Mexican War of Independence Spain led to an outbreak of numerous revolts against colonial government across Spanish America. After the abortive Conspiracy of the Machetes in 1799, a massive revolt in the Bajío region was led by secular cleric Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. His Grito de Dolores was the first stage of the insurgency for Mexican independence. Before 1810, there was no significant support for independence. Once the Hidalgo revolt was underway, it received major support only in the Bajío and parts of Jalisco. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest and member of a group of educated "Criollos" in Querétaro City, hosted secret gatherings
Eric Van Young Eric Van Young Eric Van Young, Distinguished Professor of History at University of California, San Diego, is an American historian of Mexico who has published extensively on socioeconomic and political history of the colonial era and the nineteenth century. He is particularly well known for his 2001 book, "The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Struggle for Mexican Independence, 1810-1821", which won a major prize awarded by the Conference on Latin American History. His article "The Islands in the Storm: Quiet Cities and Violent Countrysides in the Mexican Independence Era," published in "Past and Present" won the Conference on