Driving Adventures to: Mexico’s Colonial Ghost Towns

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An Excerpt from my, “Driving Adventures to: Mexico’s Colonial Ghost Towns”.

Mexico’s Colonial Ghost Towns

The High Desert of the Altiplano

The Mexican High Plateau stretches from the Norhern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon to the southern states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, Mexico, and Michoacán.

The Altiplano altitude, on average, of the norhern and central portions of the plateau is some 3,575 feet above sea level and in the southern portions it’s an average of 6,500 ft. It is intersected only by the larger mountain ranges of the Sierra de Zacatecas, the Sierra de Guanajuato, and the Sierra Gorda in Querétaro. The plateau is bordered on the west by the mighty Sierra Madre Occidental, on the east by the Sierra Madre Oriental, and in the south by the Sierra Neovolcanica Transmexicana.

The climate of the northern and north central areas is arid (Aridamerica), sheltered as it is by the high Sierras, and the climate of the southern central and southern areas (Mesoamerica) is temperate to semi-cold (not so sheltered by the mountains).

Aridamerica was populated by nomadic tribes who were, by necessity, hunter-gatherers. A bellicose bunch who waged war on their neighbors, stealing what they could and murdering the survivors.

Mesoamerica, probably due to the better climate, were more sedentary, and began farming early on in their civilizations. They waged wars of conquest trying to add more territory to their empires, and captured their surviving enemies for slaves.
The Spaniards, completing their conquest of Tenochtitlan, moved northward along the Gulf coast as far as the Panuco river, and toward the west into the areas now known as the states of Michoacán and Jalisco. They left the conquest of the High Plateau to converted Otomi and Tlaxcalan Indians until a few rugged explorers discovered gold and silver in the arid hills and mountains of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. A flood of adventurers followed and new discoveries were made in Guanajuato and Durango ensuring the settlement of the High Plateau.

Some of these mining boom towns survive to this day, preserved by the dry air and rainless climes. Four of these will be dipicted here in this book complete with their histories for your enlightenment and enjoyment: Mineral La Luz, Guanajuato; Mineral de Pozos, Guanajuato; Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí; Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosí

Tags: books, colonial cities, ghost towns, History, Mexican History, Mexican Legends, Mexico, Mexico Travel, travel