Santiago de Tequila (Spanish: [teˈkila] ⓘ; Nahuatl languages: Tequillan, Tecuila "place of tribute") is a Mexican town and municipality located in the state of Jalisco about 60 km from the city of Guadalajara.

The Epiclassic saw an intrusion of peoples from the Bajio region during a period of intense drought bringing with them many Central Mexican characteristics.

Locally, The Tecoxines and Caxcanes in the towns of Tlaltenango, Xochipila, Nochictlán and Teocaltech rebelled first, with those in Tequila joining later.

Friar Juan Calero of the monastery near Tequila went to try and pacify the situation, but he was killed by a barrage of arrows and rocks.

In October 1541, the situation in Nueva Galicia was so serious that the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, arrived from Mexico City.

This rebellion was suppressed by the governor of Nueva Galicia, José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, for which he was subsequently promoted to viceroy of Peru.

Rafael Pérez, under orders from José María Mercado, came to Tequila with 200 men to take over the town from royalist forces.

This was in recognition of an event in 1873, when Sixto Gorjón, about 50 police and citizens of Tequila fought off a group of bandits headed by Manuel Lozada, known as "The Tiger of Alicia".

The church has a stone facade, a bell tower and inverted truncated pyramid (estipite) pilasters that flank the main portal.

The upper portion contains a window with moulding with Doric columns in each side, decorated with curves and vegetable motifs.

In La Perseverancisa there is a huge work painted by Gabriel Flores in 1969 depicting the making and drinking of tequila.

[7] Just10 km outside the town of Tequila proper is the Sanctuary of Saint Toribio Romo González on the road that leads to the Balneario La Toma, in a community called Agua Caliente.

At 9pm every night, the priest offers blessings by ringing a bell three times, and directing the holy of holyest cross with the sacraments towards all 4 cardinal points.

pineapple) or heart of the plant was used by the indigenous peoples cooked as a sweet,[9] and as the base for a fermented alcoholic beverage.

The original mescal was already a well-known drink that was sold in towns regularly, and when the Spanish discovered this they used it as the source product for distillation.

Agave products were prized to the extent that they were objects of trade over considerable distances, for example, from Arizona’s Grand Canyon as much as 450 km eastward to consumers on the Colorado Plateau.

[12] The name "Tequila" has been protected by the Mexican government since 1974, and its use is limited to products distilled from agave grown in certain regions of Mexico.

It encompasses 35,019 hectares between the foothills of the Tequila Volcano and the valley of the Rio Grande de Santiago, which is covered in fields of blue agave.

Most distilleries and haciendas are made of brick and adobe, featuring stucco walls with an ochre lime-wash, stone arches, quoins and window frames.

The production of tequila represents the fusion of the pre-Hispanic tradition of making alcohol with agave with European distilling techniques.

In a number of the old hacienda/distilleries, visitors are invited to try their hand at some of the aspects of tequila making, such as cutting the spines off the agave plant.

On Saturdays and Sundays this train takes passengers through tequila country, accompanied by live mariachi music and bilingual guides to the Hacienda San José del Refugio.

Another guided tour is Tequila Adventure, which shuttle people in vans to the distilleries of la Cofradía and Mundo Cuervo.

It includes parades, charreadas (Mexican rodeos), cock fights, serenades with mariachis, and firework displays.

[citation needed] Tequila has also been famous for being the prime setting in the Televisa telenovela Destilando Amor, starring Angélica Rivera and Eduardo Yáñez.

The municipality borders with the main metropolitan region of Guadalajara to the east (Zapopan), and the State of Zacatecas to the north.

The Santiago y Chico River constitutes the low points of the municipality at 700 meters while the high peaks are located in the south.

The major rivers of the municipality are the Santiago, El Chico and Bolaños and a large number of small streams.

[5] One example of ecotourism here is the Balneario La Toma, which is located on very rugged terrain with cliffs, promoting rappelling, paragliding and other similar sports.

The Taste of Jalisco Festival was held in downtown, the second year honoring the culture, music, and food of the city's diverse Mexican heritage.