San Felipe (), known colloquially as "San Felipe Torres Mochas" (), is a Mexican city and municipality located in the northwest region of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 2,969.79 square kilometers (9.50% of the state's surface), making it the biggest municipality in terms of size. It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Ocampo, to the south by the municipalities of León and Guanajuato, to the southeast by the municipality of

Dolores Hidalgo Dolores Hidalgo (; in full, Dolores Hidalgo Cuna de la Independencia Nacional, en, Dolores Hidalgo Birthplace of exicanNational Independence) is the name of a city and the surrounding municipality in the north-central part of the Mexican state o ...

and to the east by the municipality of San Diego de la Unión. It borders to the north with 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 ...

and to the west with the state 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 ...

. The municipality had 106,952 inhabitants as of 2010.

History

San Felipe was founded by Francisco de Velasco on January 21, 1562, by orders of 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 Con ...

. The city was founded with the name of San Felipe in honor of King Philip II of Spain. In 1889 the name of the city was changed to "Ciudad González" in honor of the then governor of Guanajuato, Manuel González. The name of the city was again changed in 1938, this time to "Ciudad Hernández Álvarez", after governor Enrique Hernández Álvarez. In 1948 the city's name was reverted to the original name of "San Felipe". Regardless of the several official names the city was given through time, it was always colloquially known as "San Felipe Torres Mochas" (lit. "San Felipe stub-towers"), a nickname that persists to this day.

Climate

Demographics

As of the census of 2010 there were 106,952 people and 22,830 households in the municipality, representing a population increase of 11,056 from the previous census in 2005. The population density was 36.01/km² (93.3/sq mi), with an average of 4.7 people per household.

Economy

The economy of the municipality is based mostly on the textile industry.

References

External links