The official name of the state is �Estado Libre y Soberano de Quer�taro de Arteaga� (Free and Sovereign State of Quer�taro de Arteaga). The formal name of the capital is Santiago de Quer�taro. However, both are commonly referred to simply as Quer�taro. The most likely origin of the name is from the P�urh�pecha word �Crettaro� which means �place with crags.� However, there have been other explanations of the name including that it comes from Nahuatl and means Mesoamerican ball court, or event "island of the blue salamanders." Nevertheless, other scholars suggest that it can mean "place of the reptiles" or "place of the giant rocks." The city received the title of Noble y Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Quer�taro in 1656, but after Independence, it was changed to simply Quer�taro. It was returned to Santiago de Quer�taro in 1996, when it was named a World Heritage Site. The ending of �de Arteaga� was added to the state�s name in 1867 in honor of General Jos� Mar�a Cayetano Arteaga Magallanes. Originally from Mexico City, Arteaga became governor of Quer�taro and distinguished himself as a soldier in the middle of the 19th century.
Agricultural settlements dated to about 500 BCE have been found in the San Juan del R�o and Huimilpan areas, which was during the Teotihuacan era. The ancient city had interest and influence in the area because of its agriculture, but did not dominate it. After the fall of this city, the Quer�tero area had its highest rate of development of both agriculture and social structure. The area was inhabited early on by a number of ethnicities, including the Otomi, Toltecs, Chichimecas, P�urh�pechas and Mexicas. In the 10th century, the area experience population shifts which did not stabilize until the 12th century. Much of this migration moved south from the Quer�taro area into the Valley of Mexico. Those who remained by the end of the 12th century were mostly in hunter-gatherer communities and small agricultural settlements. The region�s
