Mapimí: From Gold Rush to Heritage Gem
The mining splendor that the Pueblo Mágico de Mapimí (Magical Town of Mapimí) reached, thanks to the seams of gold and silver of its Santa Rica mine, explains much of its physiognomy. When a disaster ended overnight with prosperity, all seemed lost forever.
However, a past of greatness does not disappear so easily and soon tourism began to take an interest in its 400 years of history, its semi-desert landscapes, its colonial architecture and the adventures it offers.
Located about 80 kilometers from Torreón, it is part of the Comarca Lagunera, Mapimí was originally populated by the brave Toboso and Cocoyome indigenous people, who were not docile to the conquest. The Spaniards founded the town in 1598, after discovering the mining wealth that was hidden by a protagonist of this landscape: the hill of La India. Due to its strategic location, in the way of travelers in this vast territory, Mapimí has written some paragraphs of the independence and revolutionary history of Mexico.
Until in 1893 the mining company Peñoles took control of the mine of La Ojuela, called Santa Rita, and began a systematic exploitation that turned it into the most fruitful in the whole country. But in 1928, a dynamite explosion opened the way for underground rivers that flooded more than half of the site at once, turning an irreversible page in the history of wealth.
Recognition of the glorious past came in 2010 when UNESCO placed the Santa Rita Mine and the town of Mapimi on its World Heritage List for belonging to the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, which formerly linked Mexico City with Santa Fe to New Mexico, USA.
Two years later, in 2012, Mapimi was included in the Pueblos Mágicos program and on the wish lists of travelers around the world.
