The Founding of the City of San Juan del Río, Querétaro
Ubaldo Neftalí Sáenz Bárcenas
Municipal Chronicler of San Juan del Río, Querétaro
In what is now the territory of San Juan del Río, along the banks of the tributary that bears the same name, remains of an ancient culture, the Chupícuaro, have been found. These traces indicate that the area was inhabited around 400 B.C., a period in which construction activity began at the site.
Its ancient inhabitants were sedentary gatherers, bearers of a complex culture and way of life. It is considered one of the oldest social organizations of the Mexican highlands.
After major advances in agriculture, these inhabitants settled in the region around Techimacit Hill, now known as Cerro de la Cruz. Its occupation began around 500 A.D. Other place names have been found that appear to refer to this hill, such as Texmaccu, Texmachu, and Anttaxmachu. San Juan historian Rafael Ayala Echávarri, in his book San Juan del Río, Geography and History, identifies Cerro de la Cruz with the place name Techimacit, which, according to him, means “white, strong, and round rock of the Mecos, or Chichimecas.” However, although none of the latter place names has been linguistically identified, they are suspected to be of Otomi origin. The final construction stage at the top of this hill took place between 1100 and 1200 A.D.
Regarding the toponymy and Indigenous population of San Juan del Río in the 16th century, several historical documents identify the settlement as Iztacchichimecapan, a name that sometimes appears to correspond to Cerro de la Cruz and at other times to Cerro de la Venta, located west of the former. Iztacchichimecapan, together with other towns, formed part of the Altépetl —a geographic, political, and economic unit composed of several towns organized hierarchically— belonging to Jilotepec, which in turn was tributary to the Triple Alliance; that is, to the last confederation of Indigenous states located in the Valley of Mexico, the Mexica, until the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521.
The main 16th-century historical references to the settlement of San Juan del Río are found in the Relación de Querétaro of 1582, a document written by Francisco Ramos de Cárdenas, which includes information about the people who inhabited these regions, their customs, language, and other aspects. This report indicates that San Juan del Río was populated shortly after the conquest of Tenochtitlan by Otomi people from Jilotepec and, according to the description, the ancient name of Cerro de la Cruz can be identified as Iztac Chichimecapan in Nahuatl.
Iztacchichimecapan was controlled by its cacique, an Indigenous man named Mexici, who later received the Christian name Juan when he was baptized immediately after the Spanish conquest. The 1582 account states: “The town of San Juan del Río was founded by an Indian of the Otomi lineage, native of the town and head district of Jilotepec, who, having received the holy water of baptism, was called Don Juan, and took as a surname the first name he had in his gentility, which was Mexici, meaning ‘Mexican,’ and by another name, ‘little one.’”
Around 1526, Mexici settled his people on calcareous and tepetate land, next to some sabino trees on the banks of the river. Thus, when the pacifiers arrived at the site, people already known to them had been living there for years, and it was Mexici himself who surrendered his town to the delegation that came on behalf of the Crown of Castile. The same account states: “He, Mexici, seeing that the Spaniards had conquered Mexico and his province of Jilotepec, decided to withdraw toward the land of the Chichimecas, and settled beside a river, where the said town of San Juan is now populated, where there is a somewhat bare little hill that, in the Mexican language, is called Iztac Chichimecapan, which in Spanish means ‘white Chichimecas’ and, more fittingly, ‘white land of Chichimecas’; because the land where the said town of San Juan is located is very hard white earth, which cannot be broken with picks except with difficulty.”
The Spanish founding of San Juan del Río took place on June 24, 1531, without resistance from the Indigenous people. It was a peaceful conquest by the Europeans and their Indigenous allies, who arrived days before and waited until the feast day of Saint John the Baptist to establish the town. By the time the Spaniards arrived, a small population nucleus had already existed on these lands for at least twenty years, remaining from a larger one in classical times.
The founding of San Juan del Río responded to a strategic need: it marked a protective frontier against the Chichimecas, supported viceregal expansionism, and facilitated the transfer of wealth from the mining estates of northern Mexico to Mexico City. Northern Mesoamerica had been abandoned by agricultural groups at the beginning of the second millennium, and these territories were occupied by hunter-gatherer groups known as Chichimecas until the arrival of the Spaniards. At the time of the Spanish founding, the San Juan River may be considered the frontier between these Chichimeca groups and the agricultural peoples located south of the river.
The founding of San Juan del Río preceded that of Santiago de Querétaro; however, like that settlement, its origins lie in the pre-Hispanic period.
Between 1536 and 1541, it is most likely that Spanish authorities were established in San Juan del Río, building their first houses and developing the town as such. The first land grants to Europeans in the territory began, and the development of Indigenous and Spanish governments started. It was not until 1558 that it was granted the category of Pueblo.
From its founding, San Juan del Río held an important place in the Spanish advance toward the north, a position it preserved when the Alcaldía Mayor of Querétaro was established in 1578. It became the second most important settlement in the jurisdiction for several reasons: its location on the road between the capital of New Spain and the silver route; its role for those seeking to enter the Sierra Gorda; and, finally, the agricultural wealth of the valleys surrounding it.
According to the Relación de méritos of Don Nicolás de San Luis Montañez, an Indigenous pacifier allied with the Europeans, the founding of San Juan del Río is described as follows:
In this way, they arrived at the site. After traveling several leagues, they reached a place where there was a mighty river, surrounded by sabino trees and springs. There was also a hill surrounded by rocks. There, the twenty-five thousand three hundred twenty-nine soldiers settled. The Captain remained atop the rock with all the principal figures who accompanied him, to await the day of Saint John the Baptist and give that name to the town that was to be founded, and on that same day celebrate the first Mass there.
They entered what is now the city center on June 24, 1531, and that same day Mass was said. After it was celebrated, everyone gathered, and immediately the Chief Fiscal stood up and said that it was the day of Saint John the Baptist and that, in the place where they were, there were springs; therefore, the town should be founded there and should be called San Juan del Río.
At midday, the ceremonial walk was ordered, and the streets were laid out: four streets in the small plain where Mass had been said. The streets were to be drawn forming a square, resulting in eight. The town’s legal foundation area was established, and in a bower that was also built, the first chapel was raised. Its foundation area was to measure two thousand five hundred square varas, and at each corner of the foundation area they placed crosses made of green sabino wood. In this way, the town of San Juan del Río was founded. At that moment, Captain Nicolás de San Luis Montañez ordered the two bells they carried to be rung, the bugles and war drums to be sounded, and the legal foundation area to be toured. The standard-bearer carrying the white flag of peace accompanied the procession. The captains went out on horseback and on foot; Captain Montañez also went, as did Fray Juan Bautista, the latter charged with evangelization. After touring the foundation area, with the streets properly laid out and everyone gathered, they cried out aloud: Town of San Juan del Río, in the name of God Our Lord, of heaven and earth, you are founded!
Immediately, the layout of the presidio was begun. At each corner of the foundation area, embrasures were built, along with others at different intervals, totaling thirty-two, all bearing the white flag of peace with the arms of Castile. Each of the corner embrasures of the foundation area was occupied: to the north, by Don Nicolás de Mora, principal; to the east, by Don Juan Juárez; to the south, by Don Marcelo Chimal; and to the west, by Don Alfonso de Guzmán. These men were appointed mayors, chief constables, and doctrineros, remaining there with one hundred Catholic Indians.
The army stationed in San Juan del Río would later depart toward what is now La Cañada and Santiago de Querétaro, before July 25, the mythical date of the founding of the capital of the present-day state of Querétaro; that is, one month after the founding of San Juan del Río.
Thus, San Juan del Río was a pueblo from the 16th to the 18th centuries. In the 19th century, due to its vibrant growth, it became a Villa in 1830, and in 1847 it acquired the category of City. In the 21st century, San Juan del Río, together with Tequisquiapan, was elevated to one of the most important metropolitan areas in Mexico.
San Juan del Río, a city recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, celebrates in 2026 the 495th anniversary of its founding. As it approaches its fifth century, its greatness has been clearly demonstrated, establishing it as a national landmark.
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