Western Mexico

  Western Mexico.

The Western Mexico (Spanish: Occidente de México) is a region of United Mexican States formed by the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán,[1] and including the Revillagigedo Islands, Marías Islands, and several smaller islands. The region extends from the coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Volcanic axis, the basin of Balsas River, the Sierra Madre del Sur and the southwest of the Mexican Plateau.

Description

Pre-Columbian era

The archaeological site of Tzintzuntzan, capital of the Purépecha Empire

Early archaeologists who wrote about the Western Mexico pointed that this region was somehow connected with Mesoamerica; then, other researchers felt that the archeology of the western area belonged to the Mesoamerican studies, and finally the more recent authors argue that the area should be incorporated into a redefined Mesoamerica.[2] There is very little information about early human occupation of the area, the earliest evidence is a camp established on the basis of a volcanic mountain in the Bay of Matanchén, Nayarit,which is a likely date from 2200 to 1730 b.c.[3] Part of the area was under the dominion of the Purépecha Empire

New Kingdom of Galicia

The New Kingdom of Galicia (Spanish: Nuevo Reino de Galicia) was one of only two autonomous kingdoms in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The conquest of territory was accomplished by Nuño de Guzmán and named as Conquista del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España (English: Conquest of the Holy Spirit of Spain Mayor). However, queen Joanna of Castile (Joanna the Mad ), mother of Charles V, did not agree with the name given to the conquered territory, and by Royal Decree, on January 25, 1531, ordered to call the conquered territory as Reino de la Nueva Galicia and was founded a city named Santiago de Galicia de Compostela as capital city.[4]

Nueva Galicia was home to many Mexican national heroes, the most important are Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, José María Morelos and Agustín de Iturbide, all born in Valladolid, now Morelia, Michoacán. It was also the birthplace of presidents José Justo Corro and Valentín Gómez Farías both born in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

States

State Official name

Estado Libre y Soberano de:

Flag Capital Largest city Area[5] Population (2010)[6] Order of admission
to Federation
Date of admission
to Federation
Colima Colima Colima Manzanillo 5,625 km2 (2,172 sq mi) 650,129 23 09-12-1856[7][8]
Jalisco Jalisco Guadalajara Guadalajara 78,599 km2 (30,347 sq mi) 7,350,355 9 23-12-1823[9]
Michoacán Michoacán de Ocampo Morelia Morelia 58,643 km2 (22,642 sq mi) 4,348,485 5 22-12-1823[9]
Nayarit Nayarit Tepic Tepic 27,815 km2 (10,739 sq mi) 1,084,957 28 26-01-1917[10]

Major cities

Major cities of Colima
Colima Manzanillo Tecomán
Major cities of Michoacán
Morelia Lázaro Cárdenas Zamora Pátzcuaro
Major cities of Nayarit
Tepic Bahía de Banderas San Blas

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mexico West.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.