The history of Puebla is of great importance given that its current territories are the same where cities such as Cholula, which is one of the oldest in America, were built. After the Conquest, Puebla was very important to New Spain.
The Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, as it is officially known, is one of the 32 federal states that make up the sovereign nation of Mexico.
It is located to the east of the national territory and its capital city is officially called Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza. Puebla was founded as an independent federal entity on December 21, 1823.
Puebla, as a state, borders to the north and northeast with the states of Tlaxcala, Hidalgo and Veracruz, respectively; to the south and southwest with Oaxaca and Guerrero; and to the west with Morelos and the State of Mexico, where the national capital is located.
This state is considered the fourth most populous in the Mexican nation, with more than six million inhabitants according to the last census, carried out in 2015.
Puebla has also been called by its oldest inhabitants as Cuetlaxcoapan, which translates as "where snakes change their skin."
Prehistoric stage
In the territories that today make up Puebla, traces of the presence and passage of man have been evidenced for more than one hundred thousand years. The first tracks found and studied date back at least 40,000 years.
The first vestiges of agricultural activities date back at least 5000 years BC. C., while the earliest signs of a human settlement, in Cholula, can be located around 1700 BC
Prehispanic stage
Human civilization began to emerge and expand in the Puebla territories from the 6th century, when the city of Cholula formed an alliance with Teotihuacán, promoting its growth and eventual apogee.
About two centuries passed before Cholula was invaded and conquered by the Olmec-Xicalancas.
Cantona was then founded, a city that stood for two continuous centuries. The migration of different aboriginal cultures and the displacement of the Olmec-Xicalancas meant that no one settled in Puebla for a long time.
Only agricultural activities were evidenced and the region became a border point between various manors, such as those of Tlaxcala, Tepeaca and Cuautinchan, with whom the relationship was conflictive.
The fall of Cantona returned to bring a certain splendor of Cholula; at that time a large part of the region's settlers returned.
The Tlaxcalans, Cholultecas and Huexotzincas inhabited the region maintaining a conflictive relationship with each other and with the hegemonic and growing Tenochtitlán.
Arrival of the Spaniards
In 1519 the expedition of Hernán Cortés arrived on the eastern Mexican coasts. By then, the Tlaxcalans were one of the cultures with the greatest presence in the territory.
These allied with the Spanish to guarantee the massacre and conquest of other aboriginal settlements.
Two years later, Spaniards and Tlaxcalans participated in the taking and fall of Tenochtitlán against the Mexica.
The violent expeditions gave rise to the Franciscan missions for evangelizing purposes, some five years after the Cortés campaigns that subdued the entire region's lordships.
In 1531 the city of Puebla was founded for the first time, at that time with the name of Ciudad de los Ángeles, and later Puebla de los Ángeles.
At first, this city was established as a strategic intermediate point between the capital of New Spain and the port of Veracruz, where European ships arrived.
During this same century, the small Puebla de los Ángeles began to grow exponentially; new ecclesiastical seats were built as convents and seats of the Crown.
The exploitation and production of products such as wool and flour began, which were exported to other regions of New Spain and even to other Spanish colonies in America.
The city of Puebla became an important political and commercial reference that facilitated the transit of goods to the interior of New Spain.
Over time, it also became an important place in the field of agricultural production, becoming popular for its wheat and flour derived from it.
Centuries passed and Puebla continued to grow. Its population reached 50,000 inhabitants and, like other regions, it was not exempt from internal conflicts, such as revolts and opposition to measures by the Spanish Crown.
Diseases such as cholera also hit citizens, decimating the population by more than 10%.
Independence stage of Mexico
With the beginning of the independence campaigns within the Mexican territories, Puebla was planted as a defending bastion of the royalist causes, finding itself heavily besieged by the rebels and insurgents with independence ideas.
Puebla defended itself and resisted any type of siege, until the internal convulsions and explosions in favor of independence ended up ending the realistic causes.
The conflicts around control over Puebla lasted for several years. Finally, in 1821 the state of Puebla was founded in a totally independent and sovereign context.
In the years it took for the newly independent Mexican nation to establish the foundations of a republic, the state of Puebla came to exercise an independent government for at least two years.
Internal peace was not instantaneous, and for a few decades the new state of Puebla had to face internal insurrections.
The 20th century continued and organized movements began to form around the quest for power, at the same time that Mexico found its way as a sovereign nation.
Since then, Puebla has not stopped growing and developing internally, reaching the social, political and even tourist importance that it currently has within the United Mexican States.
References
- Carrión, A. (1970). History of the city of Puebla de Los Ángeles: work dedicated to the children of the State of Puebla. Editorial JM Cajica.
- Lomelí, L. (2001). Brief history of Puebla. Fund of Economic Culture.
- Thomson, GP (2002). Puebla de los Angeles: industry and society in a Mexican city, 1700-1850. Puebla: Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, General Directorate of Editorial Development: Government of the State of Puebla, Secretariat of Culture: Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla: José María Luis Mora Research Institute,.
- Valencia, EL (nd). Evocations about the city of Puebla. Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, 41-46.