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San Felipe (San Felipe)

San Felipe, known colloquially as "San Felipe Torres Mochas" , is a Mexican city and municipality located in the northwest region of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 2,969.79 square kilometers (9.50% of the state's surface), making it the biggest municipality in terms of size. It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Ocampo, to the south by the municipalities of León and Guanajuato, to the southeast by the municipality of Dolores Hidalgo and to the east by the municipality of San Diego de la Unión. It borders to the north with the state of San Luis Potosí and to the west with the state of Jalisco. The municipality had 106,952 inhabitants as of 2010.

San Felipe was founded by Francisco de Velasco on January 21, 1562, by orders of viceroy Luís de Velasco. The city was founded with the name of San Felipe in honor of King Philip II of Spain. In 1889 the name of the city was changed to "Ciudad González" in honor of the then governor of Guanajuato, Manuel González. The name of the city was again changed in 1938, this time to "Ciudad Hernández Álvarez", after governor Enrique Hernández Álvarez. In 1948 the city's name was reverted to the original name of "San Felipe". Regardless of the several official names the city was given through time, it was always colloquially known as "San Felipe Torres Mochas" (lit. "San Felipe stub-towers"), a nickname that persists to this day.