indicate the presence of both and perhaps influence from the Las Ranas site to the north. This would put the area within the sphere of influence of this culture, which was Huastec and part of the early Pre Classic period. By the Post Classic period, the area was dominated by the Otomi people in the east near the Hidalgo border and by the Chichimeca in the rest. The main Chichimeca settlements were just south and west of the modern municipal seat, where fresh water springs were most abundant and the land was the most fertile. Around this same time, the area had a reputation for its fresh water and thermal springs for medicinal purposes. The area did not have any major cities during the pre Hispanic period but a number of important trade routes ran through it. By the time the Spanish arrived, most of the area was allied with the Otomi at Xilotepec, itself a tributary of the Aztec Empire. The Otomi outnumbered the Chichimecas but both lived in the area peacefully. The area around Tequisquiapan was taken over by the Spanish relatively peacefully, but the Chichimecas did resist. This resistance remained sporadic until the last battle of the Chichimecas in Querétaro against the Spanish called the Battle of Media Luna which occurred to the north in the Sierra Gorda. The official founding date for the city is 1551 by indigenous cacique Nicolás de San Luis Montañez, who was allied with the Spanish. The settlement received its royal seal founded as Santa María de la Asuncón y de las Aguas Calientes. The foundation grouped local Chichimecas and Otomí onto the site and the foundation was celebrated with a Mass. With the pacification of southern Querétaro, lands in the area were redistributed among the Spanish and the evangelized Otomi, leading to three hundred years of intense agricultural development. However, much of this came at the expense of most of the indigenous population. By 1656, it had been definitively named Tequisquiapan. Despite the exploitation, the population of the town and municipal area remained mostly indigenous. For this reason, the town has kept much of its rustic architecture. In the decades before the Mexican War of Independence, Tequisquiapan experienced a number of small rebellions on area haciendas, by indigenous people whose socioeconomic status was still serf-like. However, during Independence and other major conflicts of the 19th century, there were no major battles