Veracruz

Mexican State

Area: 71,896sq.km/27,759sq.mi

Population: 6,737,300

Veracruz, one of the most populous states in Mexico, is bounded on the north by Tamaulipas, on the west by San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla and Oaxaca and to the south-east by Chiapas and Tabasco. The scenery is full of contrasts. Between the rugged peaks of the Sierra Madre Oriental with the snow-covered Pico de Orizaba and the wide beaches on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, coffee plantations alternate with maize fields, industrial towns with vanilla plantations, and oil fields with tropical rain forests. Once inhabited by the legendary Olmecs, the state is today occupied primarily by mestizos, although there are also descendants of slaves, as well as Totonacs, Huastecs and Nahuas. Archaelological Sites

The main archaelological sites belonging to the Olmecs are Cerro de las Mesas, Tres Zapotes and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. The Huastecs, Totonacs and other tribes have left traces in El Zapotal Zempoala, El Pital, Quiahuitzián, Castillo de Teayo and El Tajín.

History

The earliest civilisation was probably that of the Huastecs and, most importantly, the Olmecs (around 1200-1400 bc), whose influence extended over a sizable area of Mexico. Until the arrival of the Totonacs foreign tribes mixed with the indigenous people (e.g. Remojadas culture). In the 15th c. the Aztecs subdued a large part of the country.

In 1519 the conquest of Mexico began with the landing of the Spanish under Hernán Cortés near the present-day town of Veracruz. The first Spanish settlement was founded not far from Quiahuiztlán but then moved to La Antigua in 1524. In both the Spanish and Mexican periods the history of the state was closely bound up with that of its most important city, the port of Veracruz.

Economy

As well as the many kinds of tropical and subtropical products associated with the plantation economy, Veracruz's industrial goods include spirits, tobacco, soap, cement, chemicals, glass and leather. Freight traffic, cattle rearing, fishing, and, to an increasing extent, tourism also play an important part in the state's economy. The oil refinement industry is concentrated in the south of the country around Minatitlán and Coatzocoalcos. Veracruz is therefore without question a prosperous state, although there exists a significant gap between the industrialised south and the impoverished, largely agricultural, north.