Cuquío

Cuquío is the seat of the municipality of the same name, in north-central Jalisco, at about 1,780 m above sea level. At the 2020 census the town had 5,011 inhabitants and the municipality 17,820. The hill of La Silleta, about 2,200 m, rises behind it.

Nuño de Guzmán conquered the region in 1530. The seat of the corregimiento was at Tlacotlán until 1690 and then moved to Cuquío, where it stayed until Independence. The parish of San Felipe was begun in 1762 and finished in 1834. Cuquío became a partido seat in 1823 and a departamento seat in 1846, within the Cantón de Guadalajara.

The centre keeps colonial-style houses, the Templo del Sagrado Corazón and the Convento de Dolores, as well as the house where Miguel Hidalgo stayed in January 1811. In the nearby countryside are haciendas such as Burro de Oro, the Los Gigantes dam, a hot-water stream and the Cuacuala dam; part of the municipality lies inside the protected area Barrancas de los Ríos Santiago y Verde. More than 70% of the land is farmed, and silver, magnesium, lime and quarry stone are extracted.

The feria of San Felipe, the Fiestas de Mayo, runs 3 to 11 May and is among the most important in the region. The Virgen de Guadalupe fiesta follows on 1 to 12 December, and the September patriotic festivities include the crowning of a queen. In the last week of June there is a pilgrimage to the parish for the holy martyrs Justino Orona and Atilano Cruz.