Santa Maria del Valle, Jalisco, Mexico

🇲🇽 Arandas is a municipality of the Altos Sur region of the state of Jalisco in Mexico. Arandas is also the name of the municipality's main township and the centre of the municipal government. The city centre is located approximately 86 miles (138 km) east of Guadalajara, the state capital. Arandas is accessible to residents of Guadalajara by the Mexican Federal Highway 80D and Jalisco State Highway 314.

The town's main plaza is named Plaza Hidalgo after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, known as the father of Mexico's war of independence. The municipality's area was 949.9 km² (366.8 sq mi); however, this have been significantly reduced since 2007 with the creation of the municipality of San Ignacio Cerro Gordo from the western part of what was formerly part of the Arandas municipality. San Ignacio Cerro Gordo was the second-largest community in the municipality before the split, but the largest remaining community besides the city of Arandas is Santa María del Valle.

Arandas is situated on the Mesa Central at an elevation of 6,762 feet (2,061 metres). Arandas is commonly known among Mexicans as the commercial and manufacturing centre for agricultural products (typically beans and wheat) and its pastoral environment, which allows the city to produce various commercial products such as linseed oil, tequila, pottery, woollen blankets, and straw hats.

History Originally, the region was barely inhabited by the Chichimeca and the Purépecha people. To show the origin of this community more extensively, the past was excavated and information was linked together until reaching its institutional origin that dates to July 2, 1544, the year that both New Spain's viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza, as the governor of Nueva Galicia Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, they gave in a series of land bonds to Spanish captain Juan de Villaseñor y Orozco, which by its vast land area became a large estate (40.000 square km) achieved due to his enormous labour both, in the early days of the conquest, as well as a reward for his great strategies during the Mixton war.

On November 14, 1824, Arandas became part of the Atotonilco department. On April 8, 1844, the council was established. On July 9, 1875, Arandas became elevated to municipality status and on September 17, it was raised to town status, but belonged to the La Barca department. On August 23, 1969, Arandas became recognised as a city by then governor of Jalisco, Francisco Medina Ascencio.

From 1926 to 1929, the Cristero War took place and Arandas was a focal during the war because of the strong religious sentiments of the population.

The crater Arandas, on the planet Mars, was named after the city since 1976, when the International Astronomical Union agreed to put it in honour of the city. Arandas Crater is estimated to be 24.8 km (15.4 miles) in diameter. Arandas is located within the Mare Acidalium Quadrangle to the Northeast of Chryse Planitia in the Northern Plains of Mars and is one of the classic examples of a double-layered ejecta crater. The Arandas crater was one of the first DLE craters studied following the start of the Viking Orbiter missions in the late 1970s.

Demography 0.56% of the population are of Indigenous backgrounds. In 2015, the population in Arandas was composed of 49% men and 51% women. The city has seen a sharp demographic rise in recent years to its growing agricultural sector and economic opportunities. Compared to 2010, the population in Arandas increased by 10.7%. Around 60% of the population is of European origin mostly of Spanish and French descent. The Municipality has an Afro-Descendant population of 599, approximately 0.78% of the city's population, this population descends from victims of the slave trade in Latin America perpetuated by the New Spanish regime.

The age range of Arandas residents that concentrates the largest population were 15 to 19 years (7,738 inhabitants), 5 to 9 years (7,441 inhabitants), and 10 to 14 years (7,321 inhabitants). Among them, they concentrated 27.9% of the total population.

Diversity According to data from the Population Census 2020, 22.8k dwellings were registered, with an average of 3.4 individuals per household. Of these, 31.4% are homes where the person of reference is a woman and 68.6% corresponds to homes where the person of reference is a man. Regarding the age ranges of the person of reference, 11.9% of the dwellings are concentrated heads of households between 35 and 39 years.

Languages The principal and main language of Arandas is Spanish, it is the language of trade and commerce in addition to the language most commonly spoken in the everyday lives of residents. The number of speakers of indigenous languages has declined since the colonial era through genocide, cultural assimilation and policies enacted by the Spanish Empire and New Spain. However, some indigenous languages continue to be spoken within Arandas and the Greater Los Altos region. The population that's able to fluently speak one indigenous language was 261 inhabitants, which corresponds to 0.32% of the total population of Arandas. The most widely spoken indigenous dialects were Tzeltal (233 inhabitants), Náhuatl (10 inhabitants), Zapoteco (9 inhabitants) and Tarasco (9 inhabitants). Purépecha speakers also exist within the city, although the official number is unknown. These speakers descend from the Tzeltal, Nahuas, Zapotec, Purépecha and Tarasco people that have inhabited the Jalisco province since the Pre-Columbian era.

Many European languages are also spoken within the city as around 60% of the population is of European origin mostly of Spanish and French descent.

Immigration Immigration to the Los Altos de Jalisco region of Mexico has increased due to the rising economic opportunities that the region gives. Arandas specifically, is a rising residence for immigrants due to its proximity to Guadalajara, the state capital and the seventh-largest city in Mexico. The largest number of migrants who entered Arandas in the last 5 years came from the United States (338 people), Canada (30 people), and South Korea (18 people). The main causes of migration to Arandas in recent years were family (191 people), labour (95 people), and living place (38 people).

Inequality The Gini coefficient of Arandas is 0.41. The Gini coefficient or Gini index is a statistical measure designed to represent the income distribution of the inhabitants, specifically, the inequality between them. Indices closer to 0, represent more equity among its inhabitants, while values close to 1, express maximum inequity among its population. This makes Arandas one of the municipalities in Jalisco with the lowest social inequality. In 2015, in Jalisco, the municipalities with the lowest social inequality, according to the GINI index, were: Tonila (0.359), Tonaya (0.363), Acatlán de Juárez (0.366), Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos (0.372), and San Gabriel (0.374). On the other hand, the municipalities with less social equality by this metric were: Mezquitic (0.640), Bolaños (0.532), Villa Guerrero (0.468), Quitupan (0.458), and Huejuquilla el Alto (0.457).

Economy The economy of Arandas is centred around the production of goods and services, particularly the production of agricultural goods. Arandas has had unprecedented macroeconomic stability, with one of the highest per capita incomes of Jalisco municipalities, especially with the Los Altos Region. The International sales of Arandas in 2020 totalled US$4.41M, -0.37% less than the previous year.

According to data from the Economic Census 2019, the economic sectors that concentrated the most economic units in Arandas were Retail Trade (1,991 units), Other Services except Government Activities (662 units), and Temporary Accommodation and Food Preparation and Drinks (507 units).

Imports and exports The products with the highest level of international sales in 2020 were Plastics Articles for the Conveyance or Packing of Goods (US$3.71M), Containers of Glass of a Kind Used for the Conveyance or Packing of Goods (US$590k), and Boxes, Sacks, Bags and other Paper Packaging (US$66.9k). International purchases of Arandas in 2020 were US$2.45M, -81.8% less than the previous year. The products with the highest level of international purchases in 2020 were Machinery and Apparatus for Soldering, Brazing, Welding, Gas-Operated Surface Tempering Machines and Appliances (US$694k), Machinery and Mechanical Appliances Having Individual Functions, not Specified Elsewhere (US$472k), and Labels of all Kinds, Paper or Paperboard, whether or not Printed (US$302k). As of June 2021, the annual international sales of Arandas totalled US$19.2M and the international purchases totalled US$4.96M, a balance of US$14.24M.

Foreign direct investment Jalisco, particularly the Los Altos de Jalisco subregion (which includes Arandas), has received a lot of Foreign Direct Investment in the 21st century. In the period January to June 2021, FDI in Jalisco reached US$875M, distributed in reinvestment of earnings (US$542M), inter-company debts (US$202M), and equity capital (US$131M). From January 1999 and June 2021, Jalisco accumulates a total of US$625B in FDI, distributed in equity capital (US$15.4B), reinvestment of earnings (US$10.3B), and inter-company debts (US$8.85B). From January to June de 2021, the main origin countries of FDI in Jalisco were United States (US$301M), United Kingdom (US$209M), and Canada (US$90.2M). Between January 1999 and June 2021, the countries that have contributed the most to FDI are the United States (US$17.6B), Germany (US$2.98B), and Spain (US$2.9B).

Tequila Arandas is the main tequila production centre in the Los Altos region, one of the two main tequila producing regions in the state of Jalisco: the other being the municipality of Tequila, Jalisco. Arandas is home to the La Alteña distillery, one of the most well-known and respected distilleries of tequila producing brands such as El Tesoro De Don Felipe. Widely renowned for using traditional production methods such as roasting agave in brick ovens, without the use of flavour additives, diffusers, or autoclaves employed by lesser quality brands. At the entrance of the town, there is a landmark monument that signals the entrance to the Centinela distillery (followed by another monument dedicated to the city's founder). Organically grown agave for tequila is produced in the village of Agua Negra, about 16 miles from Arandas.

Facts • Tequila is one of the best-selling products in Arandas. • The most exported products from Arandas are Cazadores, Centinela, Carrera and Tapatío tequilas. • Arandas has French, Italian, and Spanish communities. • San Jose Obrero, currently the largest church in Arandas, has Romanesque-Gothic style architecture and one of the biggest bells in North America. • On July 5, 2013, construction began on a new 18-bed "regional" hospital. • A Mars Crater was named Arandas by The International Astronomical Union in 1976 in order to bring honour to the city.