it were granted to Gonzalo de Salazar as the Taximaroa encomienda by Hernán Cortés when he visited the area. Cortés also had a hospital built for the natives. In 1591, it became a semi-autonomous “Indian Republic” and seat for the region. Later that decade, the parish of San José was founded and the church/monastery complex begun. After Independence, in 1831, the area became the municipality of Taximaroa. The French under Coronel Clinchant attacked the town in 1864 and later the same year a group of Conservatives were shot in the church atrium. During the Mexican Revolution, federal troops attacked the town, and in 1913, rebel general Alfredo Elizondo passed through. In 1914, a battle called the Sabaeta Action (La Acción de Sabaneta) took place in which troops under Venustiano Carranza triumphed. After the Revolution, the settlement gained city status, changing its name to Ciudad Hidalgo. In 1928 and 1929, confrontations related to the Cristero War took place. Like much of the rest of the state of Michoacán, problems related to drug trafficking have stood out in the city's recent history. In 2010, the mayor of the city Jose Luis Avila Franco was arrested by federal authorities, along with a number of other mayors in the state with suspected ties to drug traffickers but later a court ruled the evidence insufficient. In the same year, the chief of municipal police was murdered along with a deputy with a note left behind indicating it was the work of drug traffickers. References Municipalities of Michoacán