Land of Silver

The history of silver in Taxco is a fascinating combination of legend and fact. Located about 160 Km southwest of Mexico City in the state of Guerrero is one of the oldest mining sites in the Americas. It has retained its natural charm with its colonial ambiance, red-tiled roofs, cobblestoned, narrow winding streets and the towering, impressive 240 year old Santa Prisca Catheral. Its natural wealth of silver attracted early Conquistadors.

Before the Spanish arrived, the native indians called it Tlacho meaning the "place of the ballgame". According to local legend, the Aztecs had the locals pay tribute to them with gold bars. Hernán Cortés arrived and the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521. A year afterwards Cortés staked his mining claim in Taxco. By the end of the century, silver from Taxco had spread across Europe, and remote Taxco was known for its wealth of silver. It had become Spain's primary source in the New World of precious metals and had become a busy mining area. Mining gradually decreased in the Taxco area as other richer and more accessible mining areas were discovered and developed, and eventually faded out for almost 200 years.
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