Santa Bárbara is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and seat of the municipality of Santa Bárbara, in the northern

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

of Chihuahua. As of 2010, the city of Santa Bárbara had a population of 8,765, up from 8,673 as of 2005.

History

Santa Bárbara, Chihuahua, was established in 1567 by Spanish conquistador Rodrigo del Rio de Losa during the rule of

Francisco de Ibarra Francisco de Ibarra (1539 –June 3, 1575) was a Spanish-Basque explorer, founder of the city of Durango, and governor of the Spanish province of Nueva Vizcaya, in present-day Durango and Chihuahua. Biography Francisco de Ibarra was born a ...

, governor of the state of

Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain Nueva Vizcaya (''New Biscay'', eu, Bizkai Berria) was the first province in the north of New Spain to be explored and settled by the Spanish. It consisted mostly of the area which is today the states of Chihuahua and Durango and the southwest of ...

. The native peoples in the region when the Spanish arrived were the Conchos people who according to Spanish records lived on a diet consisting of mainly roots and prickly pears. The Spanish were attracted to the region by discoveries of silver and Santa Barbara grew from a population of 30 in 1575 to 7,000 in 1600. It was the northernmost outpost of

Nueva Espana 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 Am ...

in the 16th century. Santa Barbara became a wealthy frontier town of slavers, ranchers, miners, adventurers, and priests. Santa Barbara is located on a tributary of the

Conchos River The Río Conchos (Conchos River) is a large river in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It joins the Río Bravo del Norte (known in the United States as the Rio Grande) at the town of Ojinaga, Chihuahua. Description The Rio Conchos is the main riv ...

and was the jumping off spot for several expeditions to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

including Chamuscado and Rodriguez in 1581-1582,

Antonio de Espejo Antonio de Espejo (1540–1585) was a Spanish explorer who led an expedition into New Mexico and Arizona in 1582–83.pg 189 - The expedition created interest in establishing a Spanish colony among the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande valley ...

in 1582-1583, and Juan de Onate in 1597. On December 17, 1930, the town was designated a city by an act of the legislature. Today, Santa Barbara is overshadowed by nearby Parral but the extensive mine tailings tell of its former prominence.Hammond and Rey, 6

Economy

The municipality produces wood products and nuts from trees such as walnuts, mesquite, junipers, acamos, gatuños, willows and madroños. Fruits grown in the region are peach, pear and apple. These products are being sold worldwide. The city also continues to rely on mining of lead, silver, gold, zinc, fluorite and other minerals. Lead is now the most important mineral produced in this city. The mines collectively occupy 7,180

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of the municipality.

Tourist attractions

Tourists visit caves, mountain ranges, and other natural attraction in the region. The caves have ancient paintings on the cave walls made by early indigenous people who resided here long before the arrival of the Spaniards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Barbara, Chihuahua Populated places in Chihuahua (state) Populated places established in 1567 1567 establishments in the Spanish Empire