The city of Orizaba at the foot of Mexico’s tallest mountain, the 5,747m/18,855ft-high Pico de Orizaba
Orizaba (population 320,000) is an important traffic hub Important traffic huband also one of Mexico’s most important industrial centres. Nevertheless, the city has retained its colonial character to some degree. Situated between mountains in a fertile valley with ample rain in the Eastern Sierra Madre, Orizaba has a temperate climate, and rain and the fertile land have helped the steady development of agriculture and industry. There are regional coffee and fruit plantations as well as marble quarries and power plants. The Moctezuma brewery, cement plants as well as cotton spinning and weaving works thrive in the city. The once unimportant Indian village was conquered by the Aztec in the 15th century and became one of their staging posts. They named the post Ahuaializapán (pleasant water). In the 16th century the Spaniards occupied the strategic site, and Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and his wife Charlotte enjoyed staying here at the Hacienda Jalapilla on the edge of the settlement. In 1973, an earthquake destroyed part of the old city.
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