Tequisquiapan

History

Before the Spanish arrived, Otomi and Chichimeca people shared this area, which was already known for its freshwater and hot springs. No large city stood here, but trade routes crossed the valley.

The town was founded in 1551 under a royal decree signed by Viceroy Luis de Velasco. The indigenous leader Nicolás de San Luis Montañez, an ally of the Spanish, gathered local Chichimecas and Otomi at the chosen spot, where a cross was planted and a Mass was said at an altar of stones and flowers. First called Santa María de la Asunción y de las Aguas Calientes, it took the name Tequisquiapan in 1656, from Nahuatl words for water and tequesquite, a mineral salt. Farming shaped the next three centuries, and because the population stayed largely indigenous, the town kept its simple, rustic architecture.

The parish church was built in stages, with the dome finished in 1921 through the unpaid labor of local men. A decree by President Venustiano Carranza declared Tequisquiapan the geographic center of Mexico, which a monument still marks. Grape growing began in the 1960s, and the National Cheese and Wine Fair has since helped make tourism a mainstay.