San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí ( san ˈlwis potoˈsi ), officially Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí.

It is located in North-Central Mexico. It is bordered by 9 other Mexican states, making it the state with the most borders with other neighboring states. To the north it borders the states of Nuevo León and Coahuila, to the northeast with Tamaulipas, to the east Veracruz, to the south Hidalgo, Querétaro, Jalisco and Guanajuato and Zacatecas to the northwest.

In addition to the capital city, the state's largest cities include Ciudad Valles, Matehuala, Rioverde, and Tamazunchale.

History

In pre-Columbian times the territory now occupied by the state of San Luis Potosí contained the cultural areas of Mesoamerica and Aridoamérica. Its northern and western-central areas were inhabited by the Otomi and Chichimeca tribes. These indigenous groups were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Although most natives died during the Spanish settlements, huasteco groups still live, along with pame and náhuatl although their numbers are significantly small.

San Luis Potosí City

San Luis Potosí, commonly called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital of, and most populous city in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. The city lies at an elevation of 1,850 metres (6,070 feet). It has an estimated population of 735,886 inhabitants in the city proper, and a population of approximately 1,021,688 in its metropolitan area which is formed with the neighbour city of Soledad and some other small townships inside the urban area. This makes the metropolitan area of Greater San Luis Potosí the eleventh largest in Mexico.

The city of San Luis Potosí is located in the west-central part of the state of San Luis Potosí, at 22.16°N, 100.98°W. The municipality has an area of 1,443.14 square kilometres (557.20 square miles). It is part of the macroregion of Bajío.

The city is named after Louis IX of France (also known in Mexico as San Luis Rey de Francia; Saint Louis, King of France), who is the city's patron saint. Potosí was added in reference to the fabulously rich mines of Potosí, Bolivia, discovered some forty years before the city was founded, as the exploitation of silver and gold mines in Cerro de San Pedro near San Luis was the main reason for the founding of the city in 1592.

Municipalities of San Luis Potosí

The Mexican state of San Luis Potosí is divided into 58 municipalities (municipios):

San Luis

San Luis, the Spanish name for Saint Louis, is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken. It may refer to:

Places

Sant Lluís

Sant Lluís (in Spanish: San Luis) is a municipality on the tip of south-east Minorca in the Spanish Balearic Islands.

The area is most noteworthy for its varied coastline, with fine sand beaches and cliffs, and the beautiful coves of Binissafúller, Biniancolla and Binibeca, with their typical whitewashed fishermen's houses. There are capes and islets, and medieval defensive towers all along the coast, very characteristic of the island. The main beach resort is Punta Prima.

The main town is Sant Lluis founded by the French in 1761 during their occupation of Minorca and dominated by Es Moli de Dalt, a fully restored, traditional windmill which is now a museum open to the public. The town was named after Louis IX and was built around a large, whitewashed neoclassical church, which still bears the king's name. The town celebrates its own festival, the Feast of St. Luis, at the end of August.

The town is home to the Bodegas Binifadet winery started in 1979, which offers year-round tours with an opportunity to sample the produce. A new winery was opened in 2004 based on a design by architect Lluís Vives

San Luis, Santa Cruz

San Luis (Santa Cruz) is a small town in Bolivia.

References

Coordinates: 18°08′30″S 63°28′47″W / 18.1417°S 63.4797°W / -18.1417; -63.4797

Potosí

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal 4,090 metres (13,420 ft) For centuries, it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint.

Potosí lies at the foot of the Cerro de Potosí—sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain")—a mountain popularly conceived of as being "made of" silver ore, dominates the city. The Cerro Rico is the reason for Potosí's historical importance, since it was the major supply of silver for Spain during the period of the New World Spanish Empire.

The silver was taken by llama and mule train to the Pacific coast, shipped north to Panama City, carried by mule train across the isthmus of Panama to Nombre de Dios or Portobelo whence it was taken to Spain on the Spanish treasure fleets.

Cerro de Potosí's peak is 4,824 metres (15,827 ft) above sea level.

Geology

Located in the Bolivian Tin Belt, Cerro Rico de Potosi is the world's largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century, producing up to 60,000 tonnes by 1996, and estimates are that much silver still remains. Potosi became the second largest city, and the site of the first mint, in the Americas. By 1891, low silver prices prompted the change to mining tin, which continued until 1985. At peak production in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the ore contained up to 40% silver.