Located at the border between Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica, El Bajío saw relatively few permanent settlements and big civilizations during Pre-Columbian history, being mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes known to the Aztecs as "The Chichimeca" peoples, another Nahua group from whom the Toltec and the Aztecs were probably descended. The tribes that inhabited El Bajío proved to be some of the hardest to conquer for the Spanish—peace was ultimately achieved via truce and negotiation—but due to its strategic location in the Silver Route, it also drew prominent attention from the Spanish crown and some of the flagship Mexican colonial cities were built there, such as Guanajuato and Zacatecas. Abundant mineral wealth and favorable farming conditions would soon turn the region into one of New Spain's wealthiest. At the beginning of the 19th century, El Bajío was also the place of the ignition of the Mexican War of Independence, and saw most of its battles during the initial phase of the war, including the Cry of Dolores, the storming of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas and the Battle of Calderón Bridge.
Nowadays, the region features one of the strongest economies in Mexico and Latin America, drawing both domestic investment from the adjacent, industry-heavy State of Mexico, as well as foreign companies seeking cheap specialized labor and decent infrastructure[1] (mostly American, Japanese and to some extent, European vehicle and electronics companies).[2][3][4][5] The largest cities of the Bajío are Guadalajara, León, Santiago de Querétaro, and Aguascalientes.[6]
The Bajío rose to world prominence during the three centuries of colonial rule, providing much of the mineral and agricultural wealth of the Spanish Empire.[7] As such, it was also the birthplace of the Mexican War of Independence, during which criollo elites long established in the Bajío gathered the masses to revolt against Napoleonic rule in Spain, seen as a threat to the established order in America. That said, previous historical landmarks may be traced back to Pre-Columbian times.
Recent archeological studies of have discovered an extensive historic cultural tradition that is unique to the region, particularly along the flood plains of the Lerma and the Laja Rivers. The Bajío Culture flourished from 300 to 650 CE, with cultural centers ranging from El Cóporo in the far north of Guanajuato to Plazuelas in the far southwest.[8] More than 1,400 sites have been discovered throughout the state of Guanajuato, with only the sites of Cañada de la Virgen, El Cóporo, Peralta, and Plazuelas having received extensive study.
The Bajio from pre-Columbian times is best remembered from the Chichimeca nations, the name given by the Mexicas to a group of indigenous chiefdoms without clear states, boundaries or dwelling places, who inhabited the center and north of the country,[9][7] such as Guachichiles, Guamares, Pames, Tecuexes, among others.[10]
Valladolid (today Morelia), Guadalajara, among other cities were often founded with the goal to contain the "barbarian" tribes and protect Spanish families. The discovery of the mines of Zacatecas and Guanajuato, on the other hand, caused a high arrival of Spanish and Tlaxcaltec people to the area, which led to the founding of towns such as San Miguel el Grande (1542), Celaya (1571), Zamora (1574) Aguascalientes (1575) and León (1576), Durango, Chihuahua, Santa Fe Nuevo México: the so-called Silver Route of the Spanish treasure fleet.[10] Meanwhile, king Philip II of Spain orchestrated most of the Counter-Reformation in Europe and the Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War in large part with the wealth provided by settlers, indigenous people and African slaves from the American colonial enterprise centered at the Bajío. For much of the 16th century, the Bajío was characterized by its coming and going of cattle from Querétaro and Lake Chapala, by the ongoing silver rush and by the "warlike spirit" arising from the Chichimeca War, [10]w hich culminated with severe reductions in Chichimeca populations due to war and smallpox. The Chichimecas were reduced to a few settlements in the highlands, or, immersed in the new order.[7]
Throughout the 17th century, cities such as Irapuato, Salamanca and Salvatierra were founded, which, together with the large cities of the Bajío (Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Valladolid or Nueva Michoacán), experienced little population growth. It was not until the 18th century that there was a rise in population throughout New Spain, especially in the Bajío, which came hand in hand with high urban development.[10] However, the greatest boom occurred in the economic sphere.[7] It was the Bajío that provided meat, grains and manufacturing to the mining areas of the West, North Central, North Mexico and, later, to Mexico City itself.[10]
The war that led to the independence of New Spain has roots in its academic life, mainly in the classrooms of the Jesuits and Oratorians of the Bajío.[10] In urban centers since the end of the 18th century, conspiracies were organized, and from 1810 onwards insurgents emerged who supported the independence cause; earning the Bajíothe title of cradle of the Mexican Independence movement.[10]Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, the Aldama brothers, Josefa Ortíz de Domínguez, José María Morelos among other figures of the early phase of Mexican Independence were born and lived in the Bajío. On September 13 1810, Epigmenio González was taken prisoner, who had an arsenal of weapons destined for the insurgency. On the 15th, the corregidor of Querétaro, Miguel Domínguez, and his wife, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, were arrested. Some historians claim that she managed to send a message to Captain Ignacio Allende and Miguel Hidalgo, through Ignacio Pérez, a member of her militia who rode to San Miguel el Grande (today San Miguel de Allende) to inform those who would start the Mexican War of Independence that the conspiracy had been discovered. The most remembered event occurred in the early morning of September 16, 1810. In a small town called Dolores (today Dolores Hidalgo), father Miguel Hidalgo (born in Pénjamo) and his fellow insurgents rose up in arms against the viceregal regime, launching the famous Cry of Dolores.
In 1847 the city of Querétaro was named the capital of Mexico after Mexico City was invaded by the United States.[12] On May 30, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, forcing Mexico to lose the northern half of its territory in exchange for ending the occupation of Mexico City and the main Mexican ports such as Veracruz.
The Aguascalientes Convention was a meeting that took place during the Mexican Revolution, convened on October 1, 1914 by Venustiano Carranza, first head of the Constitutionalist Army, under the name of "Great Convention of Military Chiefs in Command of Forces and Governors of the States", and whose initial sessions took place in the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City. Although, later, they were moved to Aguascalientes, after which the convention is named, and was held from October 10 to November 9, 1914. The Zapatistas did not enter the Convention from the beginning. On February 2 of 1916 the third and current Constitution of Mexico was signed at the Teather of the Republic, in Querétaro. The city was again named provisional capital of the country, this time by President Venustiano Carranza, and for the duration of the Constitutional Convention.[13]
The Cristero War was fought mainly in the Bajío, in areas of the states of Michoacán, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Querétaro and Aguascalientes. The leadership of the movement, close to the Catholic Church, believed that a military solution to the conflict was viable. In January 1927, the stockpiling of weapons began. The first guerrillas were made up of peasants. Support for the armed groups grew. More and more people joined the proclamations of "Long live Christ the King!" and "Long live Saint Mary of Guadalupe!". The origin of the noun Cristero is disputed. There are those who believe that it was the Cristeros themselves who first used the name to identify themselves. But there are researchers of the phenomenon, such as Jean Meyer, who believe that, in its origins, it was a derogatory expression, used by agents of the federal government. The Cristeros were able to quickly articulate a series of local rebellions against the "Sonora Group", a name created after the Sonoran presidents Adolfo de la Huerta, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles.
Geography
The Bajío region lies in the basins of the Rio Lerma and Río Grande de Santiago. The valleys of the Lerma-Chapala basin are the result of volcanic activity during the Pliocene geological period and the Quaternary period, which at one time produced large inland lakes due to the obstruction of the outflow of their waters.[14]
With an area over 50 000 km2, and a moderately variable topology, distinct subregions within the Bajío can offer microclimates ranging from the temperate to the humid subtropical or dry steppes. The highest peak in the Bajío is Siete Cruces, in the state of Guanajuato, with an elevation of 3053 m.
In general the region is usually associated with the States of Guanajuato and Querétaro, even though those two states form only a part of the Bajío. It is now characterized by its highly mechanized agriculture, with mean precipitation in the order of 700 millimeters (28 in) per annum (one of the highest in the country). During the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the area was known as the breadbasket of the territory. As of 2014, the region produces sorghum, wheat and maize as its main crops.
Agave fields near Cerro de la Mesa (in the background). Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco.
Ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto and Honda Motor Co. director, Takanobu Ito, at the inauguration of the Honda manufacturing plant in Celaya, Guanajuato. Tequisquiapan, Querétaro, a popular destination for gastronomic tourism due to wine and cheese production.
Today, the region is one of the fastest-growing in the country. This has caused the metropolitan areas to attract many migrants from other parts of Mexico.[15][16][17] The region has had an outstanding industrial and economic development in the last 15 years. The cities of El Bajío have one of the highest income per capita figures in Mexico.[18]
Tourism
Due to its colonial heritage, the Bajío is home to around eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites (depending on how its limits are defined):
Bajío Shimbun is a monthly, Japanese-language newspaper founded in June 2015.[21] The first Japanese consulate was inaugurated in January 2016 in León to serve the Bajío region.[22] As of 2017 there were 1143 Japanese, 294 United-Statesians and 200 Spanish legal immigrants in Aguascalientes according to the immigration authorities, although the total number of immigrants is thought to be much higher.[23] In 2015, authorities reported a total of 6230 legally-registered immigrants in the state of Querétaro, most of them from the United States, Spain, Colombia, South Korea, Germany, Cuba, France, Canada, Japan and Venezuela.[24]
Now archetypal in the development plans of the local governments, these business partnerships with multinational corporations have been criticized for exploiting Mexico's weak labor laws and low wages,[25][26] lacking long-term potential of benefiting the local population and for outsourcing jobs out of their countries of origin in the developed world.[27]
^Butzer, Karl and Elisabeth Butzer. 1997. "The Natural Vegetation of the Mexican Bajío: Archival Documentation of a Sixteenth Century Savannah Environment." Quaternary International 43, no. 4: 161-72.
^Weatherford, Jack McIver (1990). Indian givers: how the Indians of the Americas transformed the world. Ballantine books history (1. Ballantine books ed.). New York, NY: Fawcett Columbine. ISBN978-0-449-90496-1.
^Sánchez, Martín (2007). Jacona. Historia de un pueblo y su desencuentro con el agua. Colegio de Michoacán, UMSNH-INAH.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
Brading, D.A.Haciendas and Ranchos in the Mexican Bajío: Léon, 1700-1860. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1978.
Murphy, Michael A. Irrigation in the Bajío Region of Colonial Mexico. Boulder: Westview Press 1986.
Ocaranza Sainz, Ignacio. Estudio geográfico y económico del Bajío, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 1963
Sánchez Rodríguez, Martín, "Mexico's Breadbasket: Agriculture and the Environment in the Bajío" in Christopher R. Boyer, A Land Between Waters: Environmental Histories of Modern Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press 2012, pp. 50–72.
Wright Carr, David Charles (1999). La conquista del Bajío y los orígenes de San Miguel de Allende, Universidad del Valle de México-Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.
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