Valle de Bravo

History

The first known settlers of the area were the Matlatzinca. Between 1474 and 1479 the Aztec ruler Axayácatl conquered the region, one of the last additions to the Aztec Empire. After the fall of Tenochtitlan the Spanish subdued the area, and around 1530 the Franciscan friar Gregorio Jiménez de la Cuenca founded the town. A Franciscan convent followed between 1607 and 1615, and the place took the name San Francisco del Valle de Temascaltepec, from Nahuatl words meaning hill of the steam baths.

To avoid confusion with the nearby mining town of Temascaltepec, people simply called it El Valle. It gained the rank of town in 1842 and of city in 1878, and the name of General Nicolás Bravo was added in his honor.

The landscape changed in the 20th century. Work on the Miguel Alemán hydroelectric system began in 1938, and by 1947 the dam had flooded the valley floor and part of the old town, creating the lake. The reservoir now forms part of the Cutzamala system that supplies water to Mexico City and Toluca, and it turned Valle into a resort. The Circuito Avándaro car races of the 1960s and the huge Avándaro rock festival of 1971 made it famous. It was declared a Ciudad Típica in 1971 and a Pueblo Mágico in 2005.