Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/146



province of Guanajuato was the theatre of the first tragic events of the revolution, and no city in the kingdom of New Spain suffered more cruelly in loss of life and ruin of prosperity than its capital, Santa Fé de Guanajuato, from which the province derived its name. At the time of the conquest this territory was inhabited by barbarous tribes living on the produce of the chase, and the first Spaniards who penetrated it were the conquerors of Acámbaro, in which exploits joined the cacique of Jilotepec, Nicolás Montañez de San Luis, a near relative of Montezuma. In 1526 these adventurers apportioned out among themselves the districts of Acámbaro, Jerécuaro, and Coronéo.