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 settlements remains uncertain -- theories include prolonged drought, attacks by nomadic peoples, and the collapse of the great Mesoamerican cities that sustained their trade networks. After the Chalchihuites departed, nomadic Chichimec groups dominated the area for six centuries, leaving no permanent structures but a fierce reputation that the arriving Spaniards would soon encounter firsthand.

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 Llerena. During the colonial period, two mines -- Pabellon and Vetanegre -- proved so productive that they made the Fagoaga family wealthy enough to earn the title Marquesado del Apartado. By the seventeenth century, Sombrerete hosted a Royal House that collected taxes from territories as far-flung as Chihuahua and Sinaloa. At the start of the nineteenth century, the town had grown to 30,000 people and operated its own coin mint, producing a currency called the Vargas.

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 Apache raid from the United States struck in 1845. During the French Intervention and Reform War, Sombrerete served as the provisional capital of Zacatecas, and Benito Juarez himself passed through in 1866. The first local newspaper, La Campana, appeared in 1867. In 1897, a catastrophic accident in the San Amaro and San Francisco mines killed 116 workers. When the Mexican Revolution erupted, both haciendas and mines came under attack, devastating the economy even as the town was again made a provisional capital from 1913 to 1914 and received a visit from Venustiano Carranza.

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 agricultural center for northern Zacatecas. About a third of the territory is grassland used for grazing; twenty-six percent is forested with pine, holm oak, and oak; the rest is cultivated with corn, beans, oats, and wheat. Traditional drinks include quince wine and rompope, a spiced eggnog. Pan ranchero -- bread made with lard and baked in adobe ovens -- appears on tables during Holy Week. In 1992, the city declared sister-city status with its colonial namesake, Llerena in Spain, closing a loop that had been open for four centuries. Designated a Pueblo Magico, Sombrerete today carries its history with the quiet confidence of a place that has been provincial capital, mining boomtown, revolutionary stronghold, and, always, a town where the faithful carry crosses up the mountains.