History of Veracruz
The port of Veracruz, originally founded under the name of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Cortés arrived on the coast in Chalchihuecan, in front of San Juan de Ulúa (current) on April 22, 1519 and founded the town hall in June of the same year to legalize his expedition before the King of Spain because he left Cuba without the authorization of the Governor. Diego de Velázquez, thus being the first City Council in Mexico and continental America.
In the year 1525, the settlement of Veracruz was changed again and installed on the banks of the Huitzilapan River, a site known as 'Antigua Veracruz', and it remained in this place until 1600, when The viceroy of Monterrey moved to Veracruz to the place of his primitive establishment where it currently prevails, decreeing on May 8, 1608 by the king of Spain Felipe III as New Veracruz, granting it the rank of City; Commonly recognized by the people of New Spain as the city of the "Tables", because its houses are built with this material.
It is worth mentioning the fact that the city of Veracruz is the only town in Mexico that has been recognized as 'Four Times Heroic', due to political and military events in which its inhabitants actively participated. response to war threats.
Spanish conquest
The second Europeans to arrive in the area did so in the raid commanded by Juan de Grijalva that in 1518 toured the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and continued through Tabasco they reached the Veracruz coast. At the forefront of the expedition, Captain Pedro de Alvarado arrived along the coast from the southeast, disembarking in Boca del Río and stopping for six days to trade with the locals. Continuing their journey, they landed on the island of Chalchihuitlapazco, which they called Sacrificios because they found traces of human sacrifices. Then they disembarked in Costa Verde, where they resumed trafficking. On June 24, San Juan Day, they stopped at the Tecpan Tlayácac islet, baptized San Juan de Ulúa, trading for seven days with the indigenous people. Pedro de Alvarado returned to Cuba with the goods he had obtained and Juan de Grijalva continued along the coast to the Pánuco River.
Cortés Expedition
In February 1519, a new expedition of 10 ships left near Havana, financed by the governor of Cuba Diego de Velázquez and commanded by Hernán Cortés, with the intention of exploring and trading precious metals. On the morning of April 21, they sighted the Veracruz coast, anchoring near San Juan de Ulúa and the next day, Good Friday, April 22, 1519, they landed on the adjacent beaches called Chalchihuecan by the Mexica indigenous people. There they dealt with Moctezuma's emissaries. Upon seeing the rich gifts offered by Moctezuma, Cortés changed his mind about the intention of the expedition, deciding to populate those lands; However, there was opposition to this among the expedition members. With the dual purpose of warding off the opposition and looking for a more favorable place to protect his fleet, Cortés sent two ships under the command of Francisco de Montejo piloted by Antón de Alaminos and Juan N. Álvarez that arrived at the Quiahuiztlán cove.
Foundation of the first town hall
Hernán Cortés, after a deep reflection on the objectives and benefits that he could obtain in those lands, still unknown, as those who lived in them were unknown, considered that Governor Diego Velázquez would benefit without exposing himself to it, without running any risk., and considering his confrontations with the chief Tascoob, he decided that all the merits belonged to him, Cortés, to his captains, soldiers and sailors, so he found a way to get rid of his legal relationship with Velázquez... that is why he proposed to form a town hall, from which all authority would emanate, recognition of what he and all his people did.
Thus he proceeded to convince his people of this action, which was accepted, in this way on April 22, 1519 the soldiers founded as Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz a settlement of huts of palm that became the first town hall in continental America. Once the council was established, Velázquez's authority over the former expeditionaries who were now settlers was extinguished. Cortés resigned his position as captain general of the expedition and was elected to the same position but by the authorities of the new council.
About the place of the foundation, Cortés does not clarify where it was. From Bernal Díaz del Castillo's story True History of the Conquest of New Spain, chapter.
The first council was made up of: Alonso Hernández Portocarrero (Mayor), Francisco de Montejo (Regidor), Pedro de Alvarado (Captain), Cristóbal de Olid, Juan de Escalante, Gonzalo Mejía (Treasurer), Alonso de Ávila (Accountant), Alonso Romero (Alguacil).
Second settlement
After the formal foundation, the Spaniards traveled by land north to Huitzilapan where they were received by Chicomacatl, the Fat Chief of Cempoala. Knowing that the Totonacs were dissatisfied with Mexica domination, Cortés presented himself as a champion of justice and achieved an alliance by pledging Spanish support against the Mexica in exchange for the Totonac nation's obedience to the Spanish Crown.
Cortés then traveled to the cove of Quiahuiztlan, where his fleet was waiting for him. There, on the side of a hill near the Totonac town, they built a stone settlement, walled and fortified. It was not a refoundation but a location transfer.
Beginning of the conquest
After writing the first Letter of Relationship, Cortés disabled the ships and in August 1519 he set out together with 400 expedition members and 1,340 indigenous warriors to conquer the Mexica empire.
A garrison remained in Villa Rica under the command of Juan de Escalante. The first church that functioned until the new settlement change was built here.
Viceroyalty of New Spain
On July 14, 1523, Emperor Charles V granted his coat of arms to Veracruz by Royal Decree.
Third settlement
By 1525, because Quiahuiztlan was not suitable for anchoring, the settlement was moved to the banks of the Huitzilapan River, baptized as Canoas by the Spanish. This settlement, today known as La Antigua, once had 200 Spaniards and 600 black slaves, a parish, two convents and a hospital.
This settlement, despite being better protected from the violent southerly winds than Quiahuiztlan and Ulúa, suffered from the problem that the river bar was very sandy and the Galleons had to unload in Ulúa to avoid running aground.
During the colony the city was of great importance since it was the departure point for ships that went to Spain loaded with gold, treasures and merchandise in the so-called Carrera de Indias, which earned it being attacked on several occasions. by pirates.
In September 1522 a hurricane left Villa Rica in ruins. In September 1568, the English pirates John Hawkins and Francis Drake occupied San Juan de Ulúa, but shortly after it was recovered by the Spanish Navy after a devastating Battle of San Juan de Ulúa.
To repel pirate attacks, in 1590 the construction of the San Juan de Ulúa Fort began.
Fourth settlement
In 1599, Viceroy Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo ordered the transfer of the settlement to its original enclave, the strip of sandbanks in front of the San Juan de Ulúa islet. A dock was fitted out to the Port of Veracruz and two years later it was possible to dock ships and continue using San Juan de Ulúa as anchorage and protection.
Around 1607 Vera Cruz acquired the title of city, confirmed in 1640 by Philip III.
In 1608 the town hall house (now the municipal palace) and the convent of Nuestra Señora de la Merced were built, while the fortification of San Juan de Ulúa continued and work on the Hospital of Our Lady of Loreto began..
In 1640 the Barlovento navy was founded to defend the coast from pirates.
May 17, 1683 is remembered for one of the saddest episodes in the City of Veracruz. On that occasion, the pirate Laurent de Graff, known as Lorencillo, besieged the port and with 15 ships managed to take over the city thanks to the little surveillance that New Spain had in the port. They were regrettable days where looting, rape and murder were everyday things.
As a result of these events, a wall fortified by several bastions would be created, among which was the Bastion of Santiago, whose construction is the only one that remains standing to this day. Currently the other bastions and the wall no longer exist.
The Jornal Economía Mercantil de Veracruz was the first newspaper, published in 1806.
War of Independence
On December 8, 1816, Governor García Dávila appointed Antonio López de Santa Anna as commander outside the walls to defeat the insurgents.
First Mexican Empire
At the end of the War of Independence and after the entry of the Trigarante Army into Mexico City, the last Spanish troops decided to take refuge in the castle of San Juan de Ulúa where they remained since October 1821. On September 25, In 1823, under the orders of Francisco Lemaur, they bombed the city, causing serious damage. The government of President Guadalupe Victoria (Miguel Fernández Félix) decided to launch an offensive on the castle and prevent it from continuing to receive aid from Havana. This blockade forced the Spanish to capitulate on November 18, 1825, abandoning the last Spanish stronghold in Mexico, thus consummating independence in the same place where the conquest began in 1519.
In 1824, Café La Parroquia was founded as a candy store.
Francisco Arrillaga obtained a concession in 1837 to build the Railway between Veracruz and Mexico City.
Cake Wars
In 1838 France declared war on Mexico, under the pretext of satisfying the claims made by some French subjects who had had their properties damaged during the war of independence, among them a famous pastry chef from Tacubaya, for which he was called "pie war". Twenty-six ships anchored in March 1838 off Punta Antón Lizardo, from where they passed to the island of Sacrificios, blocking the port for 6 months. On November 27 of that year, the fort of San Juan de Ulúa was bombed and the commanding general of Veracruz, due to the inability to resist the attack, signed the capitulation the next day, which was unknown to General Anastasio Bustamante, president of the country., who put General Antonio López de Santa Anna in command, resuming the attacks on the 30th of the same month. The city was bombed until April 1839, when an armistice was signed, and the Patriotic labaro was hoisted in the fort of San Juan de Ulúa.
US intervention in Mexico
The state of Texas, until then part of Mexican territory, had declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and was annexed to the United States of America in 1845. Mexico had not recognized such independence and in 1847 in the face of the Texas separatist movement, President Antonio López de Santa Anna tries to quell it by sending troops to the north of the country. Texans turn to the United States government for support which leads to confrontation between the United States and Mexico. As part of the conflict, on March 22 of that year, US troops bombed the port of Veracruz. The city was heroically defended by the forces commanded by generals Juan Morales and José Juan Landero, who surrendered on the 27th of the same month due to the difficult conditions of the battle. The invaders withdrew on June 10, 1848, after signing the peace treaties in which Mexico lost almost half of its territory.
On August 31, 1850, he was buried in the general cemetery under the name "Juan Reley" the body of Irishman Jon Riley, founding member of the St. Patrick's Battalion.
War of Reform
During the Reform War in which the conservatives usurped power, Benito Juárez assumed the constitutional presidency and was forced to flee the country, returning through Veracruz on May 4, 1857, under the protection of the then governor of the state. Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora. Juárez established the capital of the Republic in the city and in July 1859 he promulgated the Reform Laws that declared the nationalization of ecclesiastical property, the law of marriage as a civil contract and civil registration, the secularization of cemeteries and the liberation of cults..
Second French Intervention
In 1862 Spanish troops under the command of General Juan Prim withdrew from the port of Veracruz, which they had occupied due to the suspension of payment of the foreign debt, decreed by Benito Juárez.
Second Mexican Empire
On May 28, 1864, Maximilian of Habsburg arrived at the port of Veracruz on the Frigate Novara, accompanied by his wife Princess Charlotte of Belgium, amid the joy and hubbub of the conservatives to impose the Second Mexican Empire.
On January 1, 1873, President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada inaugurated the first railway line in Mexico, from Mexico to Veracruz via Orizaba, 470,750 kilometers long.
In 1897 the Heroic Naval School was founded at the initiative of José María de Vega, Head of the Navy Department.
Mexican Revolution
Starting the Mexican Revolution, after resigning the presidency on May 25, 1911, on May 31, 1911, Porfirio Díaz began his exile by embarking in Veracruz on the Ipiranga, leaving for Spain, to finally settle in France.
American occupation
On April 9, 1914, an incident that occurred in Tampico served as a pretext for the United States government to take offense at the government of the usurper Victoriano Huerta. On April 20, the United States learned that a large shipment of weapons would arrive in Veracruz, destined for the Huerta government.
Three American warships, commanded by Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, without a declaration of war, began the attack on the city on April 21, 1914, occupying the docks, the train station, the Customs House and other strategic sites., continuing the fight the next day until the total occupation of the port was achieved, which lasted 7 months.
Most of the military forces of the military commander General Gustavo Maass withdrew, by superior order.
The defense was limited to one hundred soldiers from the 19th battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Albino Cerrillos, another hundred made up of "rayados" (prisoners of Las Galeras) and Veracruz Volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Contreras, some members of the municipal police under the orders of officer Laureano López, some Spaniards residing in the city, and a hundred cadets who were students of the Naval Academy. Military and his teachers under the orders of Commodore Manuel Azueta.
It was not until November 23 that the occupation forces withdrew, and the constitutionalist forces of General Heriberto Jara received control of the city.
After the fall of the Huerta government in July 1914, Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa took over Mexico City and in November of the same year the constitutional president Venustiano Carranza with Álvaro Obregón took refuge in the port, declaring it on December 3 of 1914 capital of the Republic. On January 6, 1915, Carranza promulgated the Agrarian Law that established the restitution and endowment of land.
On February 12, 1924, the interim Governor Ángel Casarín decreed the city of Veracruz as the provisional capital of the state.
Four times heroic
In 1826, Veracruz was granted the title of Heroic for the first time for its defense in 1823.
In 1898 the State Legislature granted Veracruz the title of Heroica for the second and third time.
On December 16, 1948, when Miguel Alemán Valdés was president of the republic, decree number 73 was issued declaring it Four Times Heroic Veracruz for having been the scene of four of the most important events in the defense of national sovereignty; in which the population fought heroically against foreign invaders:
- On September 13, 1823, with the surrender of the last Guatemalan Spanish forces in the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa.
- On 27 November 1838, the bombing of the French forces.
- On March 22, 1847, the bombing of U.S. forces.
- On 21 and 22 April 1914 for the defense during the landing of American troops.
Recent history
Passage of Hurricane Karl 2010
The passage of Hurricane Karl (Category 3 with Category 4 water quantity) in Veracruz left 410,000 victims (in the rancherías some lost their houses carried away by the currents of the overflowing rivers). In area, 20% of Boca de Río was flooded.
On Saturday, September 18 at 11:00 the Jamapa River overflowed and the places where it flooded from 1.5 to 1.8 m were first Puente Moreno, Medellín, to Las Vegas (which is in front of the new center commercial Aurrerá) and the flooding continued below in the Samorana channel, flooding the Floresta Fractionation by the same amount of 1.5 to 1.8 m, and on the other hand it reached Col. Carranza and Manantial. In these places, people were taken by surprise with no power other than to go up to the second level and the roofs. Helicopters and boats have been doing rescue work. There is no electricity or water in the flooded areas.
Fallen bridges, roads and broken roads are NOT open.
117 Municipalities of the 204 in Veracruz are in a state of emergency.
The victims are in several shelters (World Trade Center, Benito Juares Auditorium, Iglesias, the DIF, etc.) (30 large shelters 1500 shelter houses not counting those that are not reported)
There has been robbery (robberies) in houses, shopping centers and chain grocery stores.
Many stay on the second floor to avoid robbery in their homes.
On the second day, 12 deaths had been officially reported.