Durango, Durango

Durango, formally Victoria de Durango is the capital and largest city of the Mexican Durango, located at . It has an altitude of 1890 m.

The city was founded in 1563. In the Spanish colonial era it was the capital of the Nueva Vizcaya province of New Spain, which included the present day states of Durango and Chihuahua.

In the 2005 census the city had a population of 463,830 people. Its surrounding municipality of the same name, of which it serves as municipal seat, had a population of 526,659. The municipality has a relatively large land area of 10,041 km² (3,877 sq mi) and includes such outlying communities as El Nayar and Cinco de Mayo.

History

The city of Durango was founded on July 8, 1563 by Francisco de Ibarra with the name Villa de Durango. During the first centuries of Spain's colonial rule, Durango was part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya.

In 1685, construction began on Durango's first church, an adobe parish church called San Mateo that would eventually evolve into the city's Cathedral

In 1891, Durango took on an important religious significance when Pope Leo XIII made the city an archdiocese , which now includes all the State of Durango and part of Zacatecas, with Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa for suffragans. It's first archbishop was Vicente Salinas.

By 1900, the city's population had reached 31,092.

In 1930, a successful miner named Pedro Escárzaga Correl donated his mansion, known at the time as Palacio Escárzaga, to the city to serve as it's City Hall. The house was converted into offices for the city, and in 1954, Francisco Montoya de la Cruz produced a mural within City Hall of the city's history.

In the 1950s, Durango began to become a popular filming location for Hollywood movies Several productions were in the city, including White Feather (1954), The Tall Men (1955), and the 1960 classic The Unforgiven was filmed in the city. Durango continued to be used as a filming location for various productions for decades to come, including The Wild Bunch (1968), Goin’ South (1977), and Caveman (1980).

Climate

The capital of Durango has a semi-arid climate, classified as Bsk in the Koppen system, that is a steppe climate with an average annual temperature of less than 18°C (64.4°F). The city's weather data for the years 1971 to 2000 are the following: the extreme temperatures are -14°C the lowest (December 13, 1997) and 39.5°C the highest (May 28, 1980). The temperature overall averaged 17.2°C and the yearly precipitation 455.2 mm, with the wettest month recorded being August 1973 (277.2 mm) and the record rainfall for a single day is 108.5 mm on September 15, 1994.

References

External links

• Gobierno Municipal de Durango Official website
• - Messages, Photographs, About Local Towns (Spanish)
• - Directorio Empresarial y Comercial de Durango (Spanish)

Museums