 The city of Valle de Santiago lies at an elevation of in the east-central part of the municipality, approximately south of the state capital, Guanajuato.The settlement was founded in 1607 by Pedro Martínez Rincón, Pedro Rivera, Diego Tamayo, Francisco Gómez, Francisco Santoyo, Silvestre de Aguirre, Luis Fonseca, Antonio Estrada, Andrés Cuéllar and Juan Martínez.As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 68,058 (the ninth-largest community in the state), while the municipality had a population of 141,058.