Angangueo

History

The name is Purépecha and has been translated as town between mountains, entrance to the cave, or inside the forest. When the Spanish first came through, the area was described as a no-man's land, and no one suspected what lay under the wooded hills. In 1550 Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza granted the lands to Gonzalo de Salazar. Some mining began, but the place stayed nearly empty until large mineral deposits were found at the end of the 18th century. Miners and merchants rushed in, the town was founded in 1792, and it became a municipality in 1831.

After the Spanish, the mines were worked by German, English, French, and finally American companies. Work on the church of the Inmaculada Concepción began in 1882. The last foreign operator, the American Smelting and Refining Company, stayed until 1953, when an accident in the Dolores mine killed 25 miners and the mines passed to the nation. The Impulsora Minera de Angangueo kept them going until 1991, when falling silver prices made them unprofitable.

Since then the town has turned to the monarch butterflies that winter in the nearby forests. In February 2010 severe floods and landslides hit Angangueo, and part of the population was relocated. It was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.