page_title: San Juan de los Lagos
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: San Juan de los Lagos / History
caption_attribution_description: English: San Juan in earlier decades.
context_page_description: San Juan de los Lagos is a city and municipality located in the northeast corner of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, in a region known as Los Altos. It is best known as the home of a small image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos or in Nahuatl Cihuapilli, which means “Great Lady.” Since the first major miracle ascribed to her in 1632, she has been venerated especially for cases involving mortal danger. The miracles ascribed to her have made the basilica in which she is found a major tourist attraction, which has shaped the city's history to this day. The economy of the city is still heavily dependent on the flow of pilgrims which has amounted to between seven and nine million people per year.
context_section_description: For much of the pre Hispanic period, the Los Altos area was inhabited by groups of Tecuexe and Nahuas who formed small independent dominions in the 12th century. Soon after, these dominions would fall under the rule of a single Tecuexe state, with its capital at Metzquititlán.
  The first Spanish conquistador in the area was Pedro Almíndez Chirino, sent from Cuitzeo by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán. It was placed firmly into Spanish control by Cristóbal de Oñate after he conquered the nearby Caxcans in Teocaltiche. The Mixtón Rebellion in the Guadalajara area prompted measures to populate and fortify this area under the supervision of the Franciscans.  San Juan's origins date to 1542, when the indigenous population of a village called San Gaspar was sent here, naming the new village San Juan Bautista de Mezquititlán. However, by the end of the 16th century, the town was still little more than a group of small houses, with a small hermitage. This hermitage, built by Friar Miguel de Bolonia, was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. This structure was the first home of a very small image of the Virgin Mary, believed to have been brought to the area from Michoacán either by Bolonia or by Friar Antonio de Segovia. Over time, moths damaged the statue and it was packed away in a corner of the sacristy. It remained there until 1632 when it was part of the first major miracle ascribed to it. After this, the image was taken to Guadalajara to be restored, and it was then returned to San Juan. Pilgrimages soon began to the miraculous image, with pilgrims leaving valuable offerings, which permitted the building of larger and grander churches for the image. The first chapel to the image was built in 1638, which is now the Chapel of the First Miracle.
  From the 1542 to 1623, San Juan had been an indigenous community. Colonial authorities decided to “Hispanicize” the area, bringing in a large number of Spanish and mestizos from neighboring areas, mostly through land grants. Many of these new residents came from an area called Santa María de los Lagos which is now Lagos de Moreno. This prompted the changing of the city's name to San Juan de los Lagos. Shortly after this influx of newcomers, the number of indigenous in the city dropped to less than one quarter.
  During the colonial era, the San Juan's importance grew as a pilgrimage center because of the miracles ascribed to the Virgin Mary image. This influx of pilgrims also spurred the city's development as a regional commercial center, as it provided a large concentration of potential customers. This led to an annual fair which coincided with the busiest pilgrimage season, the time around Candlemas. This economic impact became evident relatively early in the colonial period.
  San Juan had a number of advantages that led to its growing importance during the colonial period. First, there was a relative dearth of native pilgrimage sites in northern Mexico, as most sites are churches dedicated to Virgin and Christ images physically located in other parts of the country. This Virgin, along with the one in Zapopan, were considered “frontier Virgins.” Another important factor is that San Juan lies on the border between northern and central Mexico in an area now known as the Los Altos de Jalisco region and as such was an area frequently traveled through. The area lies where a number of roads connecting mining and cattle raising areas intersect. The royal road which linked Tampico, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas passed through here, intersecting with that connecting Mexico City and Santa Fé. This has made it relatively easy to access and prompted authorities to build and maintain roads and bridges in the area, including a main highway connecting it to Guadalajara in 1717. The annual fair drew merchants from Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, San Juan del Río, Valle de Santiago, Celaya, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, many to sell merchandise imported through the ports of Veracruz or Acapulco.
  The annual fair and other commercial activity steadily grew in the 17th and 18th century until th
caption: San Juan in earlier decades.
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