Santiago de Querétaro is the capital and largest city of the state of Querétaro

Querétaro

Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....

, located in central Mexico. It is located 213 km northwest of Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, 96 km southeast of San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende is a city and municipality located in the far eastern part of the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico. It is 274 km from Mexico City and 97 km from the state capital of Guanajuato...

 and 200 km south of San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí, commonly called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital of, and most populous city in the Mexican state of the same name. The city lies at an elevation of 1,850 meters...

. The founding date of the city is given as 25 July 1531, when during a battle between the Spanish and the natives of the area, an eclipse occurred during which Saint James on a white horse carrying a pink cross supposedly appeared, causing the natives of the areas to surrender.