# San Sebastián del Oeste

San Sebastián del Oeste (Spanish: ) is a town and municipality, located on the western part of Jalisco state, Mexico, between 20°39’45’’ - 21°02’30’’ N and 104°35’00’’ - 104°51’00’’ W, at a height of 1,480 metres (4,856 ft).

## Geography

The municipality of San Sebastián del Oeste borders the state of Nayarit to the north; to the south, the municipality of Mascota; to the east, the municipalities of Guachinango and Mascota; and to the west, Puerto Vallarta.
The city and municipality are served by an airfield.

## History

San Sebastián was founded as a mining town in 1605, during the early Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain period. Gold, silver and lead were mined in the area. More than 25 mines and a number of foundries were established by 1785.
The town was formally established as a city in 1812.

## Population

At the start of the 21st century, San Sebastián town had a population of less than 1,000 people.
It reached a peak population of around 20,000 people by 1900. The prosperity of the town declined after the revolution of 1910.

## Features

San Sebastián del Oeste is a designated Pueblo Mágico, one of the towns maintaining their historical character and promoted by the federal government as tourism destinations. It also receives tourists visiting nearby Puerto Vallarta on the coast to the west. Recent road improvements reduced transit time from Puerto Vallarta to under 2 hours.
* The Church of Saint Sebastian, whose original construction was in 1608, was designed in the Colonial Spanish Baroque style. It has notable architectural details, including Corinthian columns and ceiling vault frescos.
* Many structures in the city and municipality were built of cut stone and/or adobe in the 19th and earlier centuries, and remain unchanged. Some old haciendas in the municipality have been purchased and restored in recent decades.
* The city is on the Tentative List

### Fiestas

The town is known for its fiestas for religious holidays:
* January 20 — a fiesta in honor of Saint Sebastian.
* August 15 — a fiesta dedicated to the Virgin of the Asunción.
* October 7 — a fiesta for the Virgin of the Rosary.
* December 12 — the Virgin of Guadalupe is venerated at the small town of Los Reyes, near San Sebastian del Oeste city in the municipality. The Fiesta of Guadalupe occurs throughout Mexico on this date.

## Government

Its form of government is democratic and depends on the state and federal government; elections are held every three years, when the municipal president and her/his council are elected. The municipal president is Aurora Ponce Peña, from the Citizens' Movement party, who was elected in the elections on 6 June 2021.

### Municipal presidents

| Municipal president | Term | Political party | Notes |
| Ignacio Aguirre | 1867 | | |
| Francisco Landeros | 1868–1869 | | |
| Pablo Encarnación | 1872 | | |
| Herculano Robles | 1873 | | |
| Manuel Gil | 1873 | | |
| Pablo Encarnación | 1874 | | |
| Alberto Peña | 1876–1877 | | |
| Pablo Encarnación | 1879–1880 | | |
| Concepción Encarnación | 1882 | | |
| Manuel Gil | 1883 | | |
| Alberto Peña | 1884 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1885 | | |
| Francisco Sánchez | 1886 | | |
| Concepción Encarnación | 1887 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1888 | | |
| B. Bernal | 1889 | | |
| Francisco Sánchez | 1890 | | |
| Ricardo Ramos | 1891–1892 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1892 | | |
| Francisco Sánchez | 1893 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1894 | | |
| Aureliano Sánchez | 1895 | | |
| J. Francisco López | 1896 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1897 | | |
| Alberto García | 1898 | | |
| Francisco López | 1899 | | |
| Manuel Gil | 1900 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1901 | | |
| Isidro Robles | 1902 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1903–1904 | | |
| Aureliano Sánchez | 1905 | | |
| Abraham González | 1906 | | |
| Aureliano Sánchez | 1909 | | |
| Calixto Sánchez | 1908 | | |
| Aureliano Sánchez | 1909 | | |
| José Robles | 1910 | | |
| Samuel Sánchez | 1911 | | |
| Efrén Aguirre | 1912–1913 | | |
| Agustín Encarnación | 1914 | | |
| Alfonso Ducreux | 1915–1916 | | |
| Antonio Siordia | 1917 | | |
| Isidro Robles | 1918 | | |
| Federico Bermúdez | 1919 | | |
| Ramón Villanueva | 1920 | | |
| Samuel Sánchez | 1920 | | |
| Antonio Peña | 1920 | | |
| Ramón VIllanueva | 1920 | | |
| Agustín Encarnación | 1921 | | |
| Amado Sánchez | 1921 | | |
| Samuel Sánchez N. | 1922 | | |
| Pedro Trujillo | 1922 | | |
| José Robles | 1923 | | |
| Ramón Villanueva | 1923 | | |
| Agustín Encarnación | 1923 | | |
| Ignacio Zaragoza | 1923–1924 | | |
| Pedro Trujillo | 1924 | | |
| Ignacio Zaragoza | 1925 | | |
| J. Guadalupe Arredondo | 1926 | | |
| Agustín Encarnación | 1926 | | |
| Antonio Esparza | 1926 | | |
| Antonio Siordia | 1926 | | |
| Samuel Sánchez N. | 1927 | | |
| Adrián Sánchez N. | 1927 | | |
| Feliciano Guerrero | 1928 | | |
| Alfonso Ducreux | 1929 | PNR | |
| Pastor Siordia Morales | 1930 | PNR | |
| Adolfo Ducreux | 1930 | PNR | |
| Miguel Bernal Siordia | 1931 | PNR | |
| Ruperto Guerrero | 1932 | PNR | |
| Adrián Sánchez Noriega | 1933 | PNR | |
| Heliodoro Aguirre García | 1934 | PNR | |
| José Luis Bermúdez E. | 1935 | PNR | |
| Manuel Gil E. | 1936 | PNR | |
| Juan Manuel Bernal | 1936 | PNR | |
| Juan Quintero | 1937 | PNR | |
| José María Trujillo | 1938–1939 | PRM | |
| Julián Dueñas Lepe | 1940 | PRM | |
| José Medina Vázquez | 1941 | PRM | |
| José María Trujillo B. | 1942 | PRM | |
| Julián Dueñas Lepe | 1943–1944 | PRM | |
| Heliodoro Aguirre García | 1945–1946 | PRM | |
| Feliciano Guerrero López | 1947–1948 | PRI | |
| Heliodoro Aguirre García | 1949–1952 | PRI | |
| Leopoldo López Orendáin | 1953 | PRI | |
| Gonzalo Montes Villalvazo | 1954 | PRI | |
| Feliciano Guerrero López | 1954 | PRI | |
| Guillermo Gómez García | 1954–1955 | PRI | |
| Francisco Vázquez V. | 1955 | PRI | |
| Guillermo Gómez García | 1955 | PRI | |
| Juventino Bernal L. | 1956 | PRI | |
| Luis González Siordia | 1957 | PRI | |
| Francisco Sánchez Islas | 1958 | PRI | |
| Alfredo Sánchez Sandoval | 1959–1961 | PRI | |
| José María Trujillo Bernal | 1962–1964 | PRI | |
| Arnulfo Ponce Peña | 1965–1967 | PRI | |
| Ma. del Consuelo Trujillo González | 01-01-1968–31-12-1970 | PRI | |
| Gabriel Arredondo López | 01-01-1971–31-12-1973 | PRI | |
| Francisco Aguirre Gómez | 01-01-1974–31-12-1976 | PRI | |
| José Manuel López Bernal | 01-01-1977–31-12–1979 | PRI | |
| J. Jesús Hernández Pulido | 01-01-1980–31-12-1982 | PRI | |
| Bertha Aguirre Sánchez | 01-01-1983–31-12-1985 | PRI | |
| Heliodoro Gil Gil | 01-01-1986–31-12-1988 | PRI | |
| Jesús Martínez Ibarra | 1989–1992 | PRI | |
| Fernando Cervantes Gómez | 1992–1995 | PRI | |
| Ignacio Gudiño Salazar | 1995–1997 | PRI | |
| Juan Yáñez Morales | 01-01-1998–31-12-2000 | PRI | |
| Vicente Aguirre Rosas | 01-01-2001–31-12-2003 | PRI | |
| Miguel Cibrián Bernal | 01-01-2004–31-12-2006 | PRI | |
| Efrén Álvarez López | 01-01-2007–31-12-2009 | PRD PT Convergence | "Coalition for the Good of All" |
| Juan Yáñez Morales | 01-01-2010–30-09-2012 | PRI Panal | Coalition "Alliance for Jalisco" |
| Yesenia Pulido Ávalos | 01-10-2012–30-09-2015 | PRI PVEM | Coalition "Compromise for Jalisco" |
| Jesús Damián Vázquez Barajas | 01-10-2015–30-09-2018 | MC | |
| Luis Alberto Arredondo López | 01-10-2018–30-09-2021 | PVEM | |
| María Aurora Ponce Peña | 01-10-2021– | MC | |

## Images

* School building and schoolyard.
* Michelada bar in the center of town.
* The Baroque bell tower of the Church of San Sebastián.
* Baroque interior of the Church of San Sebastián.
* Ruins of a gold and silver reduction foundry for the local mines.
* Hacienda Jalisco, in the municipality.
* Hacienda Jalisco, a grinding stone and hornos (ovens).
* El Progreso Bridge, viewed from the south.