El Bajío (the ''lowland'') is a cultural and geographical region within the

central Mexican plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States b ...

which roughly spans from north-west of the

Mexico City metropolitan area Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to the main silver mines in the northern-central part of the country. This includes (from south to north) the states of

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

, parts of

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

(Centro, Los Altos de Jalisco),

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

and parts of

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

and

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

. Located at the border between

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

and

Aridoamerica Aridoamerica denotes an ecological region spanning Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States, defined by the presence of the culturally significant staple foodstuff '' Phaseolus acutifolius'', a drought-resistant bean.Pratt and Nabh ...

, El Bajío saw relatively few permanent settlements and big civilizations during Pre-Columbian history, being mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes known to the Aztecs as " The Chichimeca" peoples (''the barbarians''), another

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

group from whom the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

and the Aztecs were probably descended. The tribes that inhabited El Bajío proved to be some of the hardest to conquer for the Spanish, but due to its strategic location in the Silver route, it also drew prominent attention from the Spanish crown and some of the flagship Mexican colonial cities had to be built there, such as

and

. The abundant mineral wealth and favorable farming conditions would soon turn the region into one of New Spain's richest. At the beginning of the 19th century, El Bajío was also place to the ignition of the Mexican

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List o ...

, and saw most of its battles during the initial phase of the war, including the

Cry of Dolores The Cry of Dolores ( es, Grito de Dolores, links=no, region=MX) occurred in Dolores, Mexico, on 16 September 1810, when Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell and gave the call to arms that triggered the Mexican War ...

, the storming of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas and the

Battle of Calderón Bridge The Battle of Calderón Bridge ( es, Batalla del Puente de Calderón) was a decisive battle in the Mexican War of Independence. It was fought in January 1811 on the banks of the Calderón River east of Guadalajara in present-day Zapotlanejo, ...

. Nowadays, the region features one of the strongest economies in Mexico and Latin America, drawing both domestic investment from the adjacent, industry-heavy

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, as well as foreign companies in seek for cheap specialized labour and decent infrastructure (mostly American, Japanese and to some extent, European vehicle and electronics companies). The largest cities of the Bajío are

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, León,

Santiago de Querétaro Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, and

History of El Bajío

Recent archaeological studies of the Bajío have discovered an extensive, historic cultural tradition unique to the region, particularly along the flood plains of the Lerma and Laja rivers. The Bajío Culture flourished from 300 to 650 CE, with cultural centers ranging from El Cóporo in the far north of Guanajuato to Plazuelas in the far south west. More than 1,400 sites have been discovered throughout the state of Guanajuato, with only the sites of

Cañada de la Virgen Cañada de la Virgen (Spanish for Virgin's Glen) is an Otomi archaeological site in Mexico. Located in the state of Guanajuato, the site was first excavated in 1995, while the official excavation began in 2002. Public access was first allowed in 2 ...

, El Cóporo, Peralta, and Plazuelas having received extensive study. This region was also known as

La Gran Chichimeca La Gran Chichimeca was a term used by the Spanish ''conquistadores'' of the 16th century to refer to an area of the northern central Mexican ''altiplano'' (plateau), a territory which today is encompassed by the modern Mexican states of Jalisco, A ...

in later years. It was the epicenter of the historic

Chichimeca War The Chichimeca War (1550–90) was a military conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Chichimeca Confederation established in the territories today known as the Central Mexican Plateau, called by the Conquistadores La Gran Chichimeca. Th ...

in the 16th century, and the cradle of

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

from 1810. The Bajío is where in April 1915, during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

, General

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

provoked decisive battles against

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (,"Villa"
''Collins English Dictionary''. ; ;

. Villa's troops lost in June that year outside the city of

Celaya Celaya (; ) is a city and its surrounding municipalities of Mexico, municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 3 ...

, in the state of Guanajuato.

Geography

In general usage, the region is usually associated with the States of Guanajuato and Querétaro, even though those two states form only a part of the Bajío. It is now characterized by its highly mechanized agriculture, with mean precipitation in the order of per annum (one of the highest in the country). During the

Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...

, the area was known as the breadbasket of the territory. As of 2014, the region produces

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

as its main crops. The Bajío region lies in the basin of the Rio Lerma and

Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It one of the longest rivers in Mexico, ...

Culture

The Bajío is known for being the cradle of Mexican Independence from the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

, and for being one of the conservative bastions of Mexican Catholicism.

States

Secondary states sometimes considered as partly contributing to El Bajío or enclosing it:

and

Estado de México The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

(State of Mexico).

Demography

Largest cities

File:Landmark Guadalajara.jpg,

, Jalisco. File:Santiago de Querétaro Centro Financiero.jpg,

. File:TORRE 40 LUMIERE.jpg, León, Guanajuato. File:Rotonda Don Quijote, Aguascalientes, México 2.jpg,

. File:Catedral-diocesis-irapuato.JPG,

Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of ...

, Guanajuato.

Economy

Today, the region is one of the fastest-growing in the country. This has caused the metropolitan areas to attract many migrants from other parts of Mexico. The region has had an outstanding industrial and economic development in the last 15 years. The cities of El Bajío have one of the highest income per capita figures in Mexico.

Tourism

Due to its colonial heritage, the Bajío is home to around eight

UNESCO World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

(depending on how its limits are defined): *Downtown Querétaro City. *

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

(shrines in the rural Querétaro Huasteca region, by Junípero Serra, also founder of many Californian missions). *

Guanajuato City Guanajuato () is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Guanajuato in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow a ...

and adjacent mines. *

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

and

Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco The Sanctuary of Atotonilco ( es, link=no, Santuario de Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco ) is a church complex and part of a World Heritage Site, designated along with nearby San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. The complex was built in the 18 ...

(town in the state of Guanajuato). *

Hospicio Cabañas The Hospicio Cabañas or Museum Cabañas in Guadalajara, Jalisco was one of the oldest and largest orphanage and hospital complexes in the Americas. Now turned into a museum, the main hall hosts the magnum opus frescoes of muralist painter Jos� ...

(colonial hospital complex and art museum in Guadalajara). * Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila (Jalisco). *

Zacatecas City Zacatecas () is the principal city within the municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital and the largest city of the state of Zacatecas. Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid ...

Camino Real de Tierra Adentro The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro ( en, Royal Road of the Interior Land), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico, USA, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was ...

*Downtown

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

Industry

The region was preferred by foreign companies for its proximity to the US, second only in foreign manufacturing plants to the Mexico-US border. It also began to be a hub for the national industrial market, because El Bajío naturally sits between the preexisting industrial zones of Mexico's three main cities:

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

to the south,

to the west and

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

to the north. The main investor was Japan, although the United States, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy and Spain also have important presence in the area. It is estimated that, by 2016, Asian

foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...

totaled over 1.5 billion dollars.

( León-Silao and

) hosts

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

, Denso,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

, and

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...

plants.

hosts

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

, Mercedes,

Yazaki is a global automotive parts supplier with a focus on wire harnesses, instruments and components such as connectors and terminals. The company's origin and headquarters are in Japan, but in 2011, roughly 90% of its employees were outside the home ...

and

Jatco , abbreviated from "Japan Automatic Transmission COmpany", is a company that manufactures automatic transmissions for automobiles. History In August 1943, Nissan established an aircraft engine production plant in the town of Yoshiwara, Shizuoka ...

plants.

hosts

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and Bombardier plants.

hosts

. The

(

Cuautitlán Izcalli Cuautitlán Izcalli () is a city and municipality in the north of State of Mexico, Mexico. The name comes from Náhuatl and means 'your house among the trees.' City and municipal seat By 2005 Mexican national intermediary (''conteo'') census ...

) hosts a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

plant. ''Bajío Shimbun'' is a monthly, Japanese-language newspaper founded in June 2015. The first Japanese consulate in Mexico was inaugurated in January 2016 in León and will serve the Bajío region. As of 2017 there were 1143 Japanese, 294 United-Statesians and 200 Spanish legal immigrants in Aguascalientes according to the immigration authorities, although the total number of immigrants is thought to be much higher. In 2015, authorities reported a total of 6230 legally-registered inmigrants in the state of

, most of them from the United States, Spain, Colombia, South Korea, Germany, Cuba, France, Canada, Japan and Venezuela. Now archetypal in the development plans of the local governments, these business partnerships with multinational corporations have been criticized for exploiting Mexico's weak labor laws and low wages, lacking long-term potential of benefiting the local population and for outsourcing jobs out of their countries of origin in the developed world.

Gallery

File:Museo de la Insurgencia-Hacienda de San Blas, Pabellón de Hidalgo, Rincón de Romos, Aguascalientes, México 5.jpg,

Pabellón de Hidalgo Pabellón de Hidalgo is a town of 4,006 inhabitants in the municipality of Rincón de Romos, Aguascalientes, Mexico. It's said that after the defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Calderón Bridge, they arrived at the Hacienda de San Blas in Pab ...

, Aguascalientes. File:El Cubilete - panoramio.jpg, El Cubilete hill,

Silao Silao (), officially Silao de la Victoria, is a city in the west-central part of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico. It is the seat of the municipality with the same name. As of the 2005 census, the city had a population of 147,123, making it th ...

, Guanajuato. File:Fachada de la Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos 04.JPG,

San Juan de los Lagos San Juan de los Lagos (Spanish language, Spanish for "John the Baptist, Saint John of the Lakes") is a city and municipalities of Mexico, municipality located in the northeast corner of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, in a region known as Los Altos ...

, Jalisco. File:Pueblo de Peña de Bernal.jpg, Bernal, Querétaro. File:CAMPOS EN GUANAJUATO 2010 (BY LION) - panoramio.jpg, Plantations near

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

, Guanajuato. File:Mercado Hidalgo, Guanajuato Capital, Guanajuato - Avenida Benito Juárez.jpg,

, Guanajuato. File:Calle del centro de morelia.jpg,

, Michoacán. File:QRZACATECAS-1024x477.jpg,

, Zacatecas. File:Calle universidad(1).JPG,

, San Luis Potosí. File:15-07-13 Teotihuacan la Avenida de los Muertos y la Pirámide del Sol-RalfR-WMA 0251.jpg,

Teotihuacán Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...

, Estado de México.

References

External links

*http://www.cuentame.inegi.org.mx/territorio/rev/index.html *http://www.inegi.org.mx/sistemas/mexicocifras/default.aspx?e=11&i=i *http://www.e-local.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/guanajuato/hist.htm *http://www.historicas.unam.mx/moderna/ehmc/ehmc14/187.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20101223114649/http://www.bicentenario.gob.mx/bdb/bdbpdf/NBNM/R/23.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Bajio Historical regions in Mexico Geography of Mexico Geography of Mesoamerica Pre-Columbian cultural areas Regions of Mexico

History of El Bajío

Geography

Culture

States

Demography

Largest cities

Economy

Tourism

Industry

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links