Compania Minera Durango - Mexican Mining Stock Certificate

Durango officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango (English: Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: Korian; Nahuatl: Tepēhuahcān), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest of the country. With a population of 1,832,650, Durango has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja California Sur. The capital city, Victoria de Durango, is named after the first President of Mexico, Guadalupe Victoria.

Durango sits on a corridor that linked central Mexico with the northwest. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area had attracted migration into it by Huichols, Coras, Tepehuanos and Tarahumaras. These were sedentary people whose spread was checked by hostility from nomadic tribes. The eastern edge of the state was dominated by Chichimecas and various tribes of the Laguna region, which were distinguished by their informal social structure and nudity.

Durango was the center of a colonial entity called Nuevo Vizcaya or sometimes México del Norte (Northern Mexico). It included all or part of what are now Durango, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora and Arizona. The diocese also included all or part of New Mexico, Colorado, Coahuila, Texas, Zacatecas, California and Baja California.

The first Spaniard in this area was José de Angulo who arrived to the Sierra de Topia in 1532. The next expedition into the area occurred in 1552 under Ginés Vázques de Mercado, arriving to where the city of Durango is now, naming the area the Guadiana Valley after an area in Spain with a similar environment. The Cerro de Mercado is named after him, and the city is named after Durango in Spain. Other explorers such as Nuño de Guzmán, Alvar Cabeza de Vaca and Juan de Tapia realized expeditions but were not successful in establishing a permanent presence. However, the expedition of Cabeza de Vaca gave rise to the myth of the cities of gold and silver called Cibola and Quivira. The other expeditions would give rise to claims to the area by Jalisco and Michoacán.

The Spanish left the area alone for a time but the discovery of silver and other metals in Zacatecas in 1546 renewed interest in the area. Francisco de Ibarra was sent northwest from Zacatecas by his uncle Diego de Ibarra and the viceroy. Ibarra worked to conquer and hold the territory from 1554 to 1567. After being named conqueror and governor in 1562, Ibarra settle in San Juan (del Río) and constructed a fort. From here he directed the discovery and exploitation of various mines in the state. He divided the new territory into six provinces: Guadiana, Copala, Maloya, Chiametla, Sinaloa and Santa Barbara, naming a head of government for each. Holding the land proved difficult, with Ibarra needing to reconquer areas especially in the outer periphery of Nuevo Vizcaya both because of indigenous attacks as well as the rugged terrain. Much of the territory would not be subdued until late in the 18th century.

The city of Durango was officially established on July 8, 1563 with a mass celebrated by Brother Diego de Cadena where 5 de Febrero and Juarez Streets are now. It was founded specifically to be the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, near both to the new mines and the royal road connecting Mexico City and points north. The name Durango comes from Ibarra's hometown for some time the city was called Durango and Guadiana interchangeably.

It is distinct from cities further north as it was laid out when Philip II's Ordenanzas and Descubrimiento y Población order was still in effect. The cathedra began as the parish church, which was made with adobe with a straw roof (the last church of this construction is found in Ocotán, Durango). However, it burned down in the colonial period, leading to the construction of the current structure over time.

Most of the other colonial period towns were founded as missions and or as mining centers. The first mining towns were Pánuco and Avino established in 1562. El Mezquital was founded in 1588. In 1597, the town of Santiago Papasquiaro and the mission of Santa Catarina de Tepehuanes was founded. Cuencamé was founded in 1598.

The first hospital in the state, Hospital de Caridad, was founded in 1588 in Nombre de Dios. The first hospital in the capital was the Hospital de San Cosme y San Damián, founded in 1595, the same year that the first school, the Colegio de Gramática, was founded.

The Spanish began the process of consolidating their power by the establishment of missions. The first was a Franciscan mission in Nombre de Dios in 1558. After, missions were established in Peñol (Peñón Blanco), San Juan Bautista del Río, Analco, Indé, Topia, La Sauceda, Cuencamé and El Mezquital. The Jesuits joined the Franciscans starting in 1590 and both orders began organizing the territory using Spanish norms. Later missions spread to Mapimí, Santiago Papasquiaro, Tepehuanes, Guanaceví, Santa María del Oro, Tamazula, Cerro Gordo (Villa Ocampo) and San Juan de Bocas (Villa Hidalgo). Originally the territory was under the archdiocese of Guadalajara, but it proved too difficult to administer the large territory. In 1620, Pope Paul V established a new archdiocese in the city of Durango, with Gonzalo de Hermosillo as the first archbishop.

The city was officially recognized as such in 1631, receiving its coat-of-arms; however, it almost disappeared during the early colonial period. The indigenous of the area resisted Spanish domination from the beginning. In 1606, the Acaxes rebelled against the Spanish due to their enslavement to work in mines. The first century of Spanish occupation saw large rebellions by the Tepehuans and Tarahumaras. These continued into most of the 17th century and the Tarahumaras continued into the century after that. The Tepehuan uprising of 1616, the most significant uprising of this time period. It almost caused the abandonment of the capital city, with the government moving to Parral for a time, but in the end, the Tepehuan were forced to flee into the mountains, dividing the ethnicity into north and south. The conquest of New Vizcaya was formally finished with the signing of several treaties with indigenous groups in 1621 and 1622. Durango city did not start growing again until 1680. This was because the mines in Parral had started to give out and the violence had been reduced enough by Spanish authorities. By the late 17th century, the city was ringed by haciendas, especially for sheep, which helped support the city.

The subduing of the local native peoples did not completely end indigenous hostilities. In the 18th century Apaches and Comanches migrated in, being displaced by what is now the United States. Their attacks on towns and haciendas continues well into the late 19th century. Despite these difficulties, Durango was a base for the conquest and settlement of points north including Saltillo, Chihuahua and Parral into what is now Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, along with numerous other communities on the Pacific coast from Nayarit into California.

Durango's economic heyday came in the 18th century, when mines such as Guanaceví, Cuencamé and San Juan del Río began to produce in 1720. The first major mine owner of the era was José del Campo Soberrón y Larrea, who built a palatial residence for himself in the city of Durango in 1776 and received the title of Count of the Valley of Suchil. Starting in the second half of the 18th century, more mines came online. The next major mine owner was Juan José Zambrano, whose mines in Guarizamay did not earn him a noble title but did give him political power in the area. He constructed the second major palatial residence of the city of Durango. However, Zambrano's activities were curtailed by the problems caused by the American Revolution and other wars disrupting commerce with England, leading to shortages of mercury, essential for the extraction of silver.

In 1778, the Spanish government opened up trade in more Pacific ports, including Mazatlan, which had an economic benefit to Durango. Not only did products from the area have an outlet, incoming merchandise destined for Chihuahua and Zacatecas passed through the area. This attracted business people including foreign ones from Germany, England, France and Spain who built large businesses here in the 19th century.

During its height, Durango City's religious and cultural culture rivaled that of continental Europe even being a center for Italian liturgical music despite its isolation. The Durango Cathedral has one of the larger collections of 18th-century cathedral music in the America, roughly comparable to those in Oaxaca and Bogotá, but smaller than that of Mexico City. Much of the work is that of José Bernardo Abella Grijalva and most shows Italian influence. The historic center of the city and a number of haciendas reflect its 18th-century colonial heritage.

During Mexico's War of Independence, Nuevo Vizcaya began to break up. The first divisions were the creation of the states of Chihuahua and Durango, with Santiago Baca Ortiz as the first governor of the state of Durango along with the separation of the Sinaloa province, which included Sonora and Arizona. The state of Coahuila was separated shortly thereafter. With the 1824 Constitution the states of Durango and Chihuahua were created. Mining was depressed at the time, and the governor negotiated with the English to explore deposits of iron on the Cerro de Mercado. The English constructed installations such as those in Piedras Azules (La Ferrería) to process iron ore. These required large quantities of charcoal, which led to mass deforestation in the area. This eventually made the plant unviable.

Public education was first established in the state in 1824. The first secular institute of higher education in the state was the Colegio Civil y la Academia de Juisprudencia founded in 1833.

The northeast of the state had problems industrializing mostly due to incursions by Apaches into Durango which began in 1832 and later Comanches. Attacks by Comanches remain a major problem until the 1850s, forcing haciendas and textile mills to build walls around them. Counter-attacks on the Comanches diminished their raids, but they did not stop completely until the 1880s.

The rise of the state's second economic and political center, the cities of Gómez Palacio and Lerdo began in the 19th century, when cotton began to be planted along the Nazcas River. This cotton production became important, with sales of the raw material to Mexico City and to European textile mills, especially in England. Large-scale production began in the mid-century, dominating the local economy by the 1870s. Textile production also began here, although shortly after this industry would shift to Torreon. Other textile mills were established in areas such as Tunal, Santiago Papasquiaro, Poanas and Peñon Blanco, but the lack of coal meant that power had to be provided by nearby rivers, which was not efficient enough. This and attacks during the Mexican Revolution brought the demise of the textile industry in the state. Many mills and cotton haciendas eventually wound up in the hands of American investors.

The civil war between liberals and conservatives had the state controlled by liberal forces in 1858, then by conservative ones from 1864 to 1866.

In the late 19th century, rail and telegraph lines reached the state and revitalized Gómez Palacio and Lerdo as industrial centers. The railroad connected the city of Durango with Mexico City and the US border, allowing for shipment of local goods, particularly those from mining, to national and foreign markets. Agriculture and livestock production increased with the end of Comanche insurgencies and the arrival of a train line in 1892 gave the city a new connection with the rest of Mexico. It directly connected the city with Piedras Negras, Coahuila allowing the export of iron ore to foundries in Monclova, where coal was abundant. In 1902, a branch of the railroad reached Tepehuanes, allowing for the exploitation of natural resources in the northwest of the state.

However, the city of Durango remained the political center of the state as well as the regional commercial center for agricultural and handcrafted products. Mayors of the city at this time concentrated on improving infrastructure, such as government buildings, hospitals, water supply lines and public streets. The population of the city grew during this time.

While the state received high amounts of investment leading to economic development in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, the benefits were mostly to foreign enterprises, often given permission to operate on indigenous lands and other rural communities. By 1910, North Americans own just about the entire southwest Sierra Madre Occidental region of the state or 65% of the land of the entire state. These areas have the highest concentrations of mining and timber resources.

Durango was one of the areas active during the Mexican Revolution. The first uprising in the state occurred on November 19, 1910 in Gómez Palacio. Various revolutionary leaders were from here and/or used the state as a base of operations including Francisco Villa, Calixto Contreras, Severingo Cenceros, J. Agustín Castro and Oreste Pereyra, especially in the La Lagunera region. The Division del Norte had a base in the Hacienda de la Loma to unite forces in Durango and Chihuahua.

The economic effects on the state were profound. There was a mass exodus of foreigners and a loss of production in both haciendas and factories. On June 18, 1913, insurgents took the city of Durango, burning businesses here. The war led to economic depression that lasted for decades. After the war, there was a process of land redistribution that lasted several decades, but it did not affect the largest land holdings on the most productive of lands. After the Revolution, large land holdings were broken up into ejidos under governor Enrique R. Calderón, particularly in the Comarca Lagunera de Durango. During the same time the municipalities of Mapimí and Goméz Palacio were split off from the municipality of Tlahualilo.

Despite Durango's support during the Revolution, the new government had trouble controlling the state as late as the 1930s as it resisted federal modernization efforts. The questions of land reform and education were central to Durango's discontent during this time period. Between 1926 and 1936, militias were formed to participate in the Cristero War and other uprisings such as the Escobar Military Revolt in 1929. One major point of contention was the government's efforts to take the church out of secular life, especially education, which threatened centuries-old ways of life, especially for many farmers and villagers. These rebellions were strongest in the center and south of the state, including the capital of Victoria de Durango. Rebel activity in parts of Mezquital were such that secular teachers were withdrawn for a time.

In the mid-20th century, several institutions of higher education were established, including universities and institutes of technology. This included the establishment of the UJED at the former Jesuit college in the city of Durango.

The two newest municipalities were established in the latter 20th century. Vicente Guerrero was split from Suchil and the last, Nuevo Ideal, was created in 1989.

The destruction of Durango's city center during the Mexican Revolution led to development outside of it. The first neighborhood, Colonia Obrera, was established near the rail line just outside what was the city proper. It was the first of various neighborhoods to follow these lines. The population grew noticeably in the 1960s and 1970s mostly due to migration from rural areas, increasing urban sprawl to 1,058 hectares. One major factor of this growth was the droughts of this time on agricultural production as well as expectations of industrial development. About the same time, the city government started efforts to regulate this growth.

The growth of the cities has prompted projects in infrastructure, especially in transportation from the latter 20th century to the present. Industrial parks such as Durango and Gomez Palacio were established. The most recent projects have an eye towards connecting the state better to participate in the global economy. In the 20th century, the Pan American highway was built through here (known today as Highway 45). However, a later reconstruction of the highway shifted it east into Zacatecas. This meant that any industrial progress in the state happened in the northern city of Gomez Palacios, and not in the capital. In the 1980s, highways to Gomez Palacios and Ciudad Juarez were modernized, and a highway to Torreón and Monterrey was built. The InterOceanic Highway, which crosses the north of Mexico to connect the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean is Highway 40. The most important leg of this highway for Durango is that which connects it from the capital to Mazatlán, Sinaloa. It cut the drive time between to two places to four hours, replacing a winding mountain road plagued by bandits for many decades. The centerpiece of this highway is the Baluarte Bridge, one of the highest suspension bridges in the world. Pride in this construction can be seen in the city of Durango, with a replica of the bridge found to the side of the Guadiana Park.

Durango has historically been an area associated with banditry and smuggling. Durango is part of the "golden triangle" of Mexico's drug trade. Most of the violence is due to turf battles between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels. The 2000s were a particularly difficult time as this was during Felipe Calderon's efforts to combat the drug cartels and for a time Joaquin Guzman ("El Chapo") hid out in the state. Most of the violence was in relation to control over the drug routes here. Drug-related violence was a major problem, with hundreds of bodies found in clandestine graves, around the city of Durango in particular. The violence reached a peak here between 2009 and 2011. Highway robberies were also a particular problem, especially on the highway leading to Mazatlan, then considered the most dangerous in Mexico. A new toll highway was built and opened at the end of this period to combat this.

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