Zacatecas, the first settlement

In 1530 Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán accompanied by 500 Spanish soldiers and 15,000 Mexicas, entered La Barca towards Tonallan. In his journey, he defeated the caciques of the region, from Michoacán to Zacatecas, founding a settlement that served as a fort.

Thus in 1532 he founded Guadalajara in what is now Nochistlán, Zacatecas. The settlement was named in honor of the Spanish city of the same name, the same from which Nuño de Guzmán was originally from.

The conquerors believed that this seemed to be the ideal place to create a city, with a good climate, land and natural beauties, but they were not the only ones who believed it. They were the caxcanes and zacatecos that prevented the consolidation of the settlement.

Today the Zacatecan town preserves a clean image of provincial air that invites travelers to stroll through its streets. Named a magical town in 2012, it has a wide range of traditions, customs, gastronomy and architecture without equal.

 Guadalajara arrives in Jalisco

A year after Nochistlán, Guadalajara was moved to the Tonalá area, where it would remain for approximately 2 years.

In 1535 Guadalajara changed its address to Tlacotán, which is now Ixtlahuacán del Río, here the city was constantly attacked by the natives. After a very strong attack, in which Pedro de Alvarado, one of the conquerors of Tenochtitlán, died, the Perla Tapatía changed its settlement again.

Guadalajara received the title of city by Don Carlos I of Spain in 1939 and a coat of arms was granted by the same king on November 8 of that year. This shield, with some modifications, is the one used for the entire state of Jalisco.

Ixtlahuacán del Río still preserves the ruins of what was the third Guadalajara, here we can find a stipe altarpiece from the 16th century, which fuses indigenous and Catholic elements.

 The final settlement

After pacifying the area after the death of Pedro de Alvarado, Cristóbal de Oñate, governor of Nueva Galicia, called a Cabildo session to emigrate to the south of the ravine. None reached an agreement since they thought that Nuño de Guzmán would not see it as another change to the city.

According to some historians, it is these discussions that Beatriz Hernández broke into the session, who confronted the indecisive attendees with the well-known phrase: "The king is my rooster, I am of the opinion that we go to the Atemajac Valley and if something else is He does it will be in disservice to God and the king, and the rest is to show cowardice. What is Guzmán going to do to us since he has been the cause of the trances in which this town has walked? After a silence, the governor ordered them to go as Doña Beatriz had said.

Finally, on February 14, 1542, 63 peninsular family heads founded the fourth and final city of Guadalajara near the San Juan de Dios river, behind the Degollado Theater.