cognized
city in 1584. Its population as of the 2005 census was 122,889. Zacatecas is
also the municipal seat of the municipality of Zacatecas which surrounds the
city. The municipality had a population of 132,035 and an area of 444 km² (171.4
sq mi). The city is the largest in the state, slightly larger than Fresnillo
(pop. 110,892), but the municipality of Fresnillo (pop. 196,538) has a greater
area, with more population in its outlying communities."Zacatecas" is the Nahuatl name for the indigenous people who inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spanish. The name ultimately derives from the Nahuatl word for a type of grass common in the region, zacatl. The region where this grass grew was originally called Zacatlan, and its inhabitants, Zacatecas.
History
Zacatecas was founded in 1546 and built over a rich vein of silver discovered by Juan de Tolosa in the same year. This and other mines in the vicinity attracted a large population, and it soon became one of the chief mining centres of Mexico. In 1588 Philip II, King of Spain, gave Zacatecas its own coat of arms. The Franciscans built a college in 1616.
Silver from Zacatecas and from Potosí in Bolivia was coined as pieces of eight and transported around the world by the Sp
anish
treasure fleets and the Manila galleons. It was this silver that helped pay for
the wars of the Spanish Empire.In May 1835, Mexican federalists in Zacatecas rose in revolt against Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had suspended the Mexican Constitution and established a dictatorship the previous year. Santa Anna responded by crushing the rebels. He then rewarded his centralist soldiers by allowing them two days of rape and pillage in Zacatecas, during which more than two thousand noncombatants were killed.
In 1914, during the Mexican Revolution, Zacatecas witnessed the bloodiest combat of the Mexican Revolution, in a battle known as the Toma de Zacatecas (Taking of Zacatecas) between the Federal armies of Victoriano Huerta and the Constititutionalist troops of General Francisco Villa. Villa's victory led to the end of the Huerta regime. A monument to the battle and General Villa is at the summit of the Cerro de la Bufa overlooking the city.
Mining is now no longer as important a part of the local economy, and in fact the primary mine (the Mina El Edén) has been converted into a tourist attraction, including an underground disco in a large hollowed out cave. Indeed, the city of Zacatecas is a popular tourist destination for Mexicans, and many of the local businesses cater to them.
