Cadereyta

History

People have lived in this semi-desert for some 7,000 years, first as nomadic hunters and gatherers. When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the frontier between the Chichimecas and the Otomí lordship of Xilotepec ran along the San Juan river, and the hills beyond were home to the semi-nomadic Jonaz and Pame.

Silver changed the map. Mines were found at Maconí in the late 16th century and at Escanela in 1599, and between 1614 and 1617 the viceregal government granted lands at the foot of Cerro Gordo, along the roads to the mines. The Chichimecas fought the intrusion, and soldiers and Franciscan missionaries from Tecozautla and Huichapan answered with long campaigns. In 1639 Viceroy Lope Díez de Armendáriz, Marquis of Cadereyta, put Captain Alonso de Tovar Guzmán in charge. On June 29, 1640, the captain founded a Spanish town named for the viceroy, settled with Spaniards and Indigenous colonists from Xilotepec and Huichapan. It became a base for guarding the trade routes and was made an alcaldía mayor in 1689.

When the state of Querétaro was created in 1824, the district of Cadereyta contributed more than half its territory. The town was declared a city in 1861 and in 1904 added de Montes in memory of the lawyer Ezequiel Montes, who was born here. It was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2011.