History of Nuevo León

The Estado Libre y Soberano de Nuevo León (Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León) was first colonized in the 16th century by immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula. The majority of these were conversos, ethnic Jews converted to Roman Catholicism. Later the state received more arrivals of other Europeans, some Asians and those from North America settled down in the 1800s. Cross-migration of local Mexicans to or from Texas creates strong cultural bonds with the neighboring U.S. The province eventually became a state of Mexico. Today it is one of the most industrialized regions of Latin 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 nomads. They left no written records, so the recorded history of the region begins with the arrival of European colonists towards the end of the 16th 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 Portuguese Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva they settled in what is now the city of Monterrey in fulfilment of a commitment made by King Philip 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 in 1596 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 in Chilpancingo, 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 before Juan José de la Garza had represented the Nuevo Reino de León in the Cortes Generales at Cádiz, which had produced the liberal Spanish Constitution 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" of Juan Diego but on the mantle of Saint Thomas, and that Saint Thomas himself had preached the gospel in Mexico under the name of Quetzalcóatl) 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 the Mexican-American War, United States forces besieged Monterrey ("see Battle 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 Apaches, Comanches, runaway Kickapoos 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 heroes Juan Zuazua, José Silvestre Aramberri, Mariano Escobedo, Lázaro Garza Ayala and Jerónimo 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 the sovereignty of Nuevo León. Later a sympathizer with the Confederacy in the American Civil War, Vidaurri democratically annexed the Mexican state of Coahuila by plebiscite and later declared the República de la Sierra Madre, one of Nuevo León's two famous attempts at separatism (the other being the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840). Upon the death of his chief military supporter, general Juan Zuazua, he was easily taken prisoner by other Nuevoleonese loyal to Benito 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, Russian and Italian immigration, thus enriched the local Mexican culture and closened ties with Texas of the United States.

In the 1970s some terrorist groups espousing communist ideology and identified with the social problems of southeastern Mexico plagued Nuevo León with assassinations of important businessmen, among them Eugenio Garza Sada. Economic crises struck the state like everywhere in Mexico, but again came remarkable economic growth in the 1990s brought on by North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA has improved living conditions.

As of 2004, Nuevo León leads Mexico in most indexes of health and quality of life. Municipalities such as San Pedro Garza García have the highest standard of living in Latin America, and Nuevo León as a whole has a human 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)