Arizpe (or Arispe) is a small town and the municipal seat of the Arizpe Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located at 30°20'"N 110°09'"
/ref>, with a population density of 1,365.57 habitants per square kilometer.
History
The region of Arizpe was occupied by the
Opata people. The name
Arizpe is a Basque word "Aritzpe"(
(H)Aritz meaning Oak and
Pe meaning under) and translates to "Under the Oaks".
Arizpe was founded in 1646 as Mission Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Arizpe by the Jesuit missionary Jerónimo de la Canal.
Provincias Internas
In 1776 and 1777, Arizpe was declared a city and made the capital of the Spanish colonial Comandancia y Capitanía General de las Provincias Internas.
The Provincias Internas had jurisdiction over the provinces of:
The first commandant general was Teodoro de Croix.
Juan Bautista de Anza
In 1775 an overland expedition, led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, of colonial soldiers, missionaries, and settlers was approved by the King of Spain, for a more direct land route to and further colonization of Spanish Alta California. The De Anza Expedition reached San Francisco Bay in 1776, where de Anza located sites for the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asis (in present-day San Francisco, California).
Juan Bautista de Anza died in 1788 and is buried in Arizpe, at the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Arizpe. In 1963, with the participation of delegations from the University of California, Berkeley and UC San Francisco, he was disinterred and reburied in a new marble memorial mausoleum at the same church.
Economy
Agriculture is the main economic activity, with farms lying in the valley of the Sonora River. Most of the crops are
used for the raising of cattle. There were over 40,000 head in 2000.
Tourist attractions
The municipal seat has a church and gardens with
palm trees. The main church, , was built around 1756 and preserves
retablos with
oil paintings of saints and wooden and plaster sculptures.
See also
Other sources
External links
