Qualla: Sombrerete, Zacatecas https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sombrerete, Zacatecas https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas Sombrerete, Zacatecas: Introduction https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas/ Photo credit Tomás Esparza, CC BY-SA 4.0. Friar Jeronimo de Mendoza looked up at the mountain and saw a hat. Viewed from the side, the Cerro de Sombreretillo resembled the common three-cornered sombrero of the mid-sixteenth century, and the friar gave the valley its name. In 1555, nine years after silver was discovered in what is now the city of Zacatecas, Juan de Tolosa and a small party of Spaniards and allied indigenous peoples arrived here following the veins. They settled near a small spring and called the place Real y Minas de Sombrerete. The mountain still looks like a hat. The silver is still in the ground. And every surrounding peak carries a cross hauled up by the faithful -- visible markers of a devotion as old as the town itself.

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Image: Tomás Esparza | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/9snq-sombrerete-zacatecas-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sombrerete, Zacatecas: Before the Spanish Spring https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas/ Photo credit Tomás Esparza, CC BY-SA 4.0. Long before the Spaniards arrived, the Chalchihuites culture occupied this region from the late Pre-classic period until approximately 900 CE. They were sedentary farmers, tending crops in the semi-arid valleys between the Sierra Madre foothills. Why they abandoned their settleme...

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Image: Tomás Esparza | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/9snq-sombrerete-zacatecas-before-the-spanish-spring.mp3 0:06 2 full Sombrerete, Zacatecas: Silver, Mercury, and the Marquis https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas/ Photo credit Tomás Esparza, CC BY-SA 4.0. By 1567, the San Mateo monastery had been established as the region's evangelical center, and the mines were producing gold, silver, lead, tin, and mercury. The settlement grew quickly. In 1570, the Audiencia de Guadalajara officially declared it a town under the name Villa de Ll...

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Image: Tomás Esparza | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/9snq-sombrerete-zacatecas-silver-mercury-and-the-marquis.mp3 0:06 3 full Sombrerete, Zacatecas: Revolutions and Ruins https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas/ Photo credit Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sombrerete's miners quietly funded the Mexican War of Independence, sending money to the insurgent general Guadalupe Victoria. In 1824, the state of Zacatecas elevated the town to a city and regional capital. But the nineteenth century brought violence as well as status: an Apach...

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Image: Thelmadatter | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/9snq-sombrerete-zacatecas-revolutions-and-ruins.mp3 0:06 4 full Sombrerete, Zacatecas: Pan Ranchero and Crosses on the Peaks https://qualla.com/sombrerete-zacatecas/ Photo credit Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 3.0. The end of revolution brought the end of the hacienda system, and the government's campaign to suppress the Catholic Church triggered the Cristero War, which ravaged the surrounding rural communities. Since then, Sombrerete has settled into a steadier rhythm as a mining and agric...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/s/n/q/sombrerete-zacatecas-wp/9snq-sombrerete-zacatecas-pan-ranchero-and-crosses-on-the-peaks.mp3 0:06 5 full