Huamantla

History

People have lived on this plain for a very long time. A village south of today's city belonged to a union of settlements as early as 1800 BCE, and later centers built pyramids and planned plazas. Between about 650 and 900 CE, Otomi groups migrated into the valley and became its main cultural force. Their story, including a battle between newcomers and already established Otomi, is told in the Huamantla Codex. They grew maize, beans and chile, and tended maguey for pulque.

The Spanish town of San Luis Huamantla was founded on October 18, 1534, on the orders of viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. As part of the province of Tlaxcala it was supposed to be reserved for Tlaxcaltecs and Otomi, but the viceroy soon granted lands to Spaniards. Franciscans built the monastery between 1567 and 1585.

Lying on the route between Mexico City and Veracruz, Huamantla was the site of a battle with invading United States troops in October 1847, for which it received the title Heroica in 1953. Conservative forces made it the capital of Tlaxcala in 1858, a status that ended after the French were expelled. The railway then connected its grain and cattle haciendas to markets in Mexico City, Puebla and Veracruz. Huamantla was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2007.