Mascota

History

Before the conquest, Mascota was a chiefdom of Teco people with authority over Talpa, El Tuito and Chacala. The Spanish captain Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura arrived in early 1525 on the orders of Hernán Cortés, and the first Franciscan missionaries came around the same time. The area was given in encomienda to Pedro Gómez and Martín Monje, against whom the people of Mascota and neighboring villages rebelled in 1535. Nuño de Guzmán had subdued the region in 1530.

Augustinian friars settled nearby in 1576, and for most of the colonial period nearly all the land belonged to their order. The parish was created in 1722, when work began on the present church, which was blessed on February 2, 1755. The Augustinians withdrew in 1806, and in 1815 the vast Mascota hacienda was sold to the Spaniards Francisco and Juan Guzmán.

After independence the town rose in rank. In 1824 it received the title of villa and became the head of a department, and in 1843 a mining court was set up for the local mines. It was made the seat of Jalisco's 10th canton in 1870 and was granted the title of city on April 10, 1885. The late 19th century also brought the tower clock, a hospital and new chapels. Mascota was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2015.