San Martín de Bolaños

San Martín de Bolaños is the seat of the municipality of the same name in northern Jalisco, at about 800 metres above sea level inside the Bolaños river canyon. It had 2,138 residents at the 2020 census, out of 3,095 in the whole municipality. The name pairs the patron saint, Martin of Tours, with that of Toribio de Bolaños, who founded several settlements in the region.

The area has a long history before the Spanish. About 1,700 years ago groups arrived in the canyon, mixed with the people already living there and built villages on the mesas, from where they watched the river crossing and the trade route toward Chalchihuites. On the mesa of Cerro del Piñón, next to the town, archaeologists found a shaft tomb that was still sealed and undisturbed, dated to about AD 440. Inside were the bones of children and adults, large jars holding partly cremated remains, and marine shell beads brought from the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador.

In 1530 Cristóbal de Oñate conquered the region on the orders of Nuño de Guzmán. A hacienda was later founded to process the ore from local deposits, and in the 17th century the place became part of the Alcaldía Mayor of Real de Bolaños. Around 1748 more Spaniards arrived, drawn by the silver of mines such as Espíritu Santo, El Parián, Barranco, La Castellana and La Perla. By 1825 San Martín was listed as a town with its own council; the municipality was suppressed in 1872 and restored in 1892.

The centre keeps the neoclassical 19th-century church of the Señor de Santa Rosa, with a two-tier façade and a bell tower. The Christ image venerated there is said to have come from Barcelona in colonial times. The Palacio Municipal dates from 1909 and belonged to Luis Ureña, one of the richest hacendados of his day. Local crafts include saddlery and saddles and belts decorated with pita (agave fibre) embroidery, and the local table offers pozole, tamales and enchiladas, with pitahaya honey and mezcal.