Aguascalientes

The name originates from the Spanish words aguas calientes, meaning 'hot waters', although a more accurate translation is 'hot springs', part of the original name of Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes (Village of our Lady of Assumption of the Hot Springs). When the city was first settled by Juan de Montoro and twelve families, it was given this name for its abundance of hot springs. These thermal features are still in demand in the city's numerous spas and even exploited for domestic use. People from Aguascalientes (both the city and the state) are known by the whimsical demonym hidrocálidos or "hydrothermal" people.

The city of Aguascalientes was founded on October 22, 1575, by Juan de Montoro, his family and accompanying families. The village was originally conceived as a minor garrison and rest stop between the cities of Zacatecas and Lagos de Moreno, with the end goal of protecting silver in its route to Mexico City from the Chichimeca. Although the founders did not envision it becoming a major city, it would eventually become the capital of a newly formed state when the territory separated from the adjacent state of Zacatecas in 1835. The historical center of Aguascalientes was born out of four distinct neighborhoods. The oldest of these is the Barrio del Encino, which is technically older than Aguascalientes proper. Founded in 1565 by the Andalusian Hernán González Berrocal, the neighborhood was originally named Triana after the neighborhood in Seville, Spain. …

Under the Köppen climate classification, Aguascalientes has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). Most of the precipitation is concentrated from June to September.

Aguascalientes houses the largest festival held in Mexico, the San Marcos Fair, which takes place from the middle of April to the beginning of May. The celebration was held originally in the San Marcos church, neighborhood, and its magnificent neoclassical garden; since then, it has greatly expanded to cover a huge area of exposition spaces, bullrings, nightclubs, theaters, performance stages, theme parks, hotels, convention centers, and other attractions. It attracts almost 7 million visitors to Aguascalientes every year. The old part of the city consists of the downtown and the four original neighborhoods from which the city expanded. The most notable building here is the Baroque Government Palace, dating from 1664 and constructed out of red volcanic stone; it is known for its one hundred arches. The prominent Baroque Cathedral, begun in 1575, is the oldest building in the city. …

Aguascalientes is home to two large Nissan manufacturing plants, including the most important outside of Japan. Among other models of cars, they manufacture the Sentra and the Versa. The Aguascalientes plants are responsible for the majority of Mexico's overall annual production of 850,000 Nissan automobiles. Due to their presence, the city has a significant Japanese population. Texas Instruments has one plant in Aguascalientes, which is dedicated to integrated circuitry (IC) manufacturing. Sensata Technologies has one plant in the city, making sensors and controls for automotive, HVAC and industrial use. Flextronics is another electronics manufacturer that has a plant located in Aguascalientes City.

The municipality is developing a system of interconnected green bicycle routes, greenways, the aim being to facilitate fast, safe, and pleasant bicycle transport from one end of the city to the other. Aguascalientes has a large network of roads connecting different municipalities of the city together and to other cities. Most of the city grew as a planned city, having been pioneers in urban development regulation since 1936. The city is planned around three concentric highway loops. The third beltway loop is expected to be fully operational in 2022. The first and second loop have overpasses and underpasses at major intersections to avoid traffic from stopping. Lic. Jesús Terán Peredo International Airport serves the city, with four daily non-stop international flights from/to Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Chicago; as well as domestic flights.