El Tuito
El Tuito is a Mexican agricultural town situated South of the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Region Costa-Sierra Occidental of the Mexican state of Jalisco. It is the administrative and municipal seat of the municipality of Cabo Corrientes.
El Tuito name means "small valley" or "place of beauty". The meaning of the word Tuito comes from the Nahuatl words "Teotl": god, Tiul, Tuitlán: which can mean: "place of god" or "divine place" or "place of beauty".
History
It was founded in the 16th century by Spanish and Portuguese settlers, accompanied by a Tlaxcaltecan population that introduced the Nahuatl language to the region. Before the Conquest, the territory was populated by Huicholes, Coras, and Tecuexes.By March 1525 the conquerors, led by Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura, had already occupied Xalisco. But when they went down to the sea, encountered a group of indigenous people armed with clubs, bows and arrows, and darts, and each one carried a flag made of feathers of many colors. As the Nahuas were outnumbered, Captain Francisco Cortés refused to fight against the locals, but one of the captains who accompanied him, Ángel de Villafaña, told him that they should face them and fight against them so they stuck into the ground four royal banners, and two of crimson color, and also a woven damask with the image of the Virgin Mary on one side and a cross on the other.
When the Nahuas observed the banner of the Virgin, instead of attacking them they refused, since for them that image was very important and venerated by the entire tribe, so they thought that the Spaniards were people sent by their god, then they all got together to then drag their flags and place them at the feet of Juan de Villadiego, who was the one who carried the banner, and at the feet of Francisco Cortés they dropped all their weapons showing him that they would not fight.
After this, the aborigines received them and housed them in their town, accompanied them with music, dances, etcetera, and through this event the place where all this took place was named Valle de Banderas.
In the period from 1825 to 1890 this town was part of the sixth canton of Autlán and later it was part of the tenth canton of Mascota.
In the year 1843 it was given the name of San Pedro del Tuito, and on 14 March 1844, by decree of the Congress of the State of Jalisco, El Tuito was designated as a delegation belonging to Cabo Corrientes.
In El Tuito, the inhabitants celebrate its foundation on 1 April of each year.
Timeline
- 1525 On 8 April, Captain Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura achieved the conquest of the El Tuito area.
- 1857 Don Pablo Ríos took up arms against the conservatives in the Reform War that lasted three years for the Reform Laws. He raised in arms the people of the region of El Tuito, Tomatlán, Mascota, and Talpa. D. Pablo was invested by General Ramón Corona as the Regional Military Chief of the Jalisco Coast. He fought in the region of El Tuito, Tomatlán, Talpa, Mascota, and Tepic. He succeeded in most of the battles in which he participated. He came to have a contingent at his command of a force of more than 2,000 armed men and on horseback. He was a recognized liberal.
Since 1867, he persecuted and fought Manuel Lozada "The Tiger of Alica", a Nayarit chieftain, with monarchical and agrarian ideas, who had risen up against the federal government and protected by the Emperor Maximilian.
In 1871 Lozada's group was defeated at the “La Mojonera” Ranch, managing to save the “Pueblo de Tequila” from their invasion and a possible planned attack on the city of Guadalajara, capturing them and later shooting their leader in 1873, by the forces of Ramón Corona, but some criminals were fugitive and continued to do misdeeds.
In 1876, Don Pablo Ríos was killed in an ambush, during a surveillance trip, in the north of Jalisco, by a group of French fugitives and several Mexican and indigenous conservative renegades who had been led by Manuel Lozada, the aforementioned Nayarit chieftain, and who were assaulting and robbing an extensive territory of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa, since shortly after the French intervention ended in 1867.
Don Pablo defended and helped the entire region, which is why the towns of Tomatlán and El Tuito consider him their hero and remember him with gratitude for everything he did for them. And for that reason, what is the Main Street of El Tuito, bears his name.
- 1871 The El Tuito locality became a part of the Talpa district.
- 1872 General Porfirio Díaz remained hidden in different parts of the municipality by taking up arms against the government of Benito Juárez when he was going to Mazatlán.
- 1905 El Tuito became a locality of the municipality of Tomatlán.
- 1924 El Tuito became part of the municipality of Puerto Vallarta.
- 1944 On 18 March, by decree number 4955, the El Tuito delegation was established as a municipality with the name of Cabo Corrientes.
Geography
Climate
The climate in the El Tuito region is temperate with dry and warm springs and no defined winter season. This municipality has a very pleasant climate since its average annual temperature is 78 °F ; prevailing winds are towards the northwest, and the rainy season last from June to September giving approximately an average annual rainfall of 878.3 millimeters.Flora and fauna
Flora
Its flora is made up of several varieties of fruit trees such as the following, mango, lime, lemon, orange, guava, avocado and other varieties of vegetation such as cedars, pines, oaks, walnut trees, breadnuts, conifers, gum tree, and Santa Maria tree.Fauna
This region has a varied fauna and the animals that make it up are deer, snakes, scorpions, raccoons, bats, badgers, squirrels, pigeons, parakeets, foxes, opossums, armadillos.Various species of marine animals of interest are present on the coast of Cabo Corrientes. Five species of sea turtles stand out, four of them nest on its sandy beaches: olive ridley, green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, and hawksbill sea turtle. Also, specimens of the loggerhead sea turtle species feed in juvenile state in the marine zone. The presence of whales, dolphins, and killer whales that can be seen on tours of the area is common. The southern end of the municipality's coast is part of the Playón de Mismaloya Sanctuary Natural Protected Area, the largest space in Mexico for the protection of sea turtles.
In the terrestrial zone, the presence of practically all the felines of Mexico stands out, especially jaguars and pumas, which are persecuted by poachers without there being an institutional program for their protection. No appropriate inventories or studies have been carried out, despite the fact that it is recognized as one of the richest territories in biodiversity and with a relatively good degree of conservation.
Hydrography
El Tuito forms an internal part of the Central Pacific basin, Ameca-Tomatlán, Tomatlán-Río Cuale sub-basin, the main streams being the rivers: “La Puerta”, “Zicatán”, “Tecolotlán”. The seasonal streams are: "El Ipala" and "La Boquita"; the permanent streams are: “Puchiteca”, “Tabo Piloro”, “Maxeque” and “La Peñita”. El Tuito has many springs and estuaries such as: "Mayto", "La Boquita" and "Tecolotlán".Topography
Its surface is composed of three-quarters of elevated areas with heights approximately 2625 to 5900 feet above sea level. The other quarter is made up of areas formed by hills and tors that are not very high, between 0 and 1300 feet asl.Soil
This territory is made up of territories of predominant composition of soils, these types of soil are: Eutric Regosol, Haplic Feozem, and Leptosol.Eutric regosol: it is clear, it is of a rocky origin identical to its species and has a thickness of a single layer.
Haplic feozem: this is a soil of any climate but it is more in the rainy climate.
Leptosol: this is soft and in some of the areas it shows a dark surface.
Economy
The main economic activities that stand out in El Tuito are: agriculture, livestock, industry, forestry, fishing, and tourism- Within agriculture those that stand out the most are: sorghum, corn, sesame, and coffee.
- In livestock the rearing of: cattle, pigs, goats, horses and different types of birds stand out.
- Currently there are small industries in the municipal seat. The main branches are the conversion of food, dairy products, pastures, tequila, raicilla distillers. Also, there are small businesses which process coffee.
- Forest exploitation. There is forestry activity with non-timber products and these refer to the exploitation of chilte to manufacture chewing gum, and almonds from oil coquito.
- Fishing in the municipality is carried out through the exploitation of different species of oyster, crab, and fish, in the sale of these stands out El Tuito.
- Within the tourism in the municipality of Cabo Corrientes, tourists can visit the forests located South of this municipal seat El Tuito.
Sightseeing. There is no official directory or formal program to promote tourism service providers in the municipality of Cabo Corrientes. In the Villa del Mar area, stayings can be made to participate in sea turtle conservation activities, in support of the University of Guadalajara and a Community Environmental Surveillance Committee, as part of the offer of true ecotourism.