Colonial Times

The discovery of silver in Zacatecas in the middle of the 16th centruy brought a major road between that area and Mexico City. San Miguel which sits along the way. Indian caravan attacks made San Miguel an important military as well as commercial site. The region around the Laja River turned out to be excellent cattle country. The viceroy in Mexico City granted cattle and lands to a number of Spanish families to settle the area, to help quell these attacks as well as rebellions against Spain. To this end he also gave the local tribes an exclusion from taxes as well as limited self rule. The town was a melting pot as Spanish, indigenous peoples and later Criollos (locally born people of pure or mostly Spanish ancestry,) rich with various cultural influences. Major roads would come to connect the town with various mining communities and the rest of the state and supplying travelers' needs and along with those of the mining camps made the town prosperous.

San Miguel Allende Guide