Dios soon became a leading settlement.[1] The records concerning the population and yield of the Zacatecas region are meagre, but it appears that while it at one time drew settlers away from the Guadalajara districts, and became the most populous settlement in New Spain, next to Mexico, the more northern discoveries of Ibarra created a reaction,[2] as did the new foundations to the south, such as Aguascalientes, so named after its springs,[3] and the mining districts eastward, centring round Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí.
With the conquest of Querétaro and the founding of Zacatecas the regions intermediate and eastward were soon occupied. Silao was settled in 1553 by seven Spaniards, attended by a number of Otomís, and to the following year is ascribed the founding of Guanajuato, the most famous of mining towns. San Miguel el Grande, the later Allende, rose six years afterward, and in 1562 San Felipe was founded by the brother of Viceroy Velasco, as a frontier presidio or advance post against the Chichimecs, the adjoining
- ↑ Fresnillo also assumed prominence, becoming a presidio and seat of an alcalde mayor. Sombrerete also said to have been discovered by Juan de Tolosa in 1555 or 1558, was made a villa in 1570. Arlegui, Cron. Zac., 64; García, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, viii. 23; Dicc. Univ., x. 1035. Among other mines are named Aviño, San Lúcas, Pinos, Indé, Parral, Santa Bárbara, and Mazapil.
- ↑ As will be shown in Hist. North. Mex., i., this series. In 1550 it contained 160 Spaniards, 60 of prominence, working 75 veins of metal, and possessing 45 reduction works and 5 churches, says Marcha, in Ternaux-Compans, Recueil, 197-8. Bernardez assumes that in 1562 there were only 35 reduction works. Zac., 42. In 1569 the region had 800 male Spaniards, 150 being occupied on the mines within 30 leagues of the town. Informe del Cabildo, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 494. Estimates of yield, partly from Humboldt, are given in Dicc. Univ., x. 1034; Museo Mex., iv. 115-19, and others. See also Beaumont, Crón. Mich., MS., 805, 814, 1088, and Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 83-4.
- ↑ Juan de Montoro, Gerónimo de la Cueva, and Alonso de Alarcon were commissioned on October 22, 1575, to found it as a villa, and although the title never was formally confirmed, yet its ayuntamiento was ever after addressed as 'muy ilustre.' Parra, Conq. Xal., MS., 30-1. Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, i. 257, gives it the religious name of 'Assupcion.' Aguirre, Doc. Antiguos, in Soc. Mex. Geog., 2da ép., iii. 17-19; Beltrami, Mex., i. 174.
Jerez de la Frontera. Beaumont, Crón. Mich., v. 233, 552-7; Parra, Conq. Xal., MS., 31. Ulua speedily became unpopular, and was replaced in 1562 by Captain Garcia Colio or Celio. Francisco de Ibarra claimed the discovery of several of the most important mines. Rel., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xv. 464. A report on their condition in 1575 is given in Miranda, Rel., in Id., xvi. 563-70, and shows even then a decline among many.
