Cutzalan

Cutzalan lies in the plateau and forest country of western Mexico, in the Cuzalapa and Cuautitlán district of Jalisco. Altitude separates warmer lower ground from cooler uplands, and the rain falls mainly in summer, leaving a drier spring. Vegetation and water therefore vary over short distances, which shaped where settlements stood and where crops and grazing could be pursued. Routes through the forested slopes connected the communities of this district, the same country whose boundaries are recorded on the 1531 Cuzalapa map.