Querétaro

"El Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga es, junto con la Ciudad de México, una de las treinta y dos entidades federativas de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Se ubica en el centro del país y limita, al norte con el estado de San Luis Potosí, al oeste con el estado de Guanajuato, al este con el estado de Hidalgo, al sureste con el Estado de México, y al suroeste con el estado de Michoacán. Es un estado con un creciente índice de desarrollo industrial y acelerado desarrollo empresarial. Contiene varios sitios declarados Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad por la Unesco en 1996, y se considera Cuna de la Independencia de México. Es la entidad donde se redactó la Constitución de 1917, vigente. Se divide en 18 municipios. Su capital es la ciudad de Santiago de Querétaro (ubicada a unos 200 km al noroeste de la Ciudad de México), de quien toma su nombre. Otras localidades importantes son San Juan del Río, Peñamiller, Jalpan de Serra, Amealco de Bonfil, Tequisquiapan, Ezequiel Montes, San Joaquín, Tolimán, Landa de Matamoros, Arroyo Seco."

"Querétaro (Spanish pronunciation: [keetao]), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro de Arteaga (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga), is one of 31 states that, with the Federal District, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro. It is located in North-Central Mexico, in a region known as Bajío. It is bordered by the states of San Luis Potosí to the north, Guanajuato to the west, Hidalgo to the east, México to the southeast and Michoacán to the southwest. The state is one of the smallest in Mexico, but it is also one of the most heterogeneous geographically, with ecosystems varying from deserts to tropical rainforest, especially in the Sierra Gorda, which is filled with microecosystems. The area of the state was located on the northern edge of Mesoamerica, with both the Purépecha Empire and Aztec Empire having influence in the extreme south, but neither really dominated it. The area, especially the Sierra Gorda, had a number of small city-states, but by the time the Spanish arrived, these had all been abandoned, with only small agricultural villages and seminomadic peoples inhabiting the area. Spanish conquest was focused on the establishment of the Santiago de Querétaro, which still dominates the state culturally, economically and educationally."