Morelia, Mexico

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fertile hollow between Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico's two largest cities.

Morelia retains the character of a distinguished Spanish colonial town.

History

During the pre-Columbian period the Morelia region was settled by a tribe of Matlatzinca who had retreated before the Aztec advance into this Tarascan-ruled (Purépecha) region in the mid 15th c.

Soon after the Conquista the first Spaniards, led by Cristóbel de Olid, came to the area and conquered the Tarascans. In the Spanish chronicle of the settlement the first entry concerns the establishment of a convent by the Franciscan friar Father Juan de San Miguel in 1537. Founded in 1541, Morelia was first named Valladolid on the orders of the first viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza. By 1547 Valladolid had gained its municipal charter. In competition with "Indian" Pátzcuaro, where Bishop Vasco de Quiroga had his seat of office, "Spanish" Valladolid finally became the see of a bishop in 1570, and in 1582 it became Michoacán's capital in place of Pátcuaro. During the 17th and 18th c. Morelia developed into a trading centre for the agriculture of the surrounding area. In the Mexican War of Independence (1810-21) the town was for a time the operational base of the freedom fighter Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. In 1828, after independence had been won, it was named Morelia in honour of another of the freedom fighters Father José Maria Morelos y Pavón (1765-1815), who was a native of the town. Inheriting the cultural traditions of Spain, Morelia eventually became one of Mexico's leading intellectual centres thanks largely to its university.