SMA

History

Prehispánic history has San Miguel de Allende as the home to groups of hunter gatherers, Chichimecas, Toltecs and Otomis.

In 1542 the Spanish conquistadores and the Padres arrived.  

The area around the Laja River turned out to be wonderful cattle country. The town quickly grew fat and sassy as both Spaniards and indigenous people moved up from the south to populate the rich land. It became known as San Miguel el Grande. And by the 1770s it was a wealthy, cosmopolitan city, larger than either New York City or Boston in the U.S.

Independence Time

In 1779, the prominent Allende family added a member, a son they named Ignacio. With his birth and life, the history of San Miguel de Allende became part of the nation’s history. In 1810, he became an officer in the Queen’s Dragoons, but it’s likely he had already been infected with the fire of independence. He spent time conspiring with Morelos, Aldama, and other agitators for independence in the House of the Conspirators on Calle Reloj at the corner of the Jardín.

On September 16, 1810, the Mexican War of Independence began, with Allende as one of its chief lieutenants. He led the rebels to several military victories and got himself named a hero. But he was captured by the Spanish and beheaded before the war was over.

In 1826, in honor of this heroic favorite son, San Miguel was given the name we still use today and christened La Fragua de Independencia, the Forge of Independence. The city’s name derives from two persons: 16th-century friar Juan de San Miguel, and a martyr of Mexican Independence, Ignacio Allende.