Zacatecas City

Zacatecas is the principal city of the municipality of the same name in north-central Mexico and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. It began as a Spanish mining camp in the mid-16th century, built on rich silver and mineral deposits already known to Native Americans, and the wealth it generated made Zacatecas one of the most important mining cities in New Spain. During the Mexican Revolution the city was the site of the Battle of Zacatecas, when Francisco Villa captured it, an event still commemorated annually; today its colonial core is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Baroque-era architecture, and mining remains an important local industry.