Ixtlahuacán del Río

Ixtlahuacán del Río
—  Municipality and city  —
Location of the municipality in Jalisco
Ixtlahuacán del Río Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 20°52′N 103°15′W
Country	Mexico
State	Jalisco
Area
• Total	594.94 km2 (229.71 sq mi)
Population (2005)
• Total	18,157

Ixtlahuacán del Rio is a town and municipality in the center of the Mexican state of Jalisco, a little less than 50 kilometers from state capital Guadalajara. It stands at 1,655 meters above sea level; the climate is semi-arid, with a mild winter and an average annual temperature of 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit).

Pre-Hispanic antecedents of Ixtlahuacán del Río

Ixtlahuacán is a word of Nahuatl origin; the name means "flat place". It was founded by Toltecs approximately A.D. 610; it is hard to be certain of the exact date of founding, because none of the groups who inhabited the region — Tecuexes, Tepehuanes, Coanes, Cazcanos, and Zacatecos — had a written language in this period.