San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel el Grande, currently known as San Miguel de Allende, was founded in 1542 by the Franciscan friar Juan de San Miguel, who called the town San Miguel el Grande. It was part of the Antiguo Camino Real, which communicated central Mexico with the mining town of Zacatecas.

The Mexican War of Independence originated in the town of Dolores on September 16, 1810 and was led by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Hidalgo was joined by Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga, at the time commander of the cavalry regiment Dragones de la Reina, and Juan Aldama. In 1811, Ignacio Elizondo betrayed the rebel leaders, who were arrested in Acatita de Baján. General Ignacio Allende was executed on June 26. The bodies of Miguel Hidalgo, José Mariano Jiménez and Ignacio Allende were beheaded and their heads hung at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in the city of Guanajuato.

Honoring Allende, San Miguel el Grande, his place of birth, was renamed San Miguel de Allende in 1826. Today, the house where he was born, located at the Plaza Mayor, is a museum and was declared World Heritage of Mankind by UNESCO.