Tequila, Jalisco

Tequila is a municipality in the central part of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Santiago de Tequila, generally called Tequila without further qualification. The city of Santiago de Tequila is located 50 km away from Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city.

A famous version of mezcal made from agave bears this city's name, and a National Tequila Fair is organised locally from 29 November to 13 December each year.

Geography

The municipality is located between 20°25'00 and 21°12'30 north, and between 103°36'00 and 104°03'30 west, covering 1,364 km². Its height above sea level ranges from 700 to 2900 metres. It borders on the states of Nayarit (to the northwest) and Zacatecas to the northeast, and with the Jalisco municipalities of San Martín de Bolaños, Ahualulco de Mercado, Teuchitlán, Amatitán, San Cristóbal de la Barranca, Zapopan, Hostotipaquillo, Magdalena, and San Juanito de Escobedo.

In the 2000 census, it reported a population of 35,504. Of these, 24,024 were living in the municipal seat. The municipality's other sizable settlements are El Salvador, San Martín de las Cañas, Santa Teresa, Potrero de los Rivera, and El Medineño.

History

The area had been long settled – by Chichimeca, Otomi, Toltec, and Nahua Native Americans – when conquistador Cristóbal de Oñate arrived in 1530. A group of Franciscans founded the town of Santiago de Tequila on 15 April 1530. The local indigenous people rebelled against their Spanish overlords in 1541, but this uprising was quelled before the end of the year.

The district's first tequila factory was established in 1600.

Another native uprising, under the leadership of one individual known as Máscara de Oro ("Golden Mask") took place in the early years of the 19th century but was duly put down by the governor of Nueva Galicia. A few years later, however, in the early months of the War of Independence, the town fell to a band of 200 insurgents under Rafael Pérez in November 1810.

Tequila was given the status of a town ("villa") within the newly independent republic on 27 March 1824. It was then elevated to city status on 9 January 1874.

Role of the beverage in the town's economy

Use of the "piña" (literally pineapple) or heart of the agave plant goes back to prehistoric times here, when the piña was cooked and sold as a candy. It was the Spaniards who thought of using the sugars in the plant to create alcohol. Long-established distilleries here produce between 500 and 1000 liters a day but this is not enough to meet the international demand for the product which has skyrocketed since the 1980s. The town and the surrounding areas attract thousands of visitors each year to see the fields, distilleries, Museo Nacional de Tequila (National Museum of Tequila), the Barraca de Tequila and to ride the Tequila Express, which is a train that runs from Guadalajara to tequila country. The train has 4 cars with a capacity of 68 people and usually requires that tickets be bought a month in advance.

World Heritage Site

A 34,658 ha area, stretching between the foothills of the Tequila Volcano and the deep valley of the Rio Grande, is inscribed on the World Heritage List as "part of an expansive landscape of blue agave, shaped by the culture of the plant which has been used since the 16th century to produce tequila spirit and over at least 2,000 years to make fermented drinks and cloth. Within the landscape are working distilleries reflecting the growth in the international consumption of tequila in the 19th and 20th centuries". The Site includes the agave fields (which begin only 60 km west of Guadalajara, Jalisco, distilleries, taverns and the towns of Tequila, Arenal, and Amatitlán as well as the ruins at Teuchitlán.

Tequila was named a "Pueblo Mágico" in 2003.

Sister cities

Tequila maintains sister city relations with Cathedral City, California and La Quinta, California which are both located in Southern California's Coachella Valley. Tequila Council members, business promoters and Rotary Club officials have attended Mexican Independence Day celebrations hosted by the two California cities.

Another sister city is Jelenia Góra, Poland.

References

External links

• http://www.tequilajalisco.gob.mx/
• http://www.jalisco.gob.mx/srias/sgg/ceem/Monografias/Tequila.html