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Mexico Travel :: The Colonial States

State of San Luis Potosi

San Luis Potosi was divided between the Huastecs, who occupied the southeastern corner of the state, and the Chichimecs who roamed the rest. The Huastecs, who spoke a Mayan language, apparently flourished between AD 800 and 1200, but not enough systematic investigation has been done to know much about them. According to the Aztecs, they were the inventors of pulque, the alcoholic beverage made from maguey juice, and the Aztecs considered them notorious drunkards and lechers. Their descendants still occupy the same territory today. Cortes and Nuno Beltran de Guz-man passed through San Luis Potosi as they jockeyed for control of north and central Mexico. The belligerence of the Indians and the far more attractive silver discoveries in Zacatecas kept San Luis Potosi free of settlers for decades. The period between 1550 and 1590 was the era of the Chichimec War, and the only Spaniards who dared enter were Augustinian and Franciscan missionaries accompanied by soldiers. In 1583, Fray Diego de la Magdalena founded a small mission for local Indians at the site of San Luis Potosi. With the discovery of the San Pedro mines in 1592, settlers finally began arriving in the territory. The silver-rich areas in the hills lacked water, so the miners settled in the San Luis Valley and officially founded the city on November 3, 1592. Within three decades it was the third most important city in Mexico after the capital and Puebla.

In 1623, the Jesuits established a famous college there and evangelized in the state until their expulsion from Mexico in 1767. As they left the city was rocked by earthquakes, which were interpreted as a sign from God. In 1800, a mountain of gold and silver was found in Catorce, now the ghost town of Real de Catorce, and for a century it was the third most productive mine in Mexico.

In 1910, the anti-Diaz campaigner, Francisco Madero, was arrested for daring to challenge the dictator and thrown into San Luis Potosf s jail. He later escaped from the city to the United States, from where he issued his Plan San Luis Potosi, a call for Mexicans to take up arms against Diaz. During the subsequent Revolution the city fell into the hands oifederaks, constitutionalists and Villa's troops at one time or another. The end of the Revolution was not the end of political turmoil in San Luis Potosi: after President Cardenas' expropriation of foreign oil companies in 1938, San Luis Potosi's political strong man, General Saturnino Cedillo (perhaps under the influence of oil company agents), declared that the state didn't recognize Cardenas' authority. Cardenas rushed the federal army to the state and quickly squashed the rebellion, killing Cedillo. In 1960, Salvador Nava was cheated of his victory in the gubernatorial elections and his followers staged a noisy protest in the main square. Security forces from Mexico City quelled the demonstration with bloody force. In 1991, the past repeated itself: Nava ran again for governor, was cheated once more and staged a protest march to Mexico City. This time President Salinas de Gortari, who is acutely conscious of foreign opinion, nullified the results, sent his own party's candidate off in disgrace and scheduled new elections.

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