San Luis Potosí is a landlocked state in north-central Mexico spanning two dramatically different worlds: a high, dry altiplano around its colonial capital and the ghost town of Real de Catorce in the west, and the lush, waterfall-filled Huasteca Potosina rainforest in the east. The capital, San Luis Potosí de Gonzalez, is a former silver-mining boomtown whose historic center forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Camino Real de Tierra Adentro route, while the Huasteca region draws travelers to turquoise rivers, the surrealist gardens of Las Pozas in Xilitla, and the sacred desert of Wirikuta.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped San Luis Potosí.
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1
Huastec and Chichimeca Settlement
The Huastec (Tének) people settle the humid eastern lowlands of what is now the Huasteca Potosina, while semi-nomadic Chichimeca groups, including the Guachichil, range across the arid central plateau where the city later rises
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2
Chichimeca War
Spanish forces and colonial expansion push north from Mexico City and Zacatecas in search of silver, provoking decades of guerrilla resistance from Chichimeca groups across the central highlands
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3
Franciscan Mission Established
Franciscan friars found a mission in the valley that will become the city, nine years before its formal founding, beginning evangelization of the local Guachichil population
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4
Gold and Silver Discovered at Cerro de San Pedro
Prospectors strike rich gold and silver deposits in the hills of Cerro de San Pedro, triggering a mining rush that draws settlers to the region
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5
Founding of San Luis Potosí
Because Cerro de San Pedro lacked sufficient water for processing ore, colonists founded a new settlement in a well-watered valley nearby, naming it San Luis Potosí after King Louis IX of France and the fabled riches of Potosí in present-day Bolivia
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6
Colonial Silver Boom and Baroque Building
Wealth from Cerro de San Pedro's mines funds construction of the city's churches, convents and civic buildings, including the Templo del Carmen and the Convento de San Francisco, and San Luis Potosí becomes a key stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
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7
War of Independence
San Luis Potosí is drawn into Mexico's war for independence from Spain, with royalist and insurgent forces contesting the mining region through the following decade
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8
Juárez's Itinerant Government
During the French Intervention, President Benito Juárez relocates his government to San Luis Potosí, using the Palacio de Gobierno as a temporary seat before continuing north as French forces advanced
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9
Death Sentence Against Maximilian Confirmed
President Juárez, operating partly from San Luis Potosí during the fall of the French-backed empire, confirms the death sentence against Emperor Maximilian I, sealing the end of the Second Mexican Empire
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10
Plan de San Luis Potosí
Having escaped confinement in the city, Francisco I. Madero drafts the Plan de San Luis Potosí, declaring the 1910 re-election of Porfirio Díaz fraudulent, proclaiming himself provisional president, and calling Mexicans to rise on November 20, 1910, igniting the Mexican Revolution
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11
Mexican Revolution
San Luis Potosí, both city and state, sees troop movements, political upheaval and social change through a decade of armed revolution that reshapes Mexico's political system
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12
End of Large-Scale Mining at Cerro de San Pedro
After more than three and a half centuries of intermittent operation yielding close to 3 million ounces of gold and 40 million ounces of silver, large-scale mining at Cerro de San Pedro winds down, leaving a half-abandoned settlement
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13
Las Pozas Opens to the Public
The surrealist garden built by Edward James in the jungle above Xilitla, under construction since 1962, opens to visitors seven years after its creator's death
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14
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Inscribed by UNESCO
UNESCO inscribes the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial silver route linking Mexico City to the northern mining frontier, as a World Heritage Site, recognizing associated monuments in San Luis Potosí including the Caja del Agua
Historical sites
Places where San Luis Potosí's past comes alive.
Cerro de San Pedro
The mining settlement where gold and silver were struck in 1592, giving San Luis Potosí its name and founding wealth; mining continued intermittently here until 1950.
Where: Cerro de San Pedro Municipality
Admission: Free to enter the village
Palacio de Gobierno
The state government palace where Benito Juárez briefly based his itinerant government during the French Intervention and confirmed the sentence against Emperor Maximilian in 1867.
Where: Centro Histórico, San Luis Potosí
Admission: Free
Templo del Carmen
An 18th-century Carmelite church with one of Mexico's most elaborate churrigueresque baroque facades, built during the height of the colonial silver-mining economy.
Where: Centro Histórico, San Luis Potosí
Admission: Free
Caja del Agua
A neoclassical 1835 water-distribution monument built to receive spring water from the Sierra de San Miguelito, part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro UNESCO World Heritage inscription.
Where: Calzada de Guadalupe, San Luis Potosí
Admission: Free
Real de Catorce
A silver boomtown founded in the late 18th century that once held tens of thousands of residents before its mines declined; today its ruins, parish church and the surrounding Wirikuta desert draw both history travelers and Wixárika pilgrims.
Where: Real de Catorce Municipality
Admission: Free to enter town; vehicle tunnel toll approx 60 MXN (approx $3.53)