Editing Guanajuato (city) (section)

===Pre-Hispanic period===
The first known inhabitants of the area were the [[Otomi people|Otomi]], who were then displaced by the [[Chichimeca]].<ref name="significado">{{cite web |url= http://guanajuatocapital.gob.mx/sitionvo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=202&Itemid=147 |title= Significado de Guanajuato y su escudo |publisher= Government of Guanajuato |location= Guanajuato, Mexico |language= es |trans-title= Significance of Guanajuato and its coat of arms |access-date= November 15, 2010 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722225147/http://guanajuatocapital.gob.mx/sitionvo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=202&Itemid=147 |archive-date= July 22, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="encmuc">{{cite web |url=http://www.inafed.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/guanajuato/ |title=Guanajuato |year=2005 |work=Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México |publisher=Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal |location=Mexico |language=es |access-date=November 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718114725/http://www.inafed.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/guanajuato/ |archive-date=July 18, 2011 }}</ref> There was [[Purépecha people|Purépecha]] presence as well due mostly to ancient trading routes.<ref name="mexdesgto">{{cite web |url= http://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/guanajuato-guanajuato.html |title= Guanajuato, Guanajuato |publisher=Mexico Desconocido magazine |location=Mexico City |language=es |access-date=November 15, 2010}}</ref> The oldest known name for the area is “Mo-o-ti,” which means “place of metals.” Later, it was called "Paxtitlán" by the [[Aztec]]s, which means “place of [[Spanish moss]].”<ref>https://sices.guanajuato.gob.mx/resources/ideas/ebooks/22/descargas.pdf {{Dead link|date=March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/la-muy-noble-y-leal-ciudad-de-santa-fe-real-y-minas-de-guanajuato.html|title = La muy noble y leal ciudad de Santa Fe, Real y Minas de Guanajuato|date = 16 July 2010}}</ref> The current name of Guanajuato comes from [[Purépecha language|Purépecha]] {{lang|pua|kuanhasï juáta}} (or in older orthography "quanax huato"), which means “frog hill”.<ref name="encmuc"/><ref>Lathrop, Maxwell (2007). ''[http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/7569/samples/6393 Vocabulario del Idioma Purépecha]'' (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 May 2020.</ref>

Mining had been done in this area long before the Spanish arrived. Late in the pre-Hispanic period the Aztecs had a presence here, specifically to look for metals to make ornamental objects for their political and religious elite. Some stories from this time state that the area was so rich in minerals that nuggets of gold could be picked up from the ground.<ref name="rincones95">Gonzalez, p. 95</ref>