fall, while the rest of the year is dry and the temperatures mild.

In pre-Columbian times, the Guadalajara area formed the northwestern frontier of the high civilizations of central Mexico against the hostile Chichimecs of the Mesa Central. In 1531 the brutal conquistador Nuño de Guzman invaded the area, enslaved many Indians, and left a trail of death and destruction in his wake. The city of Guadalajara was founded in 1532 but was relocated a number of times to protect it from Indian attack. In 1542 it was finally situated in the valley of the Rio Atemajac. The discovery of silver in Zacatecas in 1546 drew settlers to Guadalajara and its vicinity to provide food and supplies to the miners. In 1549 the bishop in the region moved his residence to Guadalajara, and the city was made the capital of the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia in 1560. Still, Guadalajara grew slowly but steadily. In 1600 it was inhabited by 500 Spaniards, but it had become a small city of 35,000 by 1803. In 1905 its population totaled more than 100,000. This growth during the nineteenth century was based largely on the production of foodstuffs, textiles, and animal products such as leather and soap, as well as the arrival of the railroad in the 1890s.

An almost explosive growth in population and demand for services characterized the city in the mid-twentieth century. For instance, its population doubled to about 750,000 during the decade of the 1950s alone. Guadalajara tried unsuccessfully to control the resultant sprawl of squatter settlements, and one major project related to this goal was the Plaza Tapatia, begun in 1960 and officially completed in 1982. Its primary intent was to preserve the city's downtown historic landscape and to blend it with modern architecture traditions by the placement of fountains, pools, and gardens on the open squares that formed the core of the project. Another component of the city is the quaint suburban neighborhood of Tlaquepaque. Located on the southeastern edge of Guadalajara, its streets and squares have been made into pedestrian walkways and its stores transformed into craft shops and boutiques. A recent addition to the suburban landscape in Latin America is the modern shopping mall, and one of the largest malls in all Latin America is the Plaza del Sol in Guadalajara (built in 1970 and renovated in 1996), with more than 250 commercial spaces. The tapatios, or natives, of Guadalajara have been characterized as politically conservative and staunchly Catholic, a heritage that has frequently placed them at odds with the more liberal secularism of central Mexico. They also take pride in their regional culture for its mariachi music and Guadalajara's part in the origin of tequila.

See alsoCities and Urbanization; Guzmán, Nuño Beltrán de.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gilbert, Alan. The Latin American City, 2nd edition. London: Latin American Bureau; New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.

Greenow, Linda L. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, 1720–1820. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983.

Lindley, Richard B. Haciendas and Economic Development: Guadalajara, Mexico at Independence. Austin: University of Texas, 1983.

Logan, Kathleen. Hacienda Pueblo: The Development of a Guadalajaran Suburb. University: University of Alabama Press, 1984.

Riding, Alan. Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans. New York: Knopf, 1984.

Van Young, Eric. Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-century Mexico: The Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675–1820. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.

                                    John J. Winberry