The town was officially founded shortly after a large mineral deposit was discovered in the area in the very late 18th century.

The mines gave out in the 20th century, but promotion of the area due to its proximity to two butterfly sanctuaries has brought in some tourism.

[6] The Inmaculada Concepción church was built by a single family, in pink stone in Gothic style to imitate in miniature the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The main altar was made of marble from Italy, with images of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary from Paris.

[1] The Monument to the Miner is located on a lookout over the town and the Señor del Rescate Chapel, which is now the site of municipal offices.

[5] The town's association with the butterflies came when magazines such as National Geographic and México Desconocido began promoting it, along with neighboring Ocampo.

[8] The town hosts an annual monarch butterfly festival each year in February to bid goodbye as the insects head north again.

[1][2] The rest of the municipality's annual festivals are religious including the feasts of Santa Cruz on May 3, San Simon on October 28 and the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

[1][9] About half of the municipal population of 9990 (2005) lives in the town proper[9] Other important communities include Colonia Independencia, Jesús Nazareno, Catingón and La Estación.

[1][6] Much of the illegal logging is done on biosphere lands and by organized groups, which have fought back against the operations mounted against them by state and federal authorities.

There is still some very limited mining of copper, zinc, lead, iron, silver and gold, with some food processing and metal products.

It has been translated as “entrance to the cave,” “very high thing” and “inside the forest.”[1][7] The municipality has its own coat of arms divided into three sections.

[1] When Nuño de Guzmán arrived to the area in 1550, he described it as a “no-man’s land” with no indication of the riches that were underneath the mountains and forests here.

[1] In the middle of the 19th century, mining rights were assigned to an English company called Negociación Minera de las Trojes.

[2] On 5 February 2010, heavy rains and hail caused flooding and mudslides in the region, with Angangueo being hard hit.

At least 1,000 persons were made homeless and moved to a shelter in San José del Rincón, Mexico State.

[18] According to the director of the Forest Commission of Michoacan, Alejandro Méndez, deforestation from legal and illegal logging contributed to the landslides in 2010.

[19] The landslides in Angangueo and in other areas such as Zamora have prompted studies by government authorities as to the causes of these events as well as the emergency responses.

The decision was made with the rationale that the landslides create too big a hazard for people to live in the current location and a “New Angangueo” would be built.

[12] Efforts to relocate the town were officially begun in June 2010, with a projected 600 homes in a location called Barrio Sustentable Monarca.

No efforts have been made to officially moderate the physical establishments, entertainment, noise and vehicles which are prominently growing in the biosphere area.