Namiquipa is a town in the
Mexican state of
Chihuahua. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of
Namiquipa.
As of 2010, the town of Namiquipa had a population of 1,752,
up from 1,718 as of 2005.
History
The origin of the settlement is an indigenous village called Namiquipa.
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
missionaries established a mission in 1662 or 1663 called
San Pedro de Alcántara de Namiquipa. It was subsequently abandoned.
Namiquipa was refounded and given town ''(
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
)'' status in 1778.
The
Spanish colonial state established the town and surrounding region as a military colony, and its settlers received land grants in return for fighting
Apache during the
Apache Wars.
Namiquipa was a stronghold of
Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
’s popular movement during much of the
Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920. However, in 1916 locals switched sides and formed local militia that collaborated with the United States. In 1917 Namiquipa was attacked by Villa and his men, who reportedly raped many townswomen after setting the town ablaze.
Villa's commander Nicolas Fernandez managed to take some of the townswomen under his protection, and ordered his soldiers to shoot any one who tried to attack them.
After news of the atrocity spread, Villa lost the goodwill of many villagers across Chihuahua.
References
Populated places in Chihuahua (state)
Populated places established in 1778
{{Chihuahua-geo-stub