Mexican PlateauThe Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano (Altiplanicie mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States border in the north to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in the south, and is bounded by the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental to the west and east, respectively. A low east-west mountain range in the state of Zacatecas divides the plateau into northern and southern sections.
ZacatecasZacatecas (sakaˈtekas), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas (Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas), is one of the 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas. It is located in north-central Mexico and is bordered by the states of Durango to the northwest, Coahuila to the north, Nayarit to the west, San Luis Potosí and Nuevo León to the east, and Jalisco, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes to the south.
NochistlánNochistlán (notʃisˈtlan) is a city in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, on December 3, 1531, hired Cristóbal de Oñate to establish a village in Nochistlán; the village would be named Guadalajara to honor Guzmán for having been born in Guadalajara. Guadalajara was founded in Nochistlán on January 5, 1532. Its first officials were Cristóbal de Oñate, Sancho Ortiz de Zúñiga, Juan de Albornoz and Miguel de Ibarra. They worked at this project for only 16 months and created the first layout of Guadalajara.
GuanajuatoGuanajuato (gwanaˈxwato), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato (Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato. It is located in central Mexico and is bordered by the states of Jalisco to the west, Zacatecas to the northwest, San Luis Potosí to the north, Querétaro to the east, and Michoacán to the south. It covers an area of .
Lerma RiverThe Lerma River (Río Lerma) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near Guadalajara, Jalisco. Lake Chapala is also the starting point of Río Grande de Santiago, which some treat as a continuation of the Lerma River. In combination, the two are often called the Lerma Santiago River (Río Lerma Santiago).
GuachichilThe Guachichil, Cuauchichil, or Quauhchichitl, are an exonym for Indigenous people of Mexico. Prior to European and African contact, they occupied the most extensive territory of all the Indigenous Chichimeca tribes in pre-Columbian central Mexico. The Guachichiles settled a large region of Zacatecas; as well as portions of San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, and northeastern Jalisco; south to the northern corners of Michoacán; and north to Saltillo in Coahuila.
BajíoEl Bajío (the lowland) is a cultural and geographical region within the central Mexican plateau which roughly spans from northwest of Mexico City to the main silver mines in the northern-central part of the country. This includes (from south to north) the states of Querétaro, Guanajuato, parts of Jalisco (Centro, Los Altos de Jalisco), Aguascalientes and parts of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Michoacán.
Otomi languageOtomi (ˌoʊtəˈmiː; Otomí otoˈmi) is an Oto-Pamean language spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. Otomi consists of several closely related languages, many of which are not mutually intelligible. The word Hñähñu hɲɑ̃hɲṹ has been proposed as an endonym, but since it represents the usage of a single dialect, it has not gained wide currency.
Purépecha languagePurépecha (also Pʼurhépecha phuˈɽepet͡ʃa, Phorhé or Phorhépecha), often called Tarascan, a term coined by Spanish colonizers (Tarasco) which can be seen as pejorative, is a language isolate or small language family that is spoken by some 140,000 Purépecha in the highlands of Michoacán, Mexico. Purépecha was the main language of the pre-Columbian Tarascan State and became widespread in the region during its heyday in the late post-Classic period. The small town of Purepero got its name from the indigenous people who lived there.
Huarache (shoe)Huaraches (singular huarache wa'ɾatʃe; derived from warachi in Purépecha) are a type of Mexican sandal, Pre-Columbian in origin. Pre-Columbian in origin, the sandals are believed related to the or , of Náhuatl origin. The name "huarache" is derived from the Purépecha language term , and directly translates into English as sandal. Early forms have been found in and traced to the countryside farming communities of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guanajuato and Yucatan.
