Mariano Balleza is a town in the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

, close to the border with

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of Balleza. As of 2010, the town had a total population of 2,087, up from 1,990 as of 2005.

History

It was in this vicinity that Juan Fontes founded the first Jesuit mission to the Tarahumara in 1607, however that mission was abandoned during the Tepehuan war against the SPanish starting in 1616.Edward C. Spicer, ''Cycloes of Conquest'' (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962), p. 26-28 This specific settlement was founded as a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

, with the name San Pablo Tepehuanes, in 1640, as part of the efforts to evangelise the local Tepehuan people; this was one of the earliest missions in that part of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

. In 1830 the State Congress renamed it in honour of

Fr. Mariano Balleza FR or fr may refer to: Businesses and organizations * '' Frankfurter Rundschau'', a German newspaper * Ryanair (IATA airline code) Places * France, by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and NATO code ** French language (ISO 639 alpha-2 code "fr") ** Franc, a ...

, who fought alongside

Miguel Hidalgo Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor (8 May 1753 – 30 July 1811), more commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo (), was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican Wa ...

in the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

. The town is still informally known as San Pablo Balleza.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Chihuahua (state) Populated places established in 1640 1640 establishments in New Spain