Guadalupe

History

Before the Spanish arrived, this land was hunting and gathering ground for semi-nomadic Zacateco and Guachichil groups. After silver was found at Zacatecas in 1546, haciendas, ranches and orchards spread across the area to supply the mining city with livestock and food. There was never a formal founding ceremony, so historians point to early land grants instead: one in 1555 to Pedro de Ahumada Sámano, and one in 1578 to Diego Chávez de Montoro for the site of today's historic center.

In 1677 a ruined chapel and its land were donated to build a sanctuary to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Franciscans set up a hospice there, and on January 12, 1707, friars led by Antonio Margil de Jesús founded the Apostolic College of Propaganda Fide. From it, missionaries set out across northern New Spain and into what is now the southern United States, which gave Guadalupe wide renown. In the late 1700s, ore-processing haciendas such as Bernárdez were rebuilt and commerce grew.

Miguel Hidalgo stayed here for ten days in early 1811 on his way north, an episode remembered in the song "Las Mañanas de Hidalgo", considered an early forerunner of the corrido. Guadalupe became a municipality in 1821, received the title of villa in 1845, and briefly hosted Benito Juárez's traveling government in 1867. The college was included in the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro World Heritage listing in 2010, and Guadalupe joined the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2018.