San Luis Potosí, commonly called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital and the most populous city of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. It is the municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of San Luis Potosí. The city lies at an elevation of . It has an estimated population of 824,229 in the city proper and a population of approximately 1,221,526 in its metropolitan area, formed with the neighbour city of

Soledad de Graciano Sánchez Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, formerly Soledad Diez Gutiérrez, is the second-largest city of the state of San Luis Potosí in Mexico. It lies adjacent to the east side of the state's capital city of San Luis Potosí in the west-central part of t ...

and other surrounding municipalities, which makes the metropolitan area of Greater San Luis Potosí the eleventh largest in Mexico. The city is in the west-central part of the state of

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 ...

, at 22.16°N, 100.98°W. The municipality has an area of . It is part of the

macroregion A macroregion is a geopolitical subdivision that encompasses several traditionally or politically defined regions or countries. The meaning may vary, with the common denominator being cultural, economical, historical or social similarity within a ma ...

of Bajío. The city is named after

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...

(also known in Mexico as ''San Luis Rey de Francia'', Saint Louis, King of France), who is the city's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

. ''Potosí'' was added in reference to the fabulously rich mines of Potosí,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, discovered some forty years before the city was founded, as the exploitation of silver and gold mines in

Cerro de San Pedro Cerro de San Pedro is a village and seat of the Municipality of Cerro de San Pedro, located in the state of San Luis Potosí in central Mexico. It is located in hills, northeast of the city of San Luis Potosí. , the population was 95. The tow ...

, near San Luis, was the main reason for the founding of the city in 1592. Now, the city is one of the main industrial centres in central Mexico with a prolific

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

industry. A number of foreign industries have chosen to invest in San Luis Potosí in the last decades thanks to its strategic location for trade, as the city is located halfway between

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 ...

and the United States border, as well as in the middle of the triangle formed by the three largest cities in Mexico: Mexico City,

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 ...

, and Monterrey. Besides its industry-based economy, recently the city has been promoted as a touristic destination in central Mexico by state and federal programs. San Luis Potosí's historic center displays a great mixture of different artistic styles in many buildings and is a major example of colonial architecture in Mexico. In 2010, the historic center was listed as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site 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 h ...

within

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 ...

History

Pre-colonial period

In pre-Hispanic times the territory now occupied by the state of San Luis Potosí included two cultural areas:

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 Nabhan ...

. While the southern and eastern regions of the state were occupied by

Otomi The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

and

Huastec Huastec can refer to either: *Huastec people, an indigenous group of Mexico *Huastec language (also called "Wasteko" and "Teenek"), spoken by the Huastec people * Huastec civilization The Huastec civilization (sometimes spelled Huaxtec or Wastek ...

kingdoms, its northern and central-west regions, where the city of San Luis now is located, were inhabited by

Chichimeca Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that d ...

. ''Chichimeca'' is a generic term given to various nomadic ethnicities which inhabited the northern fringes of the Aztec Empire, which is now northern Mexico. As they were nomadic peoples, they did not build large cities nor have permanent settlements like most Mesoamerican civilizations. They are described by historians as very warlike peoples, living in continual wars among themselves. These tribes spoke different languages but their customs were similar. After the arrival of Spanish ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

es'' and their indigenous allies into the territory now formed by the Mexican nation, it still took them about a century to colonize the northern territories in Aridoamerica. When the settlers founded the first settlements in the region in late 16th century, they had to struggle against constant attacks from Guachichil tribes. Extremely belligerent, these tribes attacked traders who traveled to

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

in newly created routes. Conquistadores and religious missionaries called the place where San Luis now is located "El Gran Tunal" (''Grand Place of Tuna fruit''). Finally, in 1589, peace between Chichimeca peoples and Spanish settlers was reached thanks to efforts made by

Miguel Caldera Miguel Caldera (1548–1597) was an important figure in the colonization of Mexico's northern frontier immediately following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Early life Caldera was the illegitimate son of a Castilian soldier named Pedro C ...

and Brother Diego de la Magdalena, which marked the end of the

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 ...

Colonial period

Franciscan 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 ...

mission was established in the zone in 1583, nine years before the city's founding. In early 1592 the mines of Cerro de San Pedro were discovered. The lack of water in Cerro de San Pedro made impossible a new settlement in that specific area, as well as the proper exploitation of the minerals. A short distance away there was a valley where water was abundant. This originated the creation of a new township to facilitate the labors of mining extraction. The legal foundation of the town of San Luis Potosí was made in November 3, 1592, according to a charter commission raised by Viceroy

Luís de Velasco Luis de Velasco y Ruiz de Alarcón (1511 – July 31, 1564) was the second viceroy of New Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the mid-sixteenth century. Biography Velasco was born in the town of Carrión de los C ...

and given to

(considered the historic founder of the city) and

Juan de Oñate Juan de Oñate y Salazar (; 1550–1626) was a Spanish conquistador from New Spain, explorer, and colonial governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in the viceroyalty of New Spain. He led early Spanish expeditions to the Great ...

Independence

For a time in 1863, during the French invasion of Mexico, San Luis Potosí served as the capital of the republican government, under President

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...

The

Plan of San Luis Potosí 230px, Francisco I. Madero, future President of Mexico The Plan of San Luis de Potosí () is a key political document of the Mexican Revolution, written by Mexican presidential candidate Francisco I. Madero, following his escape from jail. He ...

, issued November 20, 1910, was the opening shot of Mexico's revolution against the dictator

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

. The 1910 presidential election was stolen when Díaz had his opponent

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, declaring the election void and calling upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government. Today, the downtown is one of plazas and colonial architecture. The "Plaza de Armas" is the site of a cathedral and governor's palace (1770). The nearby "Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen," with its colorful tiled domes and famous altars, is considered among Mexico's finest churches. In addition, San Luis is home to the

bullring A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are ...

Plaza de Toros Fermin Rivera. Outside the center, a modern industrial city has begun to grow. The

Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí The Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (in es, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, UASLP) is a public university in Mexico. It is the largest, oldest, and most comprehensive university in the state of San Luis Potosí, as well as ...

(UASLP) is in the city. Based on a Jesuit College founded in 1624, the Instituto Científico y Literario was raised to the category of a university in 1923, and is recognized as one of Latin America's best universities.

Today

With a population of approximately one million inhabitants, it is now the twelfth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The city is a major commercial and industrial center. It lies in an economically advantageous area at the heart of the "triangle" formed by the three largest cities in Mexico:

and Monterrey. In recent years, the city has attracted the attention of European and American investors; its political, social, and economic stability has convinced large multinational companies to assume a presence there and to buy land, on the outskirts of the city. Recently, according to a survey conducted by the magazine ''The Investor'', San Luis Potosí and its metropolitan area was the third-best place to live in Mexico.

Geography

Climate

San Luis Potosí features a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(BSk) under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. Its high altitude means that the city experiences only a handful of hot days each year. While the climate exhibits noticeably cooler (January and February) and warmer periods (April and May) of the year, temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the course of the year. San Luis Potosí receives, on average, of precipitation annually, mostly seen from May through October. Snowfall is a rare occurrence in the city downtown, even though it is not uncommon in the city outskirts and in the highest parts of the greater San Luis Potosí area to get reports of frost and some snow during the winter. The last recorded snowfalls occurred in January 1967, December 13, 1997, December 2011, March 2016, and December 8, 2017.

Local cuisine

Potosinos (as residents of the city are referred to) are proud of their bright orange ''enchiladas potosinas'', often served with

refried beans Refried beans (from es, frijoles refritos, ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular ...

and

guacamole Guacamole (; (informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisi ...

. The nearby town of Santa María del Río provides the state with its sparkling mineral water, ''Agua de Lourdes.'' The water fills both store shelves and the cocktails of Potosinos, who claim the water can cure a hangover.

Important buildings

Besides having hundreds of classically designed buildings, the city is also home to some of the most modern and interesting buildings in Mexico. Catedral de San Luis Potosi

Casa de la cultura de noche san luis p mexicovdd

Monumento a la Bandera, San Luis Potosí, México

In recent years the city has faced a boom in the construction of buildings and museums. Among the most prominent are the Laberinto Museum of Science and Arts, which was an investment of more than $200 million pesos, in 9000 m² of land in the Tangamanga I Park. The project was designed by architect Ricardo Legorreta and promoted by the governor of San Luis Potosí, Marcelo de los Santos Fraga. It is a museum of aesthetic proportions similar to that of the Papalote Museum of Children in Mexico City, with the addition that the materials used in its construction, especially the quarry, make it a real Potosino manufacturing building. The floor of the museum occupies a total of 6.5 ha, which have gardens with species endemic to the region and a central source. Its interior is divided into a total of six rooms arranged in galleries. Their proportions will allow visitors to make an interactive tour that will switch themes of the art museum with samples of science and technology. Currently, the two tallest buildings in the city are the EME Building and the Muniz Werger Building. The EME Building was built in 1988 and measures 64 m to the top floor, with the spiral 75 m, with the antenna 98 meters. It has 17 floors, with 10 levels of parking at the street for a capacity of 1500 cars, and it houses mixed offices. The Muniz Werger Building, which measures 58 m for the top floor, 65 m with the spiral, and 80 m with the antenna, has 15 storeys and two elevators. Its construction began in 1991 and finished in 1993, and it is considered the most modern building in the city. There are currently two buildings under construction and five buildings in the project. Corporate Tangamanga, which measured 41 m, will have 14 floors; its construction began in 2005 and will end in 2008. This building houses offices and mixed Star Medical Tower, 40 m and will have 8 floors.

Commerce and transportation

Various supermarket chains operate in the city, such as, H-E-B, Commercial Mexicana, Costco, Walmex (Wal-mart, Sam's Club, Superama, Vips, Bodega Aurrera and Suburbia), Chedraui, and Home Depot. The principal commercial centers of the city are Plaza Tangamanga, Plaza el Dorado, Plaza Sendero, Plaza Citadella and Plaza San Luis. In the city, various banks also operate, such as,

BBVA Bancomer Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

, Banamex, HSBC,

Banorte Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business as Banorte (''Banco Mercantil del Norte'') and as Ixe, is a Mexican banking and financial services holding company with headquarters in Monterrey and Mexico City. It is one of the four large ...

, Santander-Serfin, Actinver, Scotiabank-Inverlat, and BanRegio. The city's transportation consists of a public system, based on urban buses that move throughout the metropolitan area. Besides, the city contains one of the highest concentrations of taxis.

Ponciano Arriaga International Airport Ponciano may refer to: *Girau do Ponciano, a municipality in the western of the Brazilian state of Alagoas * Ponciano Arriaga International Airport, an international airport at San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico * San Ponciano church, a cha ...

is the city's main airway point. It is around from the city's downtown and it is the state's most important airway terminal.

Higher education and scientific research

These places offer degrees at the bachelor level: * El Colegio de San Luis * Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, A.C. ( IPICYT) * Instituto Tecnologico de San Luis Potosí
ITSLP
* Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - Campus San Luis (

ITESM Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and coeducational private university based in ...

) *

Polytechnic University of San Luis Potosí The Polytechnic University of San Luis Potosí (in Spanish: ''Universidad Politécnica de San Luis Potosí, UPSLP'') was created on 27 June 2001 and was the first Polytechnic University of the Subsystem of Polytechnic Universities. Besides the ac ...

* Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosí ( UASLP) * Universidad del Centro de Mexico (UCEM) * Universidad Cuauhtemoc - Campus San Luis Potosí * Universidad Interamericana del Norte - Campus San Luis * Universidad Interamericana para el Desarrollo - Campus San Luis * Universidad Marista - Campus San Luis Potosí * Universidad Pedagogica Nacional - Campus San Luis Potosí * Universidad Politécnica de San Luis Potosí ( UPSLP) * Universidad Potosina * Universidad Tangamanga * Universidad Tec Milenio * Universidad Tecnológica de San Luis Potosí IPICYT, UASLP and El Colegio de San Luis are also world class research institutions that offer doctoral degrees.

Government

Mayors and municipal presidents

Local news media

Newspapers include ''El Sol de San Luis'', ''Pulso'', ''El Heraldo de San Luis'', ''La Prensa'', ''San Luis Hoy'', ''La Jornada San Luis'', and ''Tribuna''.

Twin towns – sister cities

San Luis Potosí has the following sister cities in Mexico and abroad: *

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, United States *

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, United States * Pico Rivera, California, United States *

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, United States *

Pharr, Texas Pharr is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 70,400, and in 2019, the estimated population was 79,112. Pharr is connected by bridge to the Mexican city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Pharr i ...

, United States *

Almadén Almadén () is a town and municipality in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real, within the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 3 ...

, Spain *

Santander, Cantabria Santander () is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. It is a port city located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao with a population of 172,000 (2017). It is believed ...

, Spain *

Sant Joan de les Abadesses Sant Joan de les Abadesses () is a town and municipality located in the south-east of the comarca of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Geography and climate The town is located along the upper part of the River Ter, in the v ...

, Spain * Potosí, Bolivia *

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the 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 Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

, Mexico *

Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (''Virtue in the Water, Fidelity in the Heart'') , image_skyline = AGUASCALIENTES CITY.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: San Antonio de Padua Church, La Exedra (main square), Aguascal ...

, Mexico * Guadalupe, Mexico *

, Mexico * Zapotlán el Grande, Jalisco, Mexico *

Idrija Idrija (, in older sources ''Zgornja Idrija''; german: (Ober)idria, it, Idria) is a town in western Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Idrija. It is located in the traditional region of Inner Carniola and is in the Gorizia Statisti ...

, Slovenia *

Ružomberok Ružomberok (; german: Rosenberg; hu, Rózsahegy; pl, Rużomberk) is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 27,000 inhabitants (45,000 with nearby villages). Etymology The name of the initia ...

, Slovakia

Festivals

Procession of Silence

This is an annual event commemorating the passion and death of Christ. It occurs on the night of Good Friday, starting at the Templo del Carmen, from where it originates and proceeding through the streets of the historic center of the city of San Luis Potosí. Drums and bugles are played as a part of the procession, but participants and spectators do not speak, meriting its name. It is one of the most important celebrations of Easter in Mexico and was declared part of the cultural heritage of the state of San Luis Potosí in 2013.

Notes

References

Sources

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

External links

City of San Luis Potosí
- Spanish

- English

- Spanish {{DEFAULTSORT:San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi Cities in Mexico * Capitals of states of Mexico Populated places established in 1592 1592 establishments in New Spain 1590s establishments in Mexico 1592 in New Spain