Veracruz

Veracruz—formally called the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave—is one of Mexico’s 31 states, which together with Mexico City make up the country’s 32 federal entities. It sits in eastern Mexico, sharing borders with seven states: Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. The state is split into 212 municipalities, and its capital is Xalapa-Enríquez, often shortened to Xalapa. A large stretch of the Gulf of Mexico coastline belongs to eastern Veracruz. The state stands out for its blend of ethnic and Indigenous groups, and its food draws on the many cultural currents that flowed through because of the busy port of Veracruz city. Besides Xalapa-Enríquez, the biggest cities include Boca Del Río, Coatzacoalcos, Córdoba, Minatitlán, Orizaba, Poza Rica, and Veracruz.

**Etymology** The state’s full name, Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, comes from its largest city and main port, Veracruz, which Spanish conquerors first founded in 1519 as Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Rich Town of the True Cross). The phrase Vera Cruz mixes Latin and Spanish to mean “True Cross.” The added part honors Ignacio de la Llave y Segura Zevallos (1818–1863), who served as governor of Veracruz from 1855 to 1857 and again from 1861 to 1863. The state’s official seal, adopted in 1954 by the state legislature through Law No. 92, is modeled on the colonial coat of arms granted by King Charles I of Spain to Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz in 1523, marking Veracruz as the first Spanish settlement in New Spain.

**History**

*Pre-Columbian* Before Columbus, Veracruz was home mainly to four Indigenous groups: the Huastecs and Otomis in the north, the Totonacs in the center-north, and the Olmecs in the south. Their archaeological remains survive at sites like Cempoala, Castillo de Teayo, El Tajín, El Zapotal, Las Higueras, Quiahuiztlan, Pánuco, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, and Tres Zapotes. The Olmecs were the first major civilization in what is now the state, centered in the Coatzacoalcos River region. Their main ceremonial site was San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, with other important centers at Tres Zapotes (in Veracruz city) and La Venta (in Tabasco). Olmec civilization peaked about 2,600 years ago, producing the colossal stone heads that remain its best-known art. These ceremonial centers were among the most complex of their time, leading many anthropologists to call the Olmecs the “mother culture” of Mesoamerican civilizations. Still, historian John Schmal notes that by 300 BCE, the Olmecs had been “eclipsed by other emerging civilizations in Mesoamerica.”

The Totonacs, who still exist as a distinct group, traditionally lived in a region called Totonacapan, between the Cazones and Papaloapan Rivers in northern Veracruz. Before the Spanish, they survived by hunting, fishing, and farming maize, beans, chili peppers, and squash. Vanilla beans are native to the area. Their typical artifacts include clay sculptures of smiling faces. El Tajín, near Papantla, is a major Totonac archaeological site, but the culture reached its peak at Cempoala, about five miles (8.0 km) inland from today’s port of Veracruz, before falling under Aztec control. When the Spanish arrived in 1519, the Totonac population was roughly 250,000, spread across 50 settlements speaking four dialects, with about 25,000 people living in Cempoala alone.

The Huastecs traditionally lived in the far north of Veracruz—and still do—extending into Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Puebla. Their language and farming methods resemble those of the Maya, but only a few early Huastec buildings and pottery pieces survive. Their civilization reached its height between 1200 and 1519 CE, just before the Spanish conquest.

During the 1400s and early 1500s, the Aztecs took control of much of Veracruz, splitting the territory into the tributary provinces of Cempoallan, Cuetlaxtlan, Misantla, Quauhtochco, Tochtepec, Tlatlauhquitepec, and Xalapan. They prized the region for its vegetation and crops like cedar, fruit, cotton, cacao, maize, beans, and vanilla. The Huastecs were absorbed into the provinces of Atlan and Tochpan. But because the Totonacs often resisted Aztec rule, rulers from Axayacatl in 1480 to Moctezuma II in the early 1500s had to send troops to put down uprisings.

*Colonial period, 1519–1821* Veracruz played a key role in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, led by Hernán Cortés and his expedition. They founded Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz on May 18, 1519, as the first Spanish town in what is now Mexico. By doing this, Cortés rejected the authority of Cuba’s governor, Diego Velázquez, and claimed direct allegiance to the Spanish Crown. A small group of the expedition stayed at Veracruz, while the main force moved inland.

Among the first peoples the Spanish met in the Americas were the Totonacs. Juan de Grijalva was the first Spaniard to contact them near present-day Veracruz. Hoping to free his people from Aztec rule, Totonac ruler Tlacochcalcatl offered Cortés 50,000 warriors to take Tenochtitlan. With Spanish help, the Totonacs drove out Aztec tax collectors and seized some Aztec outposts. The city of Veracruz was set up as the first Spanish-controlled town on the coast. Cortés then marched toward Tenochtitlan, starting the Spanish conquest. As his campaign went on, some Totonac groups sided with the Spanish, but the Huastecs—also under Aztec rule—fought against Cortés’s forces. After the Aztecs were defeated at Te...