Cortazar is a city and its surrounding

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

located in the southeastern quadrant of the state of

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 ...

Mexico 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 ...

. It is bordered to the north by Villagrán, to the north and east by

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 ...

, to the southeast by

Tarimoro Tarimoro is the municipal seat of the municipality of Tarimoro in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. History The original settlement was a community of Otomi people The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the ...

, to the south by

Salvatierra Salvatierra may refer to: Places ;Mexico * Salvatierra, Guanajuato, a municipality in the state of Guanajuato ;Spain * Salvatierra (comarca), a subcomarca of Guijuelo in the province of Salamanca, Castile and León * Berrocal de Salvatierra, a mun ...

, and to the west by

Jaral del Progreso Jaral del Progreso is a Mexican city and municipality located in the Bajío (''lowlands'') of the state of Guanajuato. With an area of , Jaral del Progreso accounts for 0.57% of the surface of the state. It is bordered to the north by Salamanca, ...

and

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 ...

. The city had a 2005 census population of 57,748 inhabitants, while the municipality had a population of 83,175. The municipality has an area of 331.8 km² (128.1 sq mi) and includes many smaller outlying communities, the largest of which are Tierra Fría to the west and La Cañada de Caracheo to the south. In

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

times the region was inhabited primarily by Otomí and

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...

s people. Founded in 1721 by

Franciscan friars The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

, the village of San José de los Amoles was under the order of the congress of Guanajuato given the present name of Cortázar in 1857 after Luis Cortazar y Rábago, a Mexican patriot and leader of Mexico's war of independence against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The municipal president of the city and its microregions is Elías Ruiz Ramírez of the National Action Party, since 2009.

References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Guanajuato
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

Official website of the city of Cortázar (in Spanish)
Populated places in Guanajuato Municipalities of Guanajuato Populated places established in 1721 1721 establishments in New Spain {{Guanajuato-geo-stub