Tonallan

Tonallan was a dominion of the central Jalisco highlands, ruled from Tonalá. Its Nahuatl name meant where the sun rises.

In 1510 Tonallan repelled a Purépecha invasion in the Salitre War. When Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán arrived in 1530, its female ruler Cihualpilli Tzapotzinco favoured submission, but three thousand subjects attacked the Spaniards and were defeated. She was baptized Juana Bautista; Tonalá became a leading town of Nueva Galicia until Guadalajara overshadowed it.