Jalpan

History

The small valleys of the Sierra Gorda were settled very early by people linked to the Olmec world, and later received Teotihuacan, Toltec and above all Huastec influence through trade along the Pánuco and Moctezuma rivers. As the climate dried, farming declined, and from the 13th century hunter-gatherer Chichimeca groups moved in: the Pame and Ximpece, who gradually took to village life, and the more warlike Jonaz. The Aztecs later made Jalpan a nominal tributary.

Nuño de Guzmán conquered the lordship of Oxitipa, which included Jalpan, in 1527, but fierce resistance kept the Spanish from truly holding the sierra for two centuries. A fort built in the 16th century is among the town's oldest structures. Jalpan was formally founded on April 21, 1744 by Captain José de Escandón. Between 1751 and 1758 the Franciscans, under Fray Junípero Serra, raised the mission church of Santiago Apóstol in a mestizo Baroque style that blends Pame and Christian motifs.

The old fort went on to serve as a jail for about fifty years before becoming a museum in 1991. Jalpan was given the rank of city in 1904, and de Serra was added to its name in 1976. The mission's World Heritage listing in 2003 and the Pueblo Mágico title in 2010 have made tourism a growing part of a local economy based on commerce, livestock and farming.