From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see San Juan del Río (disambiguation).
San Juan del Río is a city (1990 pop. 61,652) and administrative seat of the surrounding municipality (municipio) of the same name in the central Mexican state of Querétaro.
It is located on the country's central plateau (altiplano), 127 km (79 miles) south-east of state capital Santiago de Querétaro, at 20°23′N 99°59′W and an elevation of 1,978 metres (6,490 ft). Famous for its opals, mined at nearby La Trinidad, it is also an agricultural center (corn, wheat, sugarcane, beans, alfalfa, fruit, and livestock) and has some light industry. A number of wineries are also located in the vicinity.
It is connected to Santiago de Querétaro and Mexico City by the mainline freight railway and Federal Highway 57.
[edit] History
The city was founded on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist June 24, 1531 by Fernado de Tapia, an Otomí chieftain that converted to Catholicism and dropped his Native name Conín. San Juan was one of the first Spanish settlements outside the Valley of Mexico and thus marked the beginning of the colonisation of Northern and Wester Mexico, including the city of Querétaro which was founded one month later. The settlement became important since it was an obliged stop en route to the rich mining regions of Guanajuato, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí.
[edit] Feasts and Fairs
