The New Student's Reference Work/Queretaro

Quere'taro (kā-rā'tå-rō), one of the inland states of Mexico with a city of the same name, is on a high plateau, 120 miles northwest of Mexico City and 350 from Vera Cruz. The area of the state is 3,556 square miles, with a population of 243,515. The population of the city, its capital, is 35,011. The town was taken by the Spanish from the Chichimec Indians in 1531. Here in 1867, Maximilian, Archduke of Austria and Emperor of Mexico, made his last stand, and here he was shot. The town is an important manufacturing center, and near it are some rich mines of silver, lead, iron and copper. The chief products, however, are maize, fruit and cotton. There are some fine public buildings and a church (that of Santa Clara), noted for its beautiful wood-carvings.