Taxco de Alarcon
Tourism

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townscape dating back to the colonial period, with low tiled houses, tiny squares, alleyways and secluded corners.

History

In pre-Columbian times the area was inhabited by the Tlahuicas, one of the Nahua tribes. About 10km/6mi from present-day Taxco stood the Indian town of Tlachco (Náhuatl: "where ball was played"). The Aztecs under their rulers Itzcóatl and Moctezuma I invaded the area and finally annexed it in the middle of the 15th c. The Spanish arrived here in 1522 in search of tin and silver. In 1529 they founded the settlement of El Real de Tetzelcingo, from which the town of Taxco was finally to emerge in 1581. Large deposits of silver were not found until the middle of the 18th c. when Joséde la Borda discovered and exploited the large mine of San Ignacio. In gratitude for the riches he had acquired, Borda had the church of Santa Prisca built. After the Revolutionary War (1910-20) the region became increasingly impoverished until the American William Spratling (1900-67) settled there in 1930. He was successful in reviving the old artisan skills by bringing in silversmiths from Iguala and getting them to produce jewellery using the traditional Indian models.

Today Taxco lives almost exclusively from tourism and the silversmiths' trade, the latter employing over 1500 craftsmen in several hundred tiny workshops scattered throughout the town. The silver used for this work is in fact an alloy made up of 950-980 grams of silver to 20-50 grams of copper.