General Zuazua Municipality is a municipality in the northeastern Mexican state of

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

, it is located in the north-central part of the state, which has been called peripheral region because of its proximity to Monterrey metropolitan area. The municipality is recognized in Nuevo León because of its well-known

Rodeos Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

and the Empalmes, a local dish from this municipality.

Name

The name honors General Juan Zuazua Esparza, who fought in the

Reform War The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...

(1857–1860).

Geography

The municipality is located in the historic region of the Carrizal Valley which used to be part of the Valle de las Salinas of the former

New Kingdom of León The New Kingdom of León ( es, Nuevo Reino de León), was an administrative territory of the Spanish Empire, politically ruled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was located in an area corresponding generally to the present-day northeastern Mexica ...

. General Zuazua Municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Cienega de Flores to the west and northwest,

Salinas Victoria Salinas Victoria, is a municipality located to in the center of the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. It shares borders with 11 municipalities including, to the north Villaldama and Sabinas Hidalgo; to the south Escobedo and Apodaca; to the east Higu ...

to the west,

Higueras Higueras is a Spanish municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alto Palancia, in the Province of Castellón, Valencian Community. In 2015, the population was 91. History The village was first mentioned in the 13th century as ''Torre de la Higuera''. ...

to the north, Marín to the east, and

Apodaca Apodaca () is a city and its surrounding municipality that is part of Monterrey Metropolitan area. It lies in the northeastern part of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. It is known for becoming recently a heavy industrialized city. As of 2019, the ...

and

Pesquería Pesquería Municipality is a municipality of the state of Nuevo León in Mexico. It is located at 25º47´N 100º3´W and above sea level. It is part of the suburban area of the Monterrey Metropolitan area. Its distance to the Monterrey city ...

to the south.

History

It was founded in 1630 as the

Hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

de Abajo by an expedition of Spanish settlers led by Spanish captain

Enrique Gutiérrez de Lara Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (Du ...

, in a region known as Valle del Carizal or Carrizal Valley, within the jurisdiction of the Salinas Valley or Valle de las Salinas, the

de Abajo changed its name in 1650 as the

Santa Elena, in honor of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

. In 1807, the Carrizal Valley was separated from the Salinas Valley. Santa Helena during the Spanish colonial period had exhaustive battles against the nomadic Native Americans who were exterminated because of their cruelty and frequent raids against the Spanish settlements in the region, primarily perpetuated by the Cuanales and Aiguales, both of

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter-gatherers. First encountered by Europ ...

origin who inhabited the Salinas Valley. In the early years of the 19th century the Cuanales and Aiguales were almost extinct but the war still continued with the subsequent

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

invasions from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to sack towns, mostly in northern Nuevo León during much of the 19th century, by 1840, one of the most intense battles took place in Santa Helena, between the Comanche and the New Leonese Army led by general

Mariano Arista José Mariano Arista (26 July 1802 – 7 August 1855) was a Mexican soldier and politician. He was in command of the Mexican forces at the opening battles of the Mexican American War: the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Pal ...

, who achieved important victories against them. Arista's army stayed in the hacienda of San Pedro after the battle. On March 2, 1863 the Nuevo León state congress issued a decree by then governor of the state,

Santiago Vidaurri José Santiago Vidaurri Valdez (July 24, 1809 – July 8, 1867) was a controversial and powerful governor of the northern Mexican states of Nuevo León and Coahuila between 1855 and 1864. He was an advocate of federalism. In 1855, he supporte ...

, in which the hacienda of Santa Helena was separated from the Carrizal Valley, created as municipality and renamed as the General Zuazua village, in honor of General Juan Zuazua Esparza, hero of the war of reform. In 1875, the Santa Elena church was finally built and by 1979 was restored, bringing it back its original architecture. Today, it is one of the main tourist attractions of the town, along with the hacienda of San Pedro.

References

External links

Municipal government website
(Spanish) * http://www.inafed.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/nuevoleon/municipios/19025a.htm History of General Zuazua (Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:General Zuazua Municipality Municipalities of Nuevo León