The Mexican state of Querétaro de Arteaga ‒ located near the center of the Mexican Republic ‒ is bordered on the west and northwest by Guanajuato, on the northwest by San Luis Potosí, on the east by Hidalgo, on the southeast by the State of México and on the southwest by Michoacán de Ocampo. Querétaro is one of the smallest Mexican states, containing only 11,699 square kilometers (4,518 square miles), occupying only 0.6% of the national territory and ranked 27th out of 32 states and the Distrito Federal. Politically, the state is divided into 18 municipios. 

With a population of 2,038,372 inhabitants in 2010, Querétaro is ranked 22nd in population among Mexico’s state and jurisdictions. Its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro, which had a population of 626,495 in 2010, representing almost one-third (30.7%) of the entire state population. There is a plaque in the Querétaro town of Tequisquiapan that claims that city is the geographic center of the Mexican Republic.

Querétaro’s Geographic Regions

Querétaro is divided into three physiographic provinces, which are described below and illustrated in the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) map on the following page. Querétaro’s mountain ranges cover 66.29% of the surface area of the state.

In northeastern Querétaro, the rugged Sierra Gorda is part of the Sierra Madre Oriental Range and mainly consists of high peaks, small narrow valleys and deep canyons. The Sierra region includes cities that are part of Mexico’s Huasteca Region.

The Transversal Volcanic System (Neovolcanic Axis) is another mountain region of Querétaro that occupies almost half (49.61%) of the state’s center and south. The area consists of mostly volcanic rocks and is part of a chain that extends westward through other central Mexican states from Veracruz in the east to Jalisco in the west.

The Mesa del Centro (Central Mesa) is in the center-west of the state, and mostly consists of small mesas. The western section of the state extends into the Bajío, the rich agricultural region mainly occupying neighboring Guanajuato. While hills cover 23% of the state surface, plateaus and canyons only cover about 6% of the state.

The Otomí Indians (The Sierra Nahñu)

At the time of the Spanish contact, The Otomíes (who call themselves Nahñu, or Hñahñu) occupied the greater part of Querétaro and smaller parts of Guanajuato, the northwestern portion of Hidalgo and parts of the state of México. At one time, the Otomí held a great deal of power and prestige throughout east central Mexico. However, the rise of the Aztec Empire caused a decline of the Otomíes during the fourteenth Century. Nahñu belongs to the Otopamean language family, a subfamily of the very large Otomanguean Linguistic Group. (Most of the Oaxacan indigenous groups — including the Zapotecs and Mixtecs — belong to this language family.)

The Pames

At the time of contact, western Querétaro was occupied by the Pame-speaking Chichimecas, a semi-nomadic people who survived by hunting and gathering in their dispersed rancherías. The Pames constitute a very divergent branch of the extensive Otomanguean linguistic family. They were located mainly in northcentral and eastern Guanajuato, southeastern San Luis Potosí, and also in adjacent areas of Tamaulipas and Querétaro. To this day, the Pames refer to themselves as “Xiúi,” which means indigenous. This term is used to refer to any person not of mestizo descent. They use the word “Pame” to refer to themselves only when they are speaking Spanish. But in their religion, this word has a contemptuous meaning and they try to avoid using it.

The Pames’ territory was south and east of the extensive Guachichiles who occupied large sections of San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Guanajuato. In addition, some of the Pame territory overlapped with the Otomíes in the east and south, and the Guamares in the southwest.

Initially, the Pames were minor players in the Chichimeca War (1550-1590), which was primarily waged by the Chichimeca Indians in the present-day areas of Zacatecas, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, and as far east as Querétaro. The Pames took part in small raids on cattle ranches in the Bajío. However, in the 1570s, they became more involved in the hostilities, but later, as the war approached an end in the 1580s, the Pames experienced both assimilation and reduction due to deaths from war and epidemics. Today the Pames continue to exist as a cultural group with a living language.

The Náhuatl Languages of Querétaro

The Náhuatl people are the single largest indigenous group in Querétaro and in the entire Mexican Republic. Although Nahuas live in all the states of the Mexican Republic, each of the 28 or so Náhuatl languages and dialects has developed unique characteristics depending on its environmental conditions. At the time of the Spanish contact, only a few Náhuatl-speaking Indians inhabited Querétaro. Their numbers increased significantly during the colonial period.

Mazahua

Mazahua, a tribe of the Otomian linguistic family living in the western portion of the State of México, as well as some areas of neighboring states such as southern Querétaro and northwest Michoacán. In 1521, after the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spaniards, the Mazahua aligned themselves with the Spanish troops and joined them to help fight the Aztecs.

The Otomíes: Spanish Allies

The first Spanish party to arrive in the region of Querétaro was sent out by the Conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1526, a few years after the conquest of the Aztec Empire (1521). In the following years, many of the Otomíes very quickly aligned themselves with the Spaniards. As a result, Otomí settlers were issued extra privileges and were supplied with tools for breaking and working the land. For their allegiance, they were exempted from tribute and given a certain amount of autonomy in their towns.

In July 1531, the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Pérez Bocanegra and the allied Otomí leader Conín (later renamed Fernando de Tapia) — the administrative head of the Otomi peoples living in Aztec controlled territory — established the city of Santiago de Querétaro. During the same year, Fernando de Tapia led an Otomí force that conquered and dispersed the southern Pame. As the 1530s and 1540s progressed, Spanish cattle ranchers and Otomíes had begun taking over the Pame lands in eastern Guanajuato and western Querétaro.

Camino de la Plata (The Silver Road)

Querétaro gained new importance in the 1550s when a new road was opened to the recently established Zacatecas mines, about 330 kilometers (206 miles) to the northwest. According to historian Professor Eric Van Young, the silver strikes of the mid-1540s in Zacatecas “spurred a demand… for agricultural and livestock products from areas farther to the south.” The new road known as the Camino de la Plata (the Silver Road) was part of the larger road — the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road of the Interior) — which led south to Mexico City.  

Otomí Collaboration

The Zacatecas mines put pressure on local Indian village economies to provide labor and the Spaniards came to depend on the Otomí and their settlements as a way to create a sedentary, agricultural population that did not oppose them and would work for them. However, during the Chichimeca War (1550-1590), the Otomí settlements suffered from numerous attacks by the other Chichimeca groups, especially the Guamares and Guachichiles (mainly from Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí). Peter Gerhard, in “A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain,” writes that there were 18 Otomí settlements in the region, but seven or more of them had been abandoned because of Chichimec attacks. The Otomí had earned the wrath of the Chichimecs for aligning themselves with the Spaniards and becoming a part of colonial society.

Spanish Settlement and Conquest

During the latter half of the 16th century, Spanish cattlemen and farmers gradually moved in to the Querétaro Region, in spite of the Chichimecas raids which lasted until 1589. Eventually, the Spaniards would bring “groups of Christianized Indians” from the Valley of Mexico and Tlaxcala to colonize the area. Over several decades, the number of Otomí, Pame, Mexica and Tarascan Indians settling in the region increased steadily.

The Sierra Gorda

The Sierra Gorda was a mountainous region that included northern Querétaro and parts of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí. As the Spaniards and their Indian allies settled most of Querétaro, the nomadic Jonaces (now known as the Chichimeca-Jonaz) and some of the Pames retreated into the rugged mountains of the Sierra Gorda to the northeast in the Querétaro portion of the Sierra Gorda. This area would remain effectively outside of Spanish control until the mid-eighteenth century.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish would surround this area, but did not actually send military incursions into the region. However, they did establish the Villa of Cadereyta in 1640 as a bulwark against the Jonaces and Pames in the area. Systematic evangelization of the region would not be attempted until the 17th century, when Augustinians in the east and Franciscans in the west began building missions during the 1670s and 1680s, under Spanish military protection. However, some missions were not able to survive and were abandoned in the face of a hostile environment.

The Conquest of the Jonaces

In 1703, the Jonaces rebelled against Spanish authority and conducted raids against Spanish missions in the Sierra Gorda. In response, the Spanish cavalry marched into the Sierra Gorda to contain the Jonaces between 1713 and 1715. A treaty was signed with the Indians in February 1715, but the Jonaces were guaranteed their freedom and control over the Sierra Gorda region.

In 1740, the Colonial Administration decided to fully subdue the Jonaces and sent an expedition headed by José de Escandón to accomplish this. Escandón fought the Chichimeca Jonaz, decisively defeating them at the Battle of Cerro de la Media Luna (Half Moon Hill). During the same period, the Pames peacefully acquiesced to Spanish rule, allowing Franciscan missionaries to settle them into the local missions. Escandón would launch the “Nuevo Santander” colony in Tamaulipas a few years later.

Querétaro in the 1921 Mexican Census

In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca” (indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total state population of 220,231, 42,718 persons (or 19.4%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background. Another 170,525, or 80.25% – classified themselves as being mixed (mezclada or mestizo), while only 0.3% claimed to be white.

Because most of Querétaro’s Indians had lost their tribal identity in the 16th and 17th centuries, very few had maintained knowledge of their ancestral tongues. Over time, the influx of indigenous migrants from other parts of Mexico and the displacement of local Indian populations had created an unusual ethnic mix in the Spanish settlements. Within a few generations, the indigenous warriors had become citizens of Spain’s colonial empire and most of them spoke only Spanish.

Querétaro in the 2000 Census

Although the population of Querétaro in 2000 was tallied at 1,404,306, the population of indigenous-speaking individuals five years of age or more was only 25,269, representing 1.8% of the total state population.  By far, the most common indigenous group were the Otomíes, numbering 22,077 persons, or 87.37% of the total indigenous-speaking population.

The other indigenous languages spoken in 2000 census were:

1. Náhuatl, who numbered 1,069 in 2000 (4.23%)

2. Mazahua (336 speakers, 1.33%)

3. Zapoteco (215, 0.85%)

4. Huasteco (121, 0.48%)

5. Purépecha (112, 0.44%)

6. Totonaca (109, 0.43%)

7. Mixteco (103, 0.41%).

While the Mixtec and Zapotec speakers were probably migrants from Oaxaca, the other languages probably came to Querétaro from neighboring states (San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo or Veracruz). Although the Chichimeca Jonaz language is spoken by over 2,200 persons in the Mexican Republic today, nearly all of them live in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí, and very few make their home in Querétaro.

The Otomí of Querétaro

Today, Otomies live in two regions of the state. Some Otomies live in the semi-desert region of the north, comprising the municipios of Cadereyta de Montes, Colón, Ezequiel Montes, and Tolimán. There is also a significant population of Otomí speakers living in the Municipio of Amealco in the southernmost part of the state, adjacent to the states of Mexico and Michoacán. However, many Otomies have also left Querétaro to work in Mexico’s major cities and in the U.S.

The following map shows the present territory of the Otomí speakers across several central Mexican states, including Hidalgo, Querétaro and Estado de Mexico [Yavidaxin, “Territorio del Pueblo Indígena Otomí en los Estados del Centro de México” as derived from Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas – Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (2006). Published Nov. 9, 2008].

Querétaro in the 2015 Intercensal Survey

In 2016, the Mexican government agency, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI), published the 2015 Intercensal Survey, which upgraded Mexico’s socio-demographic information to the midpoint between the 2010 census and the census to be carried out in 2020. With a sample size of over 6 million homes, this survey provides information on the national, state and municipio level, as of March 15th, 2015.

Considered Indigenous Classification

One of the 2015 survey questions read “De acuerdo, con su cultura, se considera indígena?” Essentially, Querétaro residents were being asked if they considered themselves indigenous through their culture. In answer to this question, 19.17% of Querétaro’s 2,038,372 residents classified themselves as being of indigenous origin. In stark contrast, only 1.68% of Queretanos actually spoke an indigenous language. Of the indigenous speakers, 76.5% spoke the Otomí language.

By far, the most indigenous municipio of Querétaro was Tolimán in the west-central part of the state, along the border with Guanajuato. Nearly 85% of Tolimán’s small population of 28,274 considered themselves to be indigenous and 27.32% actually spoke an indigenous language.

The much larger municipio of Amealco de Bonfil came in second. Of its 61,259 residents, 63.61% identified themselves as being of indigenous origin and 21% spoke an indigenous language. 

Nearly half of residents (46%) of another large municipio, Cadereyta de Montes — with a population of 69,549 — identified themselves as indigenous. However, only 2.83% of its residents spoke indigenous languages.

Although most Queretanos are centuries removed from their indigenous roots, it is a tribute to their ancestors that nearly one-fifth of them now identify themselves as being of indigenous culture in response to one question asked in the 2015 Intercensal Survey.

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