Morelia, city, capital of Michoacán estado (state), west-central Mexico. It lies between the Chiquito and Grande rivers at the southern extreme of the Central Plateau (Mesa Central), at an elevation of about 6,400 feet (1,950 metres). In 1541 the Spanish founded the city on the site of a Tarascan Indian settlement, calling it Valladolid. Valladolid replaced Pátzcuaro as the capital of Michoacán in 1582. It was a major intellectual and cultural centre in the colonial period, stimulated by San Nicolás College, the second oldest institution of higher learning in the Americas (founded in 1540 in Pátzcuaro and moved to Valladolid in 1580; reestablished as Michoacán University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo in 1917). During the Mexican wars for independence, the city served briefly as headquarters for the revolutionary leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. In 1828 the city was renamed Morelia in honour of José María Morelos (y Pavón), a locally born leader of the independence movement.
More than 200 colonial-era buildings stand in the city centre, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. The cathedral, completed in 1744, is an outstanding example of Spanish Baroque architecture and holds a remarkable 4,600-pipe organ, the focus of an annual organ festival. The colonial governor’s palace is also an imposing structure, as is a 3-mile (5-km) aqueduct, carried on arches and built in 1785.
Morelia has a mixed economy based on light manufacturing (including processed foods, beverages, and construction materials) and services (notably retail trade, government administration, education, and tourism). The city is a market for an array of agricultural products from its hinterland, including corn (maize), beans, fruit, sugarcane, and cattle. The city has rail, highway, and air connections with all major Mexican urban centres. Pop. (2000) 549,996; (2010) 597,511.
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MichoacánMorelia, which includes more than 200 historic buildings in its colonial centre, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. Cultural institutions in the state include the Michoacan University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo (1917) and the Michoacán Museum (1886), in Morelia; a museum…
Mexico, country of southern North America and the third largest country in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Mexican society is characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty, with a limited middle class wedged between an elite cadre of landowners and investors on the one hand and masses of rural…
Mesa Central, high plateau region in central Mexico. The Mesa Central comprises the southern section of the Mexican Plateau extending south from the Zacatecas Mountains to the Bajío, a fertile region at the northern base of the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica. Lying…
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader who is called the father of Mexican independence. Hidalgo was the second child born to Cristóbal Hidalgo and…
José María Morelos
José María Morelos, revolutionary priest who assumed leadership of the Mexican independence movement after Miguel Hidalgo’s 1810 rebellion and subsequent execution. Morelos was a child of mixed ethnic heritage in a society in…
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