GUANAJUATO or SANTA FE DE GUANAJUATO, a city of Mexico and capital of the State of the same name 155m. (direct) N.W. of the Federal capital. Pop. (191o) 35,682; (1921) 19,408. The city is built in the Canada de Marfil at the junction of three ravines about 6,5ooft. above the sea, and its narrow, tortuous streets rise steeply as they follow the ravines upward to the mining villages clustered about the opening of the mines in the hillsides. Enclosing the city are the steep, barren mountain sides honeycombed with mines. The climate is semi-tropical and is considered healthful. The noteworthy public buildings and institutions are an interesting old Jesuit church with arches of pink stone and delicate carving, eight monasteries, the Govern ment palace, a mint dating from 1812, a national college, the fine Teatro Juarez, and the Panteon, or public cemetery, with cata combs below. The Alhondiga de Granaditas, originally a public granary, was used as a fort during the war of independence, and is celebrated as the scene of the first battle (181o) in that long struggle. Mining is the principal interest and occupation of the people and the population fluctuates with the activity of the mines. The silver mines of the vicinity were long considered the richest in Mexico, the celebrated Veta Madre (mother lode) even being described as the richest in the world. The railway outlet for the city consists of a short branch of the Mexican Central, which joins the trunk line at Silao. Guanajuato was founded in 1554. It attained the dignity of a city in 1 7 41.