Ma Tehua Llan

Matehuala lies on the high, dry plateau north of San Luis Potosí, near the eastern edge of Guachichil country. Mountain ranges rise beyond the valley, and routes across the plateau link it with the northern mining districts. Guachichil communities occupied this frontier before and during Spanish expansion; colonial records also refer to people called Negritos in the region. Their settlements and camps formed part of a landscape of many distinct Indigenous groups.

At the end of the sixteenth century the Chichimeca War gave way to negotiations and attempts to establish new settlements. A report from 1593 described Guachichil communities living in towns but also in rancherías around Matehuala and farther east, beyond effective Spanish control. The settlement developed over time amid overlapping claims by the colonial jurisdictions of Nueva Galicia and Nuevo León. A later formal foundation took place in 1706, giving the town a new place within the expanding colonial frontier.