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Querétaro, Querétaro

History

According to tradition, Querétaro was founded on 25 July 1531. On this date Spanish Conquistador Hernán Pérez Bocanegra y Córdoba arrived with Otomí Indian Conín, the chief Jilotepec, to found the town of Querétaro. He is said to have won without resorting to arms after seeing a vision of the Cross and Saint James the Great ("Santiago"), after whom the city was named.

In 1656 the city was re-named "The Noble and Loyal City of Santiago of Querétaro", by Viceroy the Duke of Alburquerque. The title was confirmed in 1712 by King Philip V of Spain.

In 1726 an aqueduct was constructed which furnished the city's water until 1970.

On 13 September 1810, Epigmenio González was taken prisoner after starting an insurrection against the oppressive Corregidor Don Miguel Domínguez and his wife Doña Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez and for conspiring against the Viceregal government. This is considered to be one of the earliest actions of the Mexican independence movement.

In 1847 Querétaro was made capital of the Republic during the United States of America's invasion in the Mexican-American War.

On 30 May 1848, the two nations exchanged their ratifications of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in Querétaro, whereby Mexico ceded to the United States its territories of Alta California and Nuevo México (today the US states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico).

"Emperor Maximillian and his generals, Mejía and Miramón, were executed by a firing squad at Querétaro on 1867 June 19." Emperor Maximillian and his generals, Mejía and Miramón, were executed by a firing squad at Querétaro on 1867 June 19.

In 1867, during the French intervention in Mexico, the city was the last capital of Emperor Maximilian I of the Mexican Empire. The Liberal Republicans defeated the Imperial Conservative forces here, and on 19 June Maximilian was executed by a firing squad on the Hill of Bells ("Cerro de las Campanas") together with his Generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía.

Santiago de Querétaro was named capital of the Republic for the third time on 5 February 1917, as the Proclamation of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States was established by President Venustiano Carranza at the Congressional Congress in the city's Teatro de la República.

In 1997, after some 70 years of Partido Revolucionario Institucional domination, the city and state government passed to the control of the Partido Acción Nacional.

the Mexican national anthem was played for the first time in the "Teatro de la República" in the city.