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Mexico Travel :: State of Nayarit

Nayarit was one of the centers of the Tomb Culture, also found in Jalisco and Colima. Probably flourishing in the last few centuries BC, these peoples buried their dead at the bottom of long shafts in ceremonies accompanied by elaborate offerings of painted terracotta figurines, many depicting male-female pairs (perhaps ancestors). Others portrayed whole towns, including houses, temples and the citizenry. The first Spaniard arrived in Nayarit in 1524, but it was Nuno Beltran de Guzman who conquered the region in 1529. He Founded Compostela, the first capital of the province of Nueva Galicia, on the site of Tepic, an Indian town. Later, Compostela was moved south, and Tepic returned to its original name and eventually became the capital. Nayarit's sierra was the stronghold of the Cora and Huichol tribes, who resisted the Spanish military and evangelists until well into the 18th century. They remain amongst the least assimilated of the Indian groups. In 1767, Charles III of Spain chose the small Nayarit harbor of San Bias to be the port for his Pacific fleet. He wanted to strengthen his hold on the Californias and counter the Russians, who were colonizing Alaska. During the mid-19th century, Nayarit was ruled by Lozada, 'The Tiger of Alicia', who began his career as a smuggler and later became a general on the side of the conservatives and then the French imperialists. In the 1860s, he decided to make the poverty-stricken Indians of the sierra his cause and led an Indian army on Guadalajara in a renewal of the War of the Castes. The Mexican army wounded, captured and quickly executed 'El Tigre'.

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