Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

"Miguel Hidalgo" redirects here. For the borough of Mexico City, see Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Hidalgo y Costilla and the second or maternal family name is Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor.

Don

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Posthumous portrait of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811), by Joaquín Ramírez, 1865[1]
Birth nameMiguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor
Born(1753-05-08)8 May 1753
Pénjamo, Nueva Galicia, Viceroyalty of New Spain[2][3]
Died30 July 1811(1811-07-30) (aged 58)
Chihuahua, Nueva Vizcaya, Viceroyalty of New Spain
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
Buried
Ángel de la Independencia, Mexico City
AllegianceMexico
Service / branchMexican Insurgency
Years of service1810–1811
RankGeneralissimo
Battles / warsMexican War of Independence
Signature

Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor[4] (8 May 1753 – 30 July 1811), commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɣel iˈðalɣo]), was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican War of Independence and recognized as the Father of the Nation.

A professor at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo in Valladolid, Hidalgo was influenced by Enlightenment ideas, which contributed to his ouster in 1792. He served in a church in Colima and then in Dolores. After his arrival, he was shocked by the rich soil he had found. He tried to help the poor by showing them how to grow olives and grapes, but in New Spain (modern Mexico) growing these crops was discouraged or prohibited by colonial authorities to prevent competition with imports from Spain.[5] On 16 September 1810 he gave the Cry of Dolores, a speech calling upon the people to protect the interest of their King Ferdinand VII, held captive during the Peninsular War, by revolting against the European-born Spaniards who had overthrown the Spanish Viceroy José de Iturrigaray.[6]

Hidalgo marched across Mexico and gathered an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and Mexican civilians who attacked Spanish Peninsular and Criollo elites. Hidalgo's insurgent army accumulated initial victories on its way to Mexico City, but his troops ultimately lacked training and were poorly armed. These troops ran into an army of well-trained and armed Spanish troops in the Battle of Calderón Bridge and were defeated.[7] After the battle, Hidalgo and his remaining troops fled north, but Hidalgo was betrayed, captured and executed.

  1. ^ "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla". Mediateca INAH (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  2. ^ Vázquez Gómez, Juana (1997). Dictionary of Mexican Rulers, 1325–1997. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 978-0-313-30049-3.
  3. ^ "I Parte: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811)" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  4. ^ "Videoteca Educativa de las Américas" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 July 2011.
  5. ^ Mexico: From Independence to Revolution, 1810–1910, edited by W. Dirk Raat, p. 21 [ISBN missing]
  6. ^ Harrington, Patricia (Spring 1988). "Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 56 (1). Oxford University Press: 25–50. doi:10.1093/jaarel/LVI.1.25. JSTOR 1464830. Many interpreters of the Lady of Guadalupe have pointed to the importance of the image as a symbol of revolution, most clearly expressed in the legendary story of Miguel Hidalgo rallying the masses for revolt against Spain with the cry of Dolores: "Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe and death to the gachupines!"
  7. ^ Minster, Christopher. Mexican War of Independence: The Battle of Calderon Bridge [1] Archived 7 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine