Zacatecas: Mexico’s Overlooked Colonial Gem in the High Plateau
On the surface, Zacatecas might convincingly pass for a city
ripped from the crowded and fertile valleys of Europe, then
airlifted and abandoned with a no-nonsense thud onto Mexico’s
high desert. The notable absence of slums or narco-thugs, too,
help keep up the illusion of a prosperous Andalusian or
Castillian university town. But for all the continental
resemblance, Zacatecas is much more central to Mexican identity
than it might seem. It belongs, after all, to the country's High
Plateau region, a colonial heartland rich in Mexico’s own
versions of Boston, Williamsburg, or Charleston. Founded in
1546, three quarters of a century before Plymouth Rock, a
Spanish Empire intent on gold settled for some of the richest
silver veins on earth. The mine they found, the Mina el Eden, is
now a popular attraction plus an unlikely setting for the
hottest disco in town. But it was also an early grave for
hundreds of natives pressed into compulsory service fo