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 center 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 population of the town of Arandas was 59,648 as of the 2020 census. 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 population as of the census of 2015 was 77,116 and its area was 949.9 km2 (366.8 sq mi); however, both of these figures 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, with a population of 9,485 inhabitants, but the largest remaining community besides the city of Arandas is Santa María del Valle, with a population of 4,285 (2020 census).
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.
Local toponymy
The name is derived from the original name the existing population received during the 17th century: Santa María de Guadalupe de los Aranda, which was derived from the last name Aranda, one of the founding families; along with Camarena and Hernández Gamiño.
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 recognized 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
According to the 2005 Second Count of Population and Housing, the city has 80,193 inhabitants, of which 38,171 are males and 42,022 are women; 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.