Orizaba is a Mexican city located in the geographic center of the State of Veracruz, in the high mountains region, and together with other neighboring municipalities, it is the fourth most populated metropolitan area in the state. Aguas Alegres because of its Nahuatl origin and also as Pluviosilla as poet Rafael Delgado poetically called it in some of his works.
It is an urban center of economic, historical and cultural importance in the state of Veracruz after the Port of Veracruz and the capital Xalapa, it was one of the most economically developed sites during the Viceroyalty of New Spain as it is a mandatory crossing point and rest on the route between Mexico City and the Port of Veracruz, the temperate climate different from the cold of the high plateau and the warmth of the coast made Orizaba a place of acceptable climate for the New Mexicans as it would later be reflected in the motto of the shield that Carlos III gave Orizaba a gift, as well as being a colonial industrial emporium with tobacco shops and sugar mills. It was also the place where, according to tradition, the famous adventurer known as Nun Alferez chose to spend the last years of her life. That same economic boom would be the sentence of Orizaba to be a scenario of a battle of the war of independence where the population that sympathized with the realist cause was taken by José María Morelos in 1812. Orizaba remained on the conservative side during the hectic nineteenth century which would continue to seal his destiny, showed his loyalty to the Homeland by sending the Orizaba Battalion to the Port of Veracruz to defend the nation against the American invaders in 1847.
In 1864 the city would fall surrendered at the feet of the Emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg, thinking that his arrival would finally give the country the long-awaited peace and prosperity that had not been had before independence, the republican armies would plunder the city again at this predilection of the emperor and temples and convents were stripped and abandoned after the victory of the Republic had been consummated. But in the midst of the constant revolts of the hectic nineteenth century Orizaba saw the rebirth of the importance it had in the viceroyalty to be headquarters of nascent industries of foreign capital that were established in the region given the abundance of water resources. This Mexican industrial revolution made the city also known as "The Manchester Veracruzana." Along with this economic development was also the cultural, having an outstanding contribution to the world of letters and plastic arts of the nineteenth century Mexican with artists such as Gabriel Barranco, Jose Justo Montiel, Salvador Ferrando and others who preferred to stay and live here before going to try their luck in the capital of the republic or elsewhere.
During the Porfiriato, it was declared the most educated city in the country. Province. Also along with factory progress came the discontent over social injustice, which led to the development of social movements that culminated in the strike and massacre of the neighboring municipality of Río Blanco in 1907, which was to be the prelude to the Mexican Revolution. This stage the city in 1915 with severe anticlerical measures that greatly affected the population. Currently, it has sought to modernize the city and give a more tourist boost from the promotion and investment in tourism infrastructure such as the Orizaba River promenade and the recently inaugurated cable car. In 2015 it was named Magic Town by the Secretariat of Tourism.