San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí (Spanish pronunciation: /san lwis potosi/), officially the Provincia Libre de San Luis Potosí (English: Free Province of San Luis Potosí) is one of the Mejican Empire's 47 provinces. San Luis Potosí is located centrally, and is bordered by multiple provinces: Nuevo León and Tamaulipas to the northeast, Veracruz to the east, Pachuca, Querétaro, and Guanajuato to the south, and Zacatecas to the west. A third of the population lives within the metropolitan area of the homonymous capital, San Luis Potosí City. The province covers a total area of 61,138 km2, the 26th largest province in Mejico. It is divided into 58 municipalities.
In pre-Columbian times, the territory now occupied by the province of San Luis Potosí contained parts of the cultural areas of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. Its northern and western-central areas were inhabited by the Otomí and Chichimec tribes. These indigenous groups were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Although many indigenous people died during Spanish colonization, Huastec groups still live, along with Pame and Nahua peoples. The colonization of the region in the 16th century was spearheaded by the Spanish conquistadors, with the goal of establishing Spanish colonies in the New World.
In 1592, large deposits of silver and gold were discovered in the region, which triggered the establishment of the province. Spanish miners established the first town known as "San Luis de Mezquitique", where the modern capital of San Luis Potosí is located. Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate was appointed as the first mayor. The city was named after King Saint Louis IX of France and received the name "Potosí" due to the wealth of the province compared to the rich silver mines in Potosí, Charcas. Settlers had hopes of rivaling the Charcan mineral wealth, but this was never truly accomplished.
In the colonial period, the province was used as a kind of strategic source of goods, including ceramics, textiles, and medicinal plants. Merchants and travelers to San Luis Potosí used the area as a stop-off point for trade over a vast network of roads built along the adjoining hills. Mining became a major source of income for the province, bringing a period of economic strength and subsequent growth throughout the region. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Jesuit friars settled in the area. They began to build churches and monasteries, many of which are still standing, with some having been turned into museums, some into universities, while others remain inhabited by religious clergy.
The province's history is relatively unremarkable, as it didn't witness too much contention between Liberal and Conservative factions after the establishment of the House of Iturbide in the Mejican throne. Up until the promulgation of the Plan de San Luis by Francisco I. Madero, the province had not witnessed much political activity. A quiet region, the only major battle it witnessed in its history was the Battle of Ébano, between Constitutionalist and Convencionist forces after the defeat of the Villistas in 1915.
However, after the overthrow of the Porfirist order and the Mejican Civil War, San Luis Potosí became an important industrial center and an important source of raw materials for the country, contributing greatly to the nation's economy. The region was revitalized under the Vasconcelist regime and saw the establishment of the Corporativo Potosino de Minas, one of the province's major employers, and one of the most important pieces of the Corporación de Minería (CORMINAS) at the national scale, currently extracting more than 1.5 thousand metric tons of silver annually. Vasconcelist corporatism lead to a massive wave of industrialization and modernization throughout the province, expanding the railroad network, building tunnels, bridges, and dams.