- History of Nuevo León
The Estado Libre y Soberano de Nuevo León (Free and Sovereign State of
Nuevo León ) was first colonized in the16th century by immigrants from theIberian Peninsula . The majority of these wereconverso s, ethnicJew s converted toRoman Catholicism . Later the state received more arrivals of other Europeans, someAsians and those fromNorth America settled down in the 1800s. Cross-migration of local Mexicans to or fromTexas creates strong cultural bonds with the neighboring U.S. The province eventually became a state ofMexico . Today it is one of the most industrialized regions ofLatin America and the capital, Monterrey has over 3 million residents.Important dates in the history of Nuevo León
Origins
The earliest known human inhabitants of the region now known Nuevo León were a small number of Native American
nomad s. They left no written records, so the recorded history of the region begins with the arrival ofEurope an colonists towards the end of the16th century . After several failed attempts, a group of immigrants, among them several families of converted Jews, arrived on the Mexican coast aboard the "Santa Catarina". The Jewish imprint in this colony was mild due to acculturation of "conversos" to Christianity, but some Jewish customs are still seen today such as food preparation and holiday observances that remained passed through tradition. Led by the PortugueseLuis Carvajal y de la Cueva they settled in what is now the city ofMonterrey in fulfilment of a commitment made by KingPhilip II of Spain : the establishment of the New Kingdom of León ("Nuevo Reino de León").The first years of the colony were difficult for the inhabitants, who were beleaguered by the Mexican and
Spanish Inquisition , by the indigenous tribes, and by several floods. From the outset, the greater portion of the population remained concentrated in what was to be formally designated in1596 as the city of Monterrey. By the end of the colonial era, the "reineros" (as they were known) had obtained a certain stability and had established a second city, Linares south of Monterrey.Insurgent era
The impulse toward insurgency against Spain was rapidly suffocated in the region, because of a general displeasure with the news that
José María Morelos , the leader of the movement, had convoked a constitutional congress inChilpancingo , in the south of Mexico, and had named himself representative of the Nuevo Reino de León, although he had absolutely no prior connection to the region. Just one year beforeJuan José de la Garza had represented the Nuevo Reino de León in theCortes Generales atCádiz , which had produced the liberal SpanishConstitution of 1812 .After Mexican independence was achieved, Fray Servando Teresa de Mier (a rather unorthodox priest who claimed that the
Virgin of Guadalupe had been engraved not on the "tilma" ofJuan Diego but on the mantle of Saint Thomas, and that Saint Thomas himself had preached the gospel in Mexico under the name ofQuetzalcóatl ) represented Nuevo Reino de León at the national constitutional congress that, in its decree number 45, article 1, pronounced that "Nuevo León will be from this time forward a state of the Mexican Federation".Father Mier organized the establishment of a local legislature, which adopted the first constitution of the newly established state
March 5 ,1825 . This state congress was dissolved in 1835 and the state was converted into a "Department". The national struggle between conservatives and liberals damaged the region's stability. In 1846, during theMexican-American War ,United States forces besieged Monterrey ("seeBattle of Monterrey "). Additionally, native tribes originating in the U.S. made a brutal assault on the region, stealing women, children, cattle, and provisions. The chaos was such that it became routine to draw up ones will before making even a short journey.eparatist attempts
By the middle of the 19th century the inhabitants of Nuevo León began to take reprisals against the indigenous natives, the U.S., and the Mexican authorities. In 1850 towns throughout Nuevo León were ready with an armed
militia and with combat provisions ("bastimento") already prepared for a combat that could break out at any moment. The "bastimento" consisted of corn biscuits, dried meat, and chocolate, the cornerstones of the rural diet of Nuevo León then and now.The response to the native invasions was ruthless. Influenced by the methods of the Americans to their north, the Nuevoleonese poisoned the waters from which the natives drank and put a bounty on natives' scalps. The combat with the
Apache s,Comanche s, runawayKickapoo s and North American filibusterers, while brutal and inhuman, gave a great deal of experience to the Nuevoleonese militias, who defeated the Mexican Army in several battles. The combat skills of local heroesJuan Zuazua ,José Silvestre Aramberri ,Mariano Escobedo ,Lázaro Garza Ayala andJerónimo Treviño were all tempered by those skirmishes.The leader of this self-defense movement was
Santiago Vidaurri , who proclaimed the "Plan de Monterrey" in 1855, restoring thesovereignty of Nuevo León. Later a sympathizer with the Confederacy in theAmerican Civil War , Vidaurri democratically annexed the Mexican state ofCoahuila byplebiscite and later declared theRepública de la Sierra Madre , one of Nuevo León's two famous attempts at separatism (the other being theRepublic of the Rio Grande in 1840). Upon the death of his chief military supporter, generalJuan Zuazua , he was easily taken prisoner by other Nuevoleonese loyal toBenito Juárez , who decreed the deannexation of Coahuila.Later history
At the end of the 19th century, several industries grew up in Nuevo León that, over the course of time, would come to dominate the Mexican economy. This was the period in which the first Nuevoleonese banks arose, as well as breweries, cementer manufacturers, steel mills. Toward the middle of the 20th century, Nuevo León had two internationally famous educational institutions: the
Autonomous University of Nuevo León and the Technological Institute of Higher Studies in Monterrey ("Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey"). The state received a heavy flow of German,Russia n and Italian immigration, thus enriched the local Mexican culture and closened ties withTexas of theUnited States .In the
1970s some terrorist groups espousing communist ideology and identified with the social problems of southeastern Mexico plagued Nuevo León withassassination s of important businessmen, among themEugenio Garza Sada . Economic crises struck the state like everywhere in Mexico, but again came remarkable economic growth in the 1990s brought on byNorth American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA has improved living conditions.As of 2004 , Nuevo León leads Mexico in most indexes of health andquality of life . Municipalities such asSan Pedro Garza García have the higheststandard of living in Latin America, and Nuevo León as a whole has ahuman development index superior to some European countries; compared against countries, it would occupy position #32 in the world.References
This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language wikipedia.
External links
* [http://lectura.ilce.edu.mx:3000/biblioteca/sites/estados/libros/nleon/htm/nuevoleon.htm Israel Cavazos: "Breve Historia de Nuevo León"] (in Spanish)
*Regarding the mostly forgotten African heritage of Nuevo Leon: [http://www.cnca.gob.mx/cnca/nuevo/reporta/reporta99/nl001.html "Estirpe de ébano: La etnia olvidada en el noreste mexicano"] ("The ebony lineage: the forgotten Northeastern Mexican ethnic group"; in Spanish)
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