San Luis Potosí, commonly referred to as San Luis, or by its initials SLP (Otomi: Nmiñ'u), is the capital and the most populous city of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. It is the municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of San Luis Potosí. The city lies at an elevation of 1,864 metres (6,115 feet). It has an estimated population of 824,229 in the city proper and a population of approximately 1,221,526 in its metropolitan area, formed with the neighbour city of Soledad de Graciano Sánchez and other surrounding municipalities, which makes the metropolitan area of Greater San Luis Potosí the eleventh largest in Mexico.
The city is 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.[3][4][5]
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.[6]
Currently the city is one of the main industrial centers in central Mexico with a prolific manufacturing industry. A number of foreign industries have chosen to invest in San Luis Potosí in the last decades thanks to its strategic location for trade, as the city is located halfway between Mexico City and the United States border, as well as in the middle of the triangle formed by the three largest cities in Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.[7]
Besides its industrial economy, recently the city has been promoted as a touristic destination in central Mexico by state and federal programs. San Luis Potosí's historic center displays a remarkable mixture of different artistic styles in many buildings and is a major example of colonial architecture in Mexico. In 2010, the historic center was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site within Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.[8]
In pre-Hispanic times, the territory now occupied by the state of San Luis Potosí included two cultural areas: Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. While the southern and eastern regions of the state were occupied by Otomi and Huastec kingdoms, its northern and central-west regions, where the city of San Luis now is located, were inhabited by Chichimeca. Chichimeca is a generic term given to various nomadic ethnicities which inhabited the northern fringes of the Aztec Empire, which is now northern Mexico. As they were nomadic peoples, they did not build large cities nor have permanent settlements like most Mesoamerican civilizations. They are described by historians as very warlike peoples, living in continual wars among themselves. These tribes spoke different languages but their customs were similar.[9]
After the arrival of Spanish conquistadores and their indigenous allies into the territory now formed by the Mexican nation, it still took them about a century to colonize the northern territories in Aridoamerica. When the settlers founded the first settlements in the region in late 16th century, they had to struggle against constant attacks from Guachichil tribes. Extremely belligerent, these tribes attacked traders who traveled to Zacatecas in newly created routes. Conquistadores and religious missionaries called the place where San Luis now is located "El Gran Tunal" (Grand Place of Tuna fruit). Finally, in 1589, peace between Chichimeca peoples and Spanish settlers was reached thanks to efforts made by Miguel Caldera and Brother Diego de la Magdalena, which marked the end of the Chichimeca War.[9][10]
A Franciscan mission was established in the zone in 1583, nine years before the city's founding. In early 1592 the mines of Cerro de San Pedro were discovered. The lack of water in Cerro de San Pedro made impossible a new settlement in that specific area, as well as the proper exploitation of the minerals. A short distance away there was a valley where water was abundant. This originated the creation of a new township to facilitate the labors of mining extraction. The legal foundation of the town of San Luis Potosí was made in November 3, 1592, according to a charter commission raised by Viceroy Luís de Velasco and given to Miguel Caldera (considered the historic founder of the city) and Juan de Oñate.[11]
For a time in 1863, during the French invasion of Mexico, San Luis Potosí served as the capital of the republican government, under President Benito Juárez.
The Plan of San Luis Potosí, issued November 20, 1910, was the opening shot of Mexico's revolution against the dictator Porfirio Díaz. The 1910 presidential election was stolen when Díaz had his opponent Francisco I. Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, declaring the election void and calling upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government.
Today, the downtown is one of plazas and colonial architecture. The "Plaza de Armas" is the site of a cathedral and governor's palace (1770). The nearby "Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen," with its colorful tiled domes and famous altars, is considered among Mexico's finest churches. In addition, San Luis is home to the bullring Plaza de Toros Fermin Rivera.
Outside the center, a modern industrial city has begun to grow.
The Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) is in the city. Based on a Jesuit College founded in 1624, the Instituto Científico y Literario was raised to the category of a university in 1923, and is recognized as one of Latin America's best universities.
With a population of approximately one million inhabitants, it is now the twelfth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The city is a major commercial and industrial center. It lies in an economically advantageous area at the heart of the "triangle" formed by the three largest cities in Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
In recent years, the city has attracted the attention of European and American investors; its political, social, and economic stability has convinced large multinational companies to assume a presence there and to buy land, on the outskirts of the city.
Recently, according to a survey conducted by the magazine The Investor, San Luis Potosí and its metropolitan area was the third-best place to live in Mexico.
San Luis Potosí features a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) under the Köppen climate classification. Its high altitude means that the city experiences only a handful of hot days each year. While the climate exhibits noticeably cooler (January and February) and warmer periods (April and May) of the year, temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the course of the year. San Luis Potosí receives, on average, 392.1 mm (15.44 in) of precipitation annually, mostly seen from May through October. Snowfall is a rare occurrence in the city downtown, even though it is not uncommon in the city outskirts and in the highest parts of the greater San Luis Potosí area to get reports of frost and some snow during the winter.
The last recorded snowfalls occurred in January 1967, December 13, 1997, December 2011, March 2016, and December 8, 2017.
