The first to arrive to the area were the who settled mostly in the present-day communities of Santa Maria Ahuacatl�n, La Pe�a and Otumba. Between 1474 and 1479, the Aztec chief Axayacatl conquered the region, establishing what it would be the last addition to the Aztec Empire. After the destruction of Tenochtitlan by the Spanish, campaigns to subdue this area were carried out by Andr�s de Tapia and Gonzalo de Sandoval, followed by evangelization by the Dominicans and the Augustinians. Around 1530, the Franciscan friar Gregorio Jim�nez de la Cuenca founded the town as a congregation called "El Pino". Between 1607 and 1615, a Franciscan convent was established here, giving the town that grew up around it its original name of San Franciscano del Valle de Temascaltepec.
The town suffered greatly during the Mexican War of Independence due to the monarchy's attempts to repress the rebellion there. Another short-lived rebellion occurred in 1834 when Carlos Guadalupe Tepixtoco Abad proclaimed his plan to re-establish the empire of Moctezuma. However, most people considered the cause to be ridiculous and the movement quickly died out. The village gained town status in 1842 and city status in 1878. In the beginning of the 19th century, Professor G. Vel�zquez wrote the poem "Valle de Bravo en la poes�a de Pagaza", describing the region's beauty. The town also saw incursions by Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution.
In the 20th century, the geographic configuration of the landscape changed. In 1937, the Federal Commission on Electricity began plans for an electrical plant called Ixtapantongo, later called the "Miguel Alem�n" hydroelectric system. Construction began in 1938 and ended in 1947 ending with a Villa Victoria Dam that flooded 2,900 hectares, creating the current reservoir which extends all the way to the state of Michoac�n. The electrical plant generates 458,775 kilowatts per hour and forms a part of the water system supplying Mexico City. The town
