Map - Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes)

Aguascalientes is the capital of the Mexican state of Aguascalientes and its most populous city, as well as the head of the Aguascalientes Municipality; with a population of 934,424 inhabitants in 2012 and 1,225,432 in the metro area. The metropolitan area also includes the municipalities of Jesús María and San Francisco de los Romo. It is located in North-Central Mexico, which roughly corresponds to the Bajío region (Lowlands) within the central Mexican plateau. The city stands on a valley of steppe climate at 1880 meters above sea level, at 21.85°N, -102.3°W.

Originally a Chichimeca Indian territory, the city was founded on October 22, 1575, by Spanish families relocating from Lagos de Moreno under the name of Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes (Village of Our Lady of the Assumption of the Hot Waters), in reference to the chosen patron saint and the many thermal springs found close to the village, which still remain to this day. It would serve as an outpost in the Silver Route, while politically, it was part of the kingdom of Nueva Galicia. In 1835, President Antonio López de Santa Anna made Aguascalientes the capital of a new territory in retaliation to the state of Zacatecas, eventually becoming capital of a new state in 1857. During the Porfiriato era, Aguascalientes was chosen to host the main workshops of the Mexican Central Railway company; bringing an industrial and cultural explosion. The city hosted the Revolutionary Convention of 1914, an important meeting of war generals during the Mexican Revolution.

Formed on a tradition of farming, mining and railroad and textile industry; contemporary Aguascalientes has attracted foreign investment of automobile and electronics companies due to its peaceful business climate, strategic location and existing infrastructure. The city is home to Renault-Nissan's largest and most important manufacturing plants in Latin America and a shared facility by Nissan and Mercedes, which has given the city a significant Japanese immigrant community. Other companies with operations in the city include Jatco, Coca-Cola, Flextronics, Texas Instruments, Donaldson and Calsonic Kansei. The city of Aguascalientes is also known for the San Marcos Fair, the largest fair celebrated in Mexico and one of the largest in Latin America.

The city of Aguascalientes was founded on October 22, 1575, by Juan de Montoro, his family and accompanying families. The village was originally conceived as a minor garrison and rest stop between the cities of Zacatecas and Lagos de Moreno, with the end goal of protecting silver in its route to Mexico City from the Chichimeca. Although the founders did not envision it becoming a major city, it would eventually become the capital of a newly formed state when the territory separated from the adjacent state of Zacatecas in 1835.

The historical center of Aguascalientes was born out of four distinct neighborhoods. The oldest of these is the Barrio del Encino, which is technically older than Aguascalientes proper. Founded in 1565 by the Andalusian Hernán González Berrocal, the neighborhood was originally named Triana after the neighborhood in Seville, Spain. The Barrio del Encino is home to the Baroque-style Templo del Señor del Encino, a Catholic church built between 1773 and 1796. The Cristo Negro del Encino ('Black Christ of the live oak'), is a widely venerated religious icon symbolic of this neighborhood. The colonial square and the José Guadalupe Posada Museum, adjacent to the church, are one of the main attractions in the city.

The second neighborhood is the Barrio de San Marcos, which has its roots in the early 17th century as an indigenous settlement on the outskirts of the then-village of Aguascalientes. Between 1628 and 1688, some communal land was allocated to the community, but the indigenous people still worked on Spanish-owned farms and produced goods to sell in Aguascalientes. Meanwhile, they organized the construction of a simple hospital and a chapel. This original chapel was replaced by the current Templo de San Marcos completed on December 15, 1763; this church is the spiritual headquarters of the Feria Nacional de San Marcos.

The third neighborhood is the Barrio de Guadalupe, which began its development as a string of shops and trading posts alongside the road leading from Aguascalientes to Jalpa and Zacatecas during the latter half of the 18th century. The neighborhood's iconic Templo de Guadalupe was built between 1767 and 1789; it is recognized for its Spanish Baroque façade and its dome lined with Talavera tiles. Especially after the founding of the Fundición Central Mexicana ('Mexican Central Foundry'), the neighborhood developed quickly; by the early 20th century its roadside inns had mostly been converted into homes and its boundaries had blurred with those of the Barrio de San Marcos.

The final neighborhood is the Barrio de la Salud, which has its roots in a small chapel and a cemetery developed towards the end of the 18th century to deal with a number of disease epidemics that had struck the area. Gravediggers established homes near the cemetery, and others took advantage of the open land to establish orchards. Though the orchards began to disappear during the early 20th century, clues as to the neighborhood's roots still remain. First of all, the fact that property lines generally followed irrigation ditches can still be seen in the neighborhood's haphazard street grids today. Second, the neighborhood's working-class character is visible in its primarily single-story homes featuring simple façades.

A fifth neighborhood, the Barrio de la Estación, named after the town's central train station, is often grouped in with the city's original neighborhoods. However, this neighborhood is considerably more modern, with much of its development dating from the final decades of the 19th century or later. Therefore, despite its important role in the history of Aguascalientes, it is not strictly accurate to consider the Barrio de la Estación one of the city's original historical neighborhoods.