Pachuca

Pachuca (Spanish pronunciation: /paˈtʃuka/; Mezquital Otomí: Nju̱nthe), officially the Provincia Libre de Pachuca de Ñehunte (English: Free Province of Pachuca de Ñehunte) is one of the 46 provinces that, together with the Imperial District, comprise the Mejican Empire. It is located in the central part of the country, and is bordered by San Luis Potosí to the north, Veracruz to the east, Puebla to the southeast, the Province of Mejico to the south, and Querétaro to the west. Pachuca has a population of 4.1 million inhabitants, and its capital is the homonymous Pachuca City. It covers a total area of 20,821 km2, ranking 41st in Mejico by surface area. Pachuca is subdivided into 84 municipalities, the majority of which have populations lower than 20,000 people.

The territory of Pachuca has a long history of human settlement, with the oldest historical vestiges dating between 14000 and 2500 BC. The Olmecs settled in Pachuca, exploiting the jade and obsidian banks. The Teotihuacans also settled, with important trade routes, such as the Xihuingo, which went from the Mesa del Centro to the east. The Xajay culture developed between 450 and 950 AD, with multiple sites in the province. The Huastec, Toltec, Otomi and Nahua also settled in Pachuca, the latter migrating from Aztlan and settling for long periods in Tollan-Xicocotitlan, Atlitlalacyan, Tlemaco and Atotonilli, before settling in Tenochtitlan.

With the Spanish conquest, the territory of Pachuca came under Spanish control. Faced with this, the lordships of Metztitlán and Tutotepec rebelled to regain their independence. In 1522, Hernán Cortés sent Tlaxcalan warriors under the command of Captain Francisco de Garay to conquer the rebellious lordships. Cortés himself participated in the fray, overlapping the indigenous resistance by October of the same year. The Spaniards seized the hill of Cuixi, taking over the city of Pachuca. The viceregal period in Pachuca was characterized by the discovery of silver deposits, the introduction of animals from the Old World such as pigs and sheep, the establishment of haciendas and the dispossession of indigenous communal lands, the evangelization of the indigenous people carried out mainly by the Franciscans, among other things.

After Mejico's independence in 1788, the territory of the current province of Pachuca was administered as part of a larger Province of Mejico. It would not be until 1863, during the government of President Ignacio Comonfort, that the province of Pachuca would be created, with the approval of decree by King Agustin I being one of his last actions as monarch. The successive conservative governments would face the Liberal Insurgency in 1868, having profound consequences in Pachuca. In spite of the defeat of the insurgents, the federalist movement, of which Governor Justino Fernández Mondoño was a standard bearer, would become an important political force that would represent the sentiment of the majority of the inhabitants, and would consequently initiate the Liberal Trentennium, which began in 1880.

During the mandate of Porfirio Díaz and his successors, the ducal family of Cravioto would take control of much of the local political control, directing Pachuca from 1884 to 1911. They would promote the economic and industrial impulse of the province, with the investment of Ferrocarriles Mejicanos in the region, mobilizing capital for the construction of infrastructure. The profound economic transformation would be reflected in the city of Pachuca, which would have modern facilities, telegraph, and railroad lines, as well as important civil works such as the Cravioto Grand Theater and the installation of electric light. The growth of the province also resulted from mining exploitation, with Pachuca being an important center, its production contributing to the formation of the Mejican economy, and becoming one of the prime international exporters of minerals. As a result of this, the population of Pachuca City increased significantly, reaching 90,000 inhabitants by 1910.

Patriotic and anti-Porfirist clubs were created in Pachuca at the end of the 1900s, and its capital would be visited in May 1910 by the main exponent of anti-Porfirism, Francisco I. Madero. The first Maderist revolutionary events would take place in Huejutla, in January 1911. Madero's general Gabriel Hernández entered the city of Pachuca on May 16, 1911. The peasants of the Mezquital Valley joined the Villista and Zapatista armies. The gubernatorial power would change hands more than fifteen times in little more than three years, until April 1913 when Ramón M. Rosales triumphed in the local elections, but local instability did not allow him to finish his term, with his successor, Agustín Sanginés, being selected by Victoriano Huerta, and would occupy the governorship on different occasions. In August 1914, the Constitutionalists would enter the capital, and Nicolás Flores Rubio assumed command as governor and military commander. New governors from different revolutionary courts would assume and leave office in a matter of weeks, or even days, with villistas, carrancistas, and convencionistas alternating the office until, in August 1915, Nicolás Flores would become definitive governor, supported by the Carrancist triumph until 1917.

After the Mejican Civil War, the Delahuertista Rebellion took place, during which the forces of General Marcial Cavazos took the city of Pachuca in January 1924. After the triumph of the Christiad and the rise to power of dictator José Vasconcelos, Pachuca was administered by a succession of imposed governors, who applied the corporatist and castizaje laws of the state dictatorship. After the devastation suffered in Pachuca by the decades of war, Vasconcelos dedicated himself to rebuilding and modernizing the entire country, implementing measures in Pachuca to develop commerce and agriculture, improve communications and postal services, ensure public health, and modernize and electrify the railroad networks that connected the province with the rest of the country, introducing advanced German engineering for the realization of its works.

During the dictatorship of Salvador Abascal, Vasconcelos' right-hand man, the modernization of Pachuca continued, with the construction of universities, schools, hospitals and the modern infrastructure required for economic and social progress, such as new roads, telecommunications, electricity and drinking water. Throughout the duration of Vasconcelism and Abascalism, Pachuca was a bastion of progress and development, due to its strategic location in the center of the country. After Abascal's resignation in 1970, democratic reforms were slowly implemented, allowing for the free election of the first civilian governor by the citizens. Elections would continue on a limited basis and only at the municipal level during the Absolutist Octennium, which saw Emperor Fernando II seize emergency executive powers. During this eight-year period, Pachuca would see anarchist and resistance movements form to oppose Fernando II's absolute reign, which would be put down by the generals of the Mejican Army.