Segments for a history of viceregal urbanism in Veracruz state [Mexico]

Abstract

During the period known as viceregal that goes from the arrival of the Spaniards to the coast of the territory that today constitutes the State of Veracruz in 1519, and until the War of Independence in Mexico that began in 1810, several settlements are considered key to understanding the evolution of the ideas of urbanism that would be implanted in this region of the New World and, in the long run, the meeting point of cultures, arrival and transit of the commercial routes of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and its European colonial metropolis. When studying the evolution reached by several of these cities during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, mainly, the approach to various cases of urban typologies from the point of view of either the political or the religious power from which they emanate, is evident: a) cities built on pre-Hispanic preexistence; b) the towns founded by the mendicant religious orders; c) the enclaves and fortification systems in the interior for defense needs, towards the end of the colonial period. And, as the backbone of these developments, the existence of the Camino Real from the Port of Veracruz to Mexico City, which even, by sea, reached territories in Asia and Europe.