In Purhepechan language, Irapuato means, “Where the hill meets the plain”. Before the Spanish conquest, this territory originally was home to the Otomie Indigenous tribe. However, between 1200 and 1250 AD the Otomies were conquered by the Purhepecha tribe. Due to the fertile soil of the area, the Spanish decided to settle here in 1556. they began to set up farms and raise cattle, which supplied food to the surrounding mining towns. During the Mexican Independence Movement, Father Miguel Hidalgo passed through Irapuato and officially became a city in 1893. The revolutionary armies of Villa, Zapata and Carranza repeatedly came number of conferences, conventions and sporting events. The farms surrounding the city grow strawberries, broccoli and asparagus for export.