Orizaba
Orizaba is a city in the
Mexican state of
Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city
Córdoba, and is adjacent to
Río Blanco and
Ixtaczoquitlán, on
Federal Highways 180 and 190.
|
The Orizaba Valley
Looking north, Orizaba in the middle distance, the Pico de Orizaba on the horizon |
The name
Orizaba comes from a Hispanized pronunciation of the
Nahuatl (
Aztecan) name
Ahuilizapan [
āwil-lis-ā-pan], which means (more or less) "place of playing waters". The town lies at 1200 m. (4000 ft.), at the confluence of the
Río Blanco with several tributaries, including the Río Orizaba, near the mouth of a large valley heading westward into the eastern
Sierra Madre. This location, at the bottom of the ascent into the mountains, is an important transition point along what has been for centuries the main trade route between
Mexico City and Veracruz on the
Gulf Coast. The climate is generally pleasant, though often cloudy and rainy, and the soil of the Orizaba valley is extraordinarily fertile. Overlooking the valley from the north is the
Pico de Orizaba, a volcano that, at 5636 m. (18,490 ft.), is the highest mountain in
Mexico and third highest in North America.
In the town of Ixhuatlancillo north of Orizaba, and in a large mountainous area to the south (the
Sierra de Zongolica), live many thousands of people who speak a variant of
Nahuatl which is often called Orizaba Nahuatl [
ISO code nlv].
Orizaba was already an important town at the time of the Spanish conquest, and it was in Orizaba that
La Malinche,
Hernán Cortés's interpreter and mistress, was married to the Spanish gentleman
Juan Jaramillo. A plaque in Orizaba indicates where this took place.
During the colonial period, Orizaba became an important city. On
January 27,
1774, the Spanish king
Carlos III conceded the
villa status to Orizaba, and in
November 29,
1830 Orizaba was declared a
city.
When
Lucas Alamán established, in
1836, the first textile factory (
Cocolapan factory) of Orizaba, the city started its economic life as an industrial city.
In
1839 the newspaper
La Luz was created and the
Veracruz governor Francisco Hernández y Hernández gave the name of
Veracruz-Llave (remembering the General
Ignacio de la Llave, who was born in Orizaba) to this state of
Mexico.
On
May 8,
1874 Orizaba was declared the capital city of
Veracruz, but in
1878 the status was transferred to
Xalapa.
During the government of
Porfirio Díaz, Orizaba was declared the most educated city in the Mexican province. There is a building named
El Palacio de Hierro (The Iron Palace) in the centre of the city that was designed by
Eiffel. Its parts were shipped from
Austria during
El Porfiriato (the government of
Porfirio Díaz), to be built in Orizaba.
Orizaba has an important industrial life. There is, for example, the
Cervecería Moctezuma company (a
brewery), which was established in
1896 in Orizaba.
In the late years of Porfirio Díaz' Government, two important workers strikes occurred, those of
Cananea and
Río Blanco, the latter taking place in Orizaba and being an important prelude to the
Mexican Revolution.
**The Iron Palace
**El Palacio Municipal (
The Municipal Palace)
**The Church of Carmen
**The Church of
La Concordia**State Art Museum
**
Alejandra Boschetti Reyes **
Francisco Gabilondo Soler (or Cri-Cri)
**
José Joaquín Pesado**
José Bernardo Couto**
Ignacio de la Llave**
Ignacio Suárez Peredo**
Gregorio Mendizábal**
Sara García**
Manuel Escandón**
Silvestre Moreno Cora**
Joaquín Arroniz**
Rafael Delgado**
Carlos Aguilar Múñoz**
Rafael Rojina Villegas**
José Sánchez Oropeza*
Orizaba Nahuatl*
Pico de Orizaba on Bivouac
