Jocotepec

Jocotepec (Spanish pronunciation: [xokoteˈpek]) is a town and municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 384.36 km². As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 37,972. Perhaps as early as 100 BC, nomadic bands of Indians passed through the Lake Chapala Valley. Some moved on, others settled on the shore. Jocotepec, once Xuxutepeque, a small fishing village at the western end of the Lake, became a permanent home for the Nahua Indians in 1361. They built a temple to their god, Iztlacateotl, and practiced human sacrifice. The village became a trading and ceremonial site for the surrounding mountain area. "Xuxutepeque was the name given Jocotepec by its first Nahua settlers. (The last...