Orizaba


Orizaba is a city and municipality 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 city had a 2005 census population of 117,273 and is almost coextensive with its small municipality, with only a few small areas outside the city. The municipality's population was 117,289 and it has an area of 27.97 km².

Naming

It is generally understood that the name Orizaba comes from a Hispanicized pronunciation of the Nahuatl name Āhuilizāpan , which means "place of pleasing waters." Another possibility, however, is the word Harish, this place being the hometown of the first Spanish settlers of Orizaba. Harish or—in a simplified form—Ariz, with the addition of the gentilic "i" and/or with the ending "aba", meaning fortification, would have become Ariziba or Arizaba, from which Orizaba would have derived.

Geography and inhabitants

Orizaba has an unusually wet dry-winter subtropical highland climate.
The town lies at 1,200 m., 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 Oriental. 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 5,636 m., 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, live many thousands of people who speak a variant of Nahuatl which is often called Orizaba Nahuatl.

History

Prehistory and conquest

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 at the Temple of "The Immaculate Conception" in Huiloapan commemorates this event.

Colonial period

During the colonial period, Orizaba became an important city. On January 27, 1774, the Spanish king Carlos III conceded town status to Orizaba, and on November 29, 1830 Orizaba was declared a city.

Independence war

In October 1812, José María Morelos captured the city for the insurgent army. In 1821 to the end of the war, Agustín de Iturbide was in Orizaba before and after the signature of the Treaty of Córdoba in the neighbor city.

Independent period

When Lucas Alamán established, in 1836, the first textile factory of Orizaba, the city started its economic life as an industrial city.
In 1839 the newspaper La Luz was created and the Veracruz by the governor Francisco Hernández y Hernández gave the name of Veracruz-Llave to this state of Mexico.
On May 8, 1874, Orizaba was declared the capital city of Veracruz by the governor Apolinar Castillo, 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.
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 American World War I and World War II transport ship USS Orizaba was named after this town.

Economy

The Orizaba's area economy has grown significantly in the last years due to the safety of the area, being of great confidence for national and foreign investors who wants to establish in a safe place. Another important reason is the presence of recognised Universities like Universidad Veracruzana, Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba or Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Central de Veracruz en Córdoba.
The industry is mainly focused in the following areas: breweries, paper, cement, pharmaceutical, iron and steel sector, soft drinks and food, leather and shoemaker companies among others. Also in the last years the commercial area experiments a significant growth due to the opening of new Malls & Major Retailers.
It is one of the cheapest cities to live and invest in México, as Mercer consultory published in the "Estudio de costo de la vida nacional 2012"; this study includes 42 localities of México, and was done comparing 182 products and services.
The inquiry also disclose that Orizaba's Valley will grow 10% in 2013, due to the lack of pollution, existence of enough water and other points like price of housing.

Main sights

The old city hall El Palacio de Hierro in the centre of the city was designed by Gustave Eiffel and built from 1891 to 1894. Built with 600 tons of Belgian steel, its parts were shipped from Belgium during the Porfiriato, to be assembled in Orizaba. The palace cost 100,000 pesos, equivalent to about 21.3 million pesos or 1.1 million USD as of 2019. It was Don Manuel Carrillo Tablas who not only loaned the money to the city, but also had to pay the additional cost of unloading the palace from the port and having it reassembled at its present location, the Plaza de Armas. Unfortunately, Don Manuel died New Year's Eve of 1899 without ever having received a cent from the city for his loan. He was a very charitable man, though, having donated the land where the present Cathedral of Orizaba now stands, as well as the adjacent shopping center known as "El Mercado." El Palacio de Hierro served as the City Hall until the city felt it was not large enough for the growing needs of the local government and therefore moved to its present location.
Orizaba has an important industrial life. There is, for example, the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma company, which was established in 1896 in Orizaba.
Other attractions for visitors include: