Taxco de Alarcón, known more as Taxco, is a city dedicated to the silverwork since the colonial time and since then, it has always been the city built at one side of the mountain with cobblestone streets, red tiled roofs and whitewashed houses.
The origin of the name is because of the old citizens that lived here, the Aztecan, called Tlachco, which is in Náhualtl and means the place of the ballgame; and due to the honourable new Hispanic dramatist Juan Ruíz Alarcón, who was born here in Taxco.
Taxco is located to the west of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the north of the State of Guerrero, Mexico; it is situated on the old highway to Acapulco and just 200 kilometres southwest of Mexico City. The climate is warm and humid reaching 66, 20ºF of annual temperature at 5,900 feet of elevation.
The City of Taxco, with 50,415 of population, is the fifth largest in the State and has its municipality with the same name, Taxco, which covers 134 square miles of the territory with 98,854 of population including the cities of Tlamacazapa and Acamixtla.
According to the history, was during the pre-Hispanic period when the population of Taxco, like Matlazincas, Chontales and Tlahuicas, lived in Taxco el Viejo (The Old Taxco) located 12 kilometres of the current Taxco.
It was during the New Spain Viceroyalty, in 1528, when the population of Tetelcingo established the first mining field, which is nowadays the city of Taxco. In 1570, this activity became one of the most important for Spain. But, in 1821, with the insurgent José María Morelos, Taxco became an intendancy of Mexico, and no longer to Spain; being in 1824, when Taxco became a district of the Estate of Mexico.
Thanks to the quantity of silver mines, Taxco is the world's capital of silver with over 200 shops and dozens of renowned silver jewellers, becoming that this activity be the principal aspect in the economy of Taxco. However, it has been not so rentable since 1800, when there not too much silver to extract.
Taxco also has some tourism sites, including the Caves of Cacahuamilpa; the Saint Prisca Temple, which is a colonial building of 250 years old with a baroque new Hispanic style; the Guillermo Spratling Museum; and many more.