Acámbaro
Encyclopedia
Acámbaro is a city and municipality
in the southeastern corner of the Mexican state of Guanajuato
, on the banks of the Lerma River
, and the oldest of the 46 municipalities of Guanajuato
. Acámbaro is noted as a major railway junction, a local transport hub, and the origin of the nationally famous Acámbaro bread. Its greatest claim to world fame is being the source of the Acámbaro figures
, a purported archaeological forgery
. The current (2005 census) population of the municipality is 101,762 persons, that of the city proper 55,082. The municipality covers an area of 867.67 km² (335.01 sq mi) and includes many small outlying communities, the largest of which are Iramuco and Parácuaro
.
The municipality of Acámbaro is bordered to the north by Tarimoro
and Jerécuaro
, to the southeast by Tarandacuao
, to the south by the state of Michoacán
, and to the west by Salvatierra
.
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The name Acámbaro is derived from a Native American term meaning place of magueyes. The first inhabitants of this area belonged to the Chupicuaro culture, one of the oldest in Mesoamerica
. Their origin is estimated to be from 1200 B.C. In this region there have been valuable archaeological
finds of ceramic
of incredible beauty that are now exhibited at the local museum.
The city was founded on September 19, 1526 by the cacique
Don Nicolás de San Luis Montañés, with the name San Francisco de Acámbaro. It was the first Spanish town in what is now the state of Guanajuato
. The evangelization
process was undertaken by Franciscan
friar
s, who also constructed splendid structures that remain standing today, such as the Templo del Hospital (Hospital Temple), an aqueduct
in the Mudéjar
style (1527), and a stone bridge over the River Lerma
(1750). The first bullfights on the soil of New Spain
were held in Acámbaro, and the Fuente Taurina fountain in the city's plaza commemorates the introduction of the sport to Mexico. Acámbaro is the only city in Mexico that has a fully intact colonial-era aqueduct.
The 18th century brought prosperity to Acámbaro. In that time important religious and public buildings were constructed. Beautiful temples, bridges, and particular houses were left as remnants of the city's colonial architecture. http://www.interamericaninstitute.org/Acambaro_General_View.JPG
An important event in the history of Mexican independence
took place in Acámbaro. Don Miguel Hidalgo
stayed there on October 22, 1810 and brought a ceremony that declared Acámbaro military quarters for the Ejército Grande de América (Grand Army of America). Hidalgo was given the title of Generalísimo de las Américas (Grand General of the Americas). That same day, a parade of eighty thousand insurgents took place, that demonstrated the speed of growth of the movement: one month prior on September 16 just 800 men responded to the Grito de Dolores
and raised arms against the Spanish in Dolores Hidalgo
.
Because of its strategic location, Acámbaro was the key to the development of the railway in Mexico, and had a major junction, yard and shop facility for the National Railways of Mexico
(The rail lines are now owned by Kansas City Southern de Mexico
). Acámbaro was the home of the only full scale locomotive
repair facility in Latin America that was capable of constructing steam locomotives. During 1944 Acámbaro's mechanical workshop built La Fidelita 296, a steam engine that is a symbol of a time in history of the Acambarense society. La Fidelita is now on display as the cornerstone exhibit of Acámbaro's railway museum. Another souvenir of Acámbaro's age of steam is a large model locomotive that sits on an elevated platform in the center of a major highway intersection east of the city. The model engine was originally intended to be placed in a church as a thanks by railway workers to the Virgen del Refugio (patron saint of the city) for bringing prosperity and jobs to Acámbaro, however, the model would not fit through the doorway of the church. Consequently it was decided to mount the model outdoors. http://www.acambaro.gob.mx/
Acámbaro has been notable as a point of controversy in the field of archeology as the source of the Acámbaro figures
, a collection of about 32,000 clay figurines discovered by German archaeologist Waldemar Julsrud in 1944 near the city's most prominent landmark, the Cerro del Toro (Bull Hill). The figures are claimed to be hoaxes, as some of the figurines resembled dinosaur
s (thus implying that man and dinosaurs co-existed) and their discovery is used by some as evidence to support creationism
. Many of the Julsrud finds are now on display at the Museo Waldemar Julsrud.
Less controversial archeological artifacts are on display at the Museo de Chupícuaro (also known as Museo Fray Bernardo Padilla), documenting the history of the Chupícuaro people, and the Museo Local de Acámbaro, which has over 4000 relics relating to local Mesoamerican cultures. The Museo Local also contains paintings related to colonial Mexico and the war of independence
.
Pan de Acámbaro (Acambaro bread), Acámbaro's most famous culinary export, is a bakery product similar to Jewish Challah
(It is supposed that the similarity is not coincidental). The largest of the six city bakeries devoted to the production of Pan de Acámbaro is Tio Sams (Uncle Sam's), which claims credit for its invention. Photos of Acámbaro's annual bread fair
Municipalities of Mexico
Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...
in the southeastern corner of the Mexican state of Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
, on the banks of the Lerma River
Lerma River
The Lerma Santiago River is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near Guadalajara, Jalisco...
, and the oldest of the 46 municipalities of Guanajuato
Municipalities of Guanajuato
The Mexican state of Guanajuato is divided into 46 municipalities :- References :*Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía : «Principales resultados por localidad 2005 » ....
. Acámbaro is noted as a major railway junction, a local transport hub, and the origin of the nationally famous Acámbaro bread. Its greatest claim to world fame is being the source of the Acámbaro figures
Acambaro figures
The Acámbaro Figures are several thousand small ceramic figurines allegedly found in July 1944 in Acámbaro, Guanajuato, Mexico, by Waldemar Julsrud.The figurines are said by some to resemble dinosaurs and are sometimes cited as anachronisms...
, a purported archaeological forgery
Archaeological forgery
Archaeological forgery is the manufacture of supposedly ancient items that are sold to the antiquities market and may even end up in the collections of museums. It is related to art forgery....
. The current (2005 census) population of the municipality is 101,762 persons, that of the city proper 55,082. The municipality covers an area of 867.67 km² (335.01 sq mi) and includes many small outlying communities, the largest of which are Iramuco and Parácuaro
Parácuaro
Parácuaro is a municipality of Michoacán, Mexico. It is a Chichimeca word for "Place where has it own sticks for one roof".-History:In the PreHispanic era, Parácuaro is thought to have been inhabited by Nahuas and later conquered by the chief Tarasco Utucuma.During the colonial period, the Spanish...
.
The municipality of Acámbaro is bordered to the north by Tarimoro
Tarimoro
This article is about the Municipality. For the City with the same name, see Tarimoro, GuanajuatoTarimoro is one of the 46 municipalities of the Mexican state of Guanajuato. The municipal seat is the city of Tarimoro....
and Jerécuaro
Jerécuaro
Jerécuaro is a Mexican city located in the lowlands of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 828.3 square kilometres and is bordered to the north by Apaseo el Alto, to the east by Coroneo and the state of Querétaro, to the south by Tarandacuao, to the southwest with Acámbaro,...
, to the southeast by Tarandacuao
Tarandacuao
Tarandacuao is a Mexican city located in the lowlands of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 117.39 square kilometres, and is bordered to the north and east by Jerécuaro, to the south by the state of Michoacán, and to the west by Acámbaro. The municipality had 11,583...
, to the south by the state of Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
, and to the west by Salvatierra
Salvatierra, Guanajuato
Salvatierra is a Mexican city located in the valley of Huatzindeo in the lowlands of the state of Guanajuato. With an area of 507.70 square kilometres, Salvatierra accounts for 1.66% the total area of the state...
.
History
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. Their origin is estimated to be from 1200 B.C. In this region there have been valuable archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds of ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
of incredible beauty that are now exhibited at the local museum.
The city was founded on September 19, 1526 by the cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
Don Nicolás de San Luis Montañés, with the name San Francisco de Acámbaro. It was the first Spanish town in what is now the state of Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
. The evangelization
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
process was undertaken by Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
s, who also constructed splendid structures that remain standing today, such as the Templo del Hospital (Hospital Temple), an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
in the Mudéjar
Mudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
style (1527), and a stone bridge over the River Lerma
Lerma River
The Lerma Santiago River is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near Guadalajara, Jalisco...
(1750). The first bullfights on the soil of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
were held in Acámbaro, and the Fuente Taurina fountain in the city's plaza commemorates the introduction of the sport to Mexico. Acámbaro is the only city in Mexico that has a fully intact colonial-era aqueduct.
The 18th century brought prosperity to Acámbaro. In that time important religious and public buildings were constructed. Beautiful temples, bridges, and particular houses were left as remnants of the city's colonial architecture. http://www.interamericaninstitute.org/Acambaro_General_View.JPG
An important event in the history of Mexican independence
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
took place in Acámbaro. Don Miguel Hidalgo
Miguel Hidalgo
Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor , more commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or simply Miguel Hidalgo, was a Mexican priest and a leader of the Mexican War of Independence.In 1810 Hidalgo led a group of peasants in a revolt against the dominant...
stayed there on October 22, 1810 and brought a ceremony that declared Acámbaro military quarters for the Ejército Grande de América (Grand Army of America). Hidalgo was given the title of Generalísimo de las Américas (Grand General of the Americas). That same day, a parade of eighty thousand insurgents took place, that demonstrated the speed of growth of the movement: one month prior on September 16 just 800 men responded to the Grito de Dolores
Grito de Dolores
The Grito de Dolores also known as El Grito de la Independencia , uttered from the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato on April 19, 1810 is the event that marks the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence and is the most important national holiday observed in Mexico...
and raised arms against the Spanish in Dolores Hidalgo
Dolores Hidalgo
Dolores Hidalgo Dolores Hidalgo Dolores Hidalgo (in full, Dolores Hidalgo Cuna de la Independencia Nacional is the name of a city and the surrounding municipality in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Guanajuato....
.
Because of its strategic location, Acámbaro was the key to the development of the railway in Mexico, and had a major junction, yard and shop facility for the National Railways of Mexico
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 a major railroad controlled by the government that linked Mexico City to the major cities of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border...
(The rail lines are now owned by Kansas City Southern de Mexico
Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana
Kansas City Southern de México , formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana , is the name of a company dedicated to freight transportation using rail in the North Eastern part of Mexico...
). Acámbaro was the home of the only full scale locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
repair facility in Latin America that was capable of constructing steam locomotives. During 1944 Acámbaro's mechanical workshop built La Fidelita 296, a steam engine that is a symbol of a time in history of the Acambarense society. La Fidelita is now on display as the cornerstone exhibit of Acámbaro's railway museum. Another souvenir of Acámbaro's age of steam is a large model locomotive that sits on an elevated platform in the center of a major highway intersection east of the city. The model engine was originally intended to be placed in a church as a thanks by railway workers to the Virgen del Refugio (patron saint of the city) for bringing prosperity and jobs to Acámbaro, however, the model would not fit through the doorway of the church. Consequently it was decided to mount the model outdoors. http://www.acambaro.gob.mx/
Acámbaro has been notable as a point of controversy in the field of archeology as the source of the Acámbaro figures
Acambaro figures
The Acámbaro Figures are several thousand small ceramic figurines allegedly found in July 1944 in Acámbaro, Guanajuato, Mexico, by Waldemar Julsrud.The figurines are said by some to resemble dinosaurs and are sometimes cited as anachronisms...
, a collection of about 32,000 clay figurines discovered by German archaeologist Waldemar Julsrud in 1944 near the city's most prominent landmark, the Cerro del Toro (Bull Hill). The figures are claimed to be hoaxes, as some of the figurines resembled dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s (thus implying that man and dinosaurs co-existed) and their discovery is used by some as evidence to support creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
. Many of the Julsrud finds are now on display at the Museo Waldemar Julsrud.
Less controversial archeological artifacts are on display at the Museo de Chupícuaro (also known as Museo Fray Bernardo Padilla), documenting the history of the Chupícuaro people, and the Museo Local de Acámbaro, which has over 4000 relics relating to local Mesoamerican cultures. The Museo Local also contains paintings related to colonial Mexico and the war of independence
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
.
Pan de Acámbaro (Acambaro bread), Acámbaro's most famous culinary export, is a bakery product similar to Jewish Challah
Challah
Challah also khale ,, berches , barkis , bergis , chałka , vánočka , zopf and kitke , is a special braided bread eaten on...
(It is supposed that the similarity is not coincidental). The largest of the six city bakeries devoted to the production of Pan de Acámbaro is Tio Sams (Uncle Sam's), which claims credit for its invention. Photos of Acámbaro's annual bread fair