Durango

Durango, sometimes called Ciudad de Victoria, a city of Mexico, capital of the state of Durango, 574 m. N.W. of the federal capital, in lat. 24° 25′ N., long. 105° 55′ W. Pop. (1900) 31,092. Durango is served by the Mexican International railway. The city stands in the picturesque Guadiana valley formed by easterly spurs of the Sierra Madre, about 6850 ft. above the sea. It has a mild, healthy climate, and is surrounded by a district of considerable fertility. Durango is an important mining and commercial centre, and was for a time one of the most influential towns of northern Mexico. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a handsome cathedral, ten parish churches, a national institute or college, an episcopal seminary, government buildings, a public library, hospital, penitentiary and bull-ring. The city is provided with urban and suburban tramways, electric light, telephone service and an abundant water-supply, and there are thermal springs in its vicinity. Its manufacturing establishments include reduction works, cotton and woollen mills, glass works, iron foundries, tanneries, flour mills, sugar refineries and tobacco factories. Durango was founded in 1563 by Alonso Pacheco under the direction of Governor Francisco de Ibarra, who named it after a city of his native province in Spain. It was known, however, as Guadiana for a century thereafter, and its first bishops were given that title. It was the capital of Ibarra’s new province of Nueva Viscaya, which included Durango and Chihuahua, and continued as such down to their separation in 1823.

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