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Founding
Founding of San Francisco de Campeche
capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche
- 4 October 1540
- Mesoamerica and the Caribbean
Founding
capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
San Francisco de Campeche (pronounced [saɱ fɾanˈsisko ðe kamˈpetʃe]; Yucatec Maya: Ahk'ìin Pech, pronounced [aχkʼiːn˥˧ pʰetʃ]), 19th c., also known simply as Campeche, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Campeche, and the seat of Campeche Municipality. It is located on the shore of the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. The city had a population of 220,389 in the 2010 census, while the municipality had a population of 259,005.
The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Maya city of Can Pech. Little trace remains of the Pre-Columbian city.
The city retains many of the old colonial Spanish city walls and fortifications which protected the city from pirates and buccaneers. The state of preservation and quality of its architecture earned it the status of a World Heritage Site in 1999. Campeche is (along with Quebec City) one of the only cities in North America with most of its historic old city walls intact. Originally, the Spaniards lived inside the walled city, while the indigenous Maya people lived in the surrounding barrios of San Francisco, Guadalupe, and San Román. These barrios still retain their original churches; the one in Guadalupe is almost 500 years old.
The modern city of San Francisco de Campeche was founded in 1540 by Francisco de Montejo upon the site of Can Pech, the former capital city of a Maya chiefdom. The city of Campeche was terrorized by pirates and marauders (such as the 1633 Sack of Campeche and the 1663 Sack of Campeche) until the city constructed major fortifications. The fortifications were started in 1686 and completed in 1704.
The Hernández de Córdoba expedition of 1517 was the first Spanish expedition to reach Campeche, and its members were among the first Europeans to set foot on the Yucatán Peninsula. The expedition left the island of Cuba on February 8 and reached Isla Mujeres and Cabo Catoche in early March. They continued westward around the peninsula. Bernal Díaz del Castillo was the only member of that expedition to write an account of these events. In his account, he wrote that on Sunday March 22, they sighted and debarked at a village on the coast. This village was Can Pech, the capital of the Maya city-state of the same name. This happened to be the day of veneration of Saint Lazarus of Bardiaboch, which is why Hernández de Córdoba baptized the place with that name.
In need of water, the Spaniards landed and supplied themselves from a well. As the Mayans approached, the Spaniards indicated by means of signs that they came in peace; the Maya chief asked them if they came from where the sun rises, mentioning the word "castilán". The Spaniards, surprised to hear this word, responded affirmatively, and the chief invited them to his city, where copal was lit. By means of signs, the Maya chief indicated to the expeditionaries that they should leave the city before the fire went out. Meanwhile, Mayan warriors were arriving at the place. Based on their recent experience at Cabo Catoche, the Spanish decided to leave. They would later encounter rough seas which caused them to lose the water they had just collected. This in turn forced them to land at Chakán Putum, where a fierce battle between Mayans and Spaniards took place.
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Francisco de Montejo requested permission from Charles V to conquer the Yucatán Peninsula. In 1526, the Spanish crown granted Montejo the title of "Adelantado, governor, sheriff and captain general of Yucatan". His conquest of Chakán Putum and Can Pech were part of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, which was carried out in three stages.
In the first stage (1527 to 1529), Montejo ventured along the eastern coast of the peninsula with the help of the captain Alonso Dávila, whom he had known since Cortes' expedition, but they were repelled by the Maya.
In the second stage (1530-1535), Montejo ventured into the west, where he founded "Salamanca de Campeche" in 1531. Montejo sent Alonso Dávila to cross the peninsula south, where he founded "Villa Real" in Bacalar, but this position soon had to be abandoned. Montejo's son was defeated in battle at Chichén Itzá towards the end of 1534, after which the Spaniards abandoned the peninsula for five years.
In the third stage (1540-1547), Montejo arrived in Ciudad Real de Chiapa (San Cristóbal de las Casas) in 1540, where he gave instructions to Francisco Gil to be in charge of Champotón. In 1546, when the conquest of Yucatan seemed to be over, Montejo and his wife traveled to San Francisco de Campeche to meet with his son and his nephew. The Maya had organized in secret, and a great rebellion broke out on the night of 8 November 1546 (5 Cimi 19 Xul, end of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar). Montejo's son and nephew took up arms to end the rebellions the following year.
Like most cities constructed by the Spanish conquistadors, the city of Campeche was designed in a standard military fashion based on a grid plan, with a Plaza de Armas near its center. Around this main square were located the Campeche Cathedral, the Royal Audience and the houses of the highest-ranking officials. A pillory—a column that served as a symbol of Spanish power and justice—stood in the center of the plaza. The jail, the municipal palace and the defense tower would be built soon after. The market was located around a smaller plaza.
The Spanish residents lived and worked near the main square, in the current neighborhood of San Román, while the indigenous Maya people lived in the old pre-Hispanic settlements—currently the neighborhoods of San Francisco and Siete de Agosto. The Naboríos, indigenous Mexicans who arrived with the conquistadors, occupied the San Román neighborhood, while the slaves from Africa lived in the neighborhoods of Santa Ana and Santa Lucía.
The city served as the base of operations for the conquest of the rest of Yucatán (1542–1546), beginning with the occupation of Ti'ho, an abandoned settlement of the Mayan Itza people, where the Spanish founded Mérida, the provincial capital, in 1542.
The armed conquest was followed by an ideological conquest which consisted of the indoctrination of the Maya people with European cultural ideology, particularly that of the Catholic religion. The first religious order that arrived in Campeche was that of the Franciscans, who arrived in Campeche in 1535. They were soon forced to leave due to a series of difficulties raised by both indigenous and Spanish people, but they returned in 1540. That year, they began the construction of a temple and convent dedicated to San Francisco. The Franciscans evangelized throughout the Yucatán Peninsula with no competition from other religious orders, such as the Jesuits or the Dominicans were competing for the territory from that point forward.
In 1542, the king proclaimed the calls New Laws, which established the freedom of the Indians as subjects of the Crown. Slavery was legally abolished, but would continue by other means. The parcel subject a certain number of peoples to a Spaniard, to whom they had to pay in kind (wax, cotton blankets) and labor. Those who were not entrusted were under the royal jurisdiction and received the name of "peoples of the Royal Crown." The indigenous tributaries of the encomiendas español, continued to suffer a treatment that was practically slavery. The friars of the different religious orders present fought to defend the rights of the indigenous people, preserve their freedom and limit the abuses of the conquerors. Thanks to this, in 1547, Felipe II of Spain issued a royal identity card in favor of the personal freedom of the natives, and to make sure that their interests were fulfilled, he created a City Hall Mayor for the province of Yucatán.
Campeche's position in the Gulf of Mexico made it the main port of the Yucatan Peninsula, standing out as a point of connection with the foreigner, which allowed the economic boom and population growth. From there, from early times, the cargoes of the so-called palo de Campeche, also known as "dye stick", a native product of the region that would lead to large estates, among which are counted, Uayamón, Xanabchakán and Mucuychacán, to mention three of them, and also of salt. The port of Campeche also gained fame for its Shipyards industry.
The commercial monopoly of Spain, implemented by the House of Hiring of the Indies to their domains, which prohibited them from trading even among themselves and with other nations, led to illegal practices such as piracy. One of the measures to stop them was promulgated in 1616 by the Mayor of Yucatan Luis de Céspedes y Oviedo, which involved the creation of a license on the cutting and trade of the Campeche stick, as well Like new taxes. This first measure was insufficient and counterproductive, because far from bringing down piracy, he encouraged it. In 1629, the King of Spain Felipe IV created a navy coast guard to protect trade, but this measure also did not give the expected results, neither did the military garrison to protect the city implanted by Mayor Centeno Maldonado. The constant pressures from other European nations and the continuing uprisings in their Dutch positions made it impossible to adopt new measures against piracy, which remained in full swing.
Among the pirates most famous that docked at Campeche are John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Laurens de Graaf, Cornelius Jol, Jacobo Jackson, Michel de Grandmont, Portuguese Bartholomew, William Parker, Jean David Nau, Edward Mansvelt, Henry Morgan, Lewis Scot, Roche Brasiliano and Jean Lafitte. On January 27, 1661, a fleet of filibusters appeared in the port of San Francisco de Campeche and, although it did not disembark, looted two well-loaded commercial frigates, which barely arrived and then quietly withdrew, without being chased, because that day there was no armed ship in the bay capable of hunting him. The head of this filibuster expedition was called Henry Morgan.
A very feared pirate in the town of Campeche was Laurens de Graaf or Lorencillo, who was Dutch and had served the king of Spain fighting filibusters. But then he also dedicated himself to piracy. In 1685 he attacked and took the town of Campeche and twenty other towns in the area. He spent two months and captured so many prisoners and stole so many jewels and pieces of silver that filled the cargo of his ship. He was chased by three Spanish frigates with cannons. The pirate dodged the attacks, threw the entire load into the sea so that the ship achieved greater speed and, with wind in favor, moved away quickly.
Another pirate was El Olonés whose real name was Jean David Nau. He committed innumerable and famous attacks against the Spanish viceregency on the mainland. In a terrible storm, he lost his ship on the coast of Campeche. All the men were saved, but, arriving on land, the Spanish pursued them, killing most of them and wounding El Olonés. Needing to escape, he saved his life through a ploy: he took handfuls of sand, mixed it with the blood from his wounds and smeared his face and other parts of his body. Then, hiding with great skill among the dead, he remained motionless until the Spaniards left the battlefield. When they were gone, he retired to the forest, cleaned his wounds and took care of them until healed and then headed to the City of Campeche perfectly disguised. In the city, he spoke with certain slaves to whom he promised freedom if they obeyed him. They accepted his promises and stealing a canoe at night, threw themselves into the sea with El Olonés.
The coat of arms held by the city of San Francisco de Campeche was granted in 1777 by the king of Spain Carlos III, being elevated from the title of villa to that of city.
Before the current shield was adopted, there was a process to constitute a shield as an officer. The first project was presented in 1772 before the possible elevation to the title of city of the town of San Francisco de Campeche, when requested by the Cabildo de Campeche in a contest for the election of shield de Armas. The first design was submitted by Juan Antonio Rexo and Peñuelas on September 24 of that year but was rejected on October 17 for not being subject to the rules of heraldry. Ramón Zazo and Ortega subsequently presented three projects; the first two were rejected but finally the third was approved in council on November 7, 1777. The shield was approved by his majesty Carlos III of Spain with the certificate of: "the City Title is granted to the town of San Francisco de Campeche."
Campeche has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw), with most rain falling in the wet season from June to October.
As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 259,005.
The municipal seat, and largest settlement, is the city of San Francisco de Campeche (often shortened to Campeche). As of 2010, the city had a population of 220,389.
Aside from the municipal seat, the municipality has 564 localities.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Campeche (city)”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.