Taxco

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Mexican State	Guerrero
Taxco de Alarcón

Elevation	1,778 m (5,833 ft)
Population (2005)
- Total	50,415 city
Website: http://www.taxco.gob.mx

Taxco de Alarcón (Taxco) is a former colonial silver-mining center in the northern part of the Mexican state of Guerrero on the western arm of the Sierra Madre del Sur. It is located 200 km southwest of Mexico City along the old highway to Acapulco at an elevation of 1,800 m (5,900 ft). The city serves as the administrative center of the municipality of the same name, which covers a total area of 347 km² (134 sq mi) of the surrounding territory. With a population of 50,415,^[1] Taxco is the fifth-largest in the state.^[2] The municipality has a population of 98,854,^[1] which also includes the cities of Tlamacazapa and Acamixtla.

The city is built on the side of a mountain, with very steep narrow cobblestone streets lined by whitewashed houses with red-tiled roofs.

[edit] History

The whitewashed houses with red-tiled roofs in Taxco.

The Aztecs founded a city they called “Tlacho” meaning the place of the ballgame.^[3]

Hernán Cortés mined tin for his artillery in the area of Taxco:

I commenced to inquire everywhere if anywhere there was any (tin), and Our Lord, Who takes care, and has always taken care, wished to provide with the greatest speed, so that I came upon by chance amongst the natives province which is known as Tachco, certain small pieces of it in the manner of a very thin coin, and proceeding on my inquiry, I found that in the said province, even in others, it was used as money; on becoming more familiar with the matter, I learned that it came from the said province of Tachco which is a 26 leagues distances from this city, and then I learned of the mines and sent tools and Spaniards and they brought me a sample of it, and at that I gave the order that they extract all that was necessary, and whatever more may be needed will be extracted, although with great labor; and even when travelling in search of these metals a vein or iron in great quantity was found by chance, according to what I am informed by those who say they know it.

—Cortés, Fourth Letter of Relation, dated in Mexico 15th October, 1524, addressed to Emperor Charles V

Taxco was incorporated in 1532. The books in the Court of Letters, Taxco's first-known public registry, go back to 1529. In 1542 the Mayor, Don Luis de Castilla, was the first Spaniard to make his fortune from the mines of Taxco.

Two hundred years later, French prospector Joseph de la Borda discovered a rich silver deposit. Taxco is the world's capital of silver, with over 200 shops and dozens of renowned silver jewelers. Silver is still the most important aspect of Taxco's economy.

The parish church of Santa Prisca, a 250-year-old baroque-style church, is found in Taxco.

Taxco was named a "Pueblo Mágico" in 2002.