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. Wit ...

, 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 (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 Valle may refer to: * Valle (surname) Geography *"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina *University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colombia ...

of the former New Kingdom of León. General Zuazua Municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Cienega de Flores to the west and northwest, Salinas Victoria to the west, Higueras to the north, Marín to the east, and Apodaca and Pesquería 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 orchard ...

de Abajo by an expedition of Spanish settlers led by Spanish captain Enrique Gutiérrez de Lara, 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 constit ...

. 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 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 ...

invasions from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

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 P ...

, 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, 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