San Joaquín

History

Mining here is far older than the town. The archaeological site of Ranas was a pre-Hispanic mining center, worked from around 400 CE, chiefly for cinnabar, a red pigment in great demand across Mesoamerica. The site probably belongs to the Teotihuacan and Toltec era, between the seventh and eleventh centuries, and may have linked the central highlands with the coastal plain of Veracruz. Rock paintings survive in nearby communities such as El Durazno.

Spanish settlement came late to these mountains. A village called San Nicolás Tolentino was founded at Ranas in 1622 and the community of Ojo de Agua de Ranas in 1682. The viceroy made the first land grant in the area in 1724, and the first Spanish mine, San Juan Nepomuceno, opened in 1728. The name San Joaquín, after the patron saint, first appears on a map in 1864.

Mining, ranching and timber long supported the town, and a round ore-crushing stone at its entrance recalls that past. The parish church on the main square keeps much of its original architecture, and a small archaeology and mining museum is housed in the municipal library. Tourism has become another source of income, and San Joaquín joined the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2015.