Вильяэрмоса: Столица штата Табаско и «Изумруд Юго-Востока»

the capital city of the Mexican state of Tabasco

Villahermosa (,/v//iː//(//j//)//ə//ɛər/'/m//oʊ//s//ə/ VEE(y)əairMOHsə, ˌbiʝaeɾˈmosa; "Beautiful Town") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an important city because of its cultural history, natural resources, commercial development, and modern industrialization.

Coined "La Esmeralda del Sureste" (The Emerald of the Southeast), Villahermosa is a modern city with a rich history dating back to the early 1500s. Its natural resources like cacao, sugarcane, bananas, tobacco, rice, and hardwoods has made Villahermosa attractive to domestic investors. The city has become a hub for oil and gas operations in Southern Mexico and is referred to as the “Energy City of Mexico.” The most recent oil finding at the Ogarrio oil field, just 107 km west of Villahermosa, make it an important city in the production of hydrocarbon. Commercially, the city is popular with major retailers like Liverpool, Fábricas de Fráncia, Palacio de Hierro, Walmart, City Club, Costco, Soriana, Chedraui, Comercial Mexicana and Home Depot. National banks BBVA Bancomer, Santander Mexico, Banamex, and many more serve the city's financial needs.

In 1598, King Philip II named the city "Villa Hermosa of San Juan Bautista," and granted it use of a royal shield on its coat of arms which is still in use today. In the city's long history, its name changed many times. In 1916, governor Francisco J. Mújica decreed to eliminate the name of "San Juan Bautista," leaving only "Villahermosa."

Villahermosa is located 30 miles (50 km) south of the Gulf Coast and just 904 km southeast of Mexico City. The municipality is in the center of Tabasco, which adjoins the northern municipalities of Nacajuca and Centla, and the southern municipalities of Jalapa, Teapa and the south central municipality of Macuspana. It also borders the northwestern state of Chiapas. The geographical coordinates of the municipality are north 18 20', south 17 43' north latitude; 92 35', west 93 15' west. The urban area of Villahermosa occupies 61,177 km2 while the territorial extension of the municipality occupies 1,612 km2, which corresponds to 6.9% of the total state territory, occupying 7th place on the municipal extension scale. The territorial division of the Municipality of Centro (Tabasco)'s municipality of Centro consists of a city, 7 villas, 1 village, 132 rancheries, and 117 boroughs (colonial) and fractions. The municipality contains 13 regional development centers (CORs) where most economic and social activities are carried out, these are: Villa Ocuiltzapoltán, Villa Macultepec, Villa Parrilla 1a. Section, Villa Subteniente García, Rosario Beaches, Villa New People of Roots, Poblado Dos Montes, Los Boquerones, Villa Luis Gil Pérez, and Villa Tamulte de Las Sabanas. Today, Villahermosa is a modern city and one of the most important commercial points in the long stretch of territory between Mexico City and Cancún—perhaps second only to Mérida in Yucatán.

Villahermosa is located in the southeast of Mexico between the rivers Grijalva and Carrizal. The average elevation of the city is 10 meters above sea level. The city also has several lagoons, the largest and most important of them being La Laguna de las Ilusiones (Illusions Lagoon). The most important city thoroughfares are Paseo Tabasco, Gregorio Méndez Avenue, the Periférico, Ruiz Cortines Avenue, and Pino Suárez Avenue.

Like most of Tabasco, Villahermosa has a tropical monsoon climate (Am). Temperatures during spring and summer seasons can reach upwards of 40°C (104 °F), with humidity levels hovering around 30% during the same period (for total humidity adjusted temperatures in the high forties). During its short "winter", Villahermosa's climate is very humid but daytime temperatures decrease to around 28°C (82 °F). In October 2007, Villahermosa suffered its worst flood in recorded history. Several hundred thousand people were displaced because of flooded homes.

According to the World Population Review 2021, there are 913,606 inhabitants in the Metropolitan area of Villahermosa, a 1.69% growth rate. Although the first inhabitants settled in 1557, the official occupation occurred on June 24, 1564.

Founded officially on 24 June 1564 by the Spanish Diego de Quijada on the banks of the Grijalva River under the name of Villa Hermosa, in 1826 the village was raised to the rank of city under the name of San Juan Bautista de la Villa Hermosa (Saint John the Baptist). During the French intervention in Mexico, French troops occupied the city in 1863. In 1916, the governor of Tabasco, Francisco J. Múgica, ordered the restoration of the city's name to Villahermosa.

The Villa Carmona was later christened San Juan Bautista, and was divided into neighborhoods. The oldest of them was the neighborhood of Esquipulas, on the ridge of the hill of Esquipulas and around the Church of Our Lord of Esquipulas, with his image of Christ black, which had been brought from Esquipulas, Guatemala. By 1596 he was Mayor of Tabasco Lazaro Suárez de Córdova who continued to dispatch in Santa Maria de la Victoria as the capital, and because the pirates had been attacking much the coasts of Tabasco, it commands to build in San Juan Bautista (today Villahermosa) the Fort House or Royal Warehouse, in order to defend the population and safeguard the flows Real. The Royal Warehouse was located in what are the current streets of Juárez, Reforma, Madero and Lerdo.

In 1640 due to the continuous pirate attacks on the village of Santa María de la Victoria, the authorities of the Province requested the Viceroy Diego López Pacheco and Portugal to change the capital of the Province to San Juan de Villahermosa, which the Viceroy authorized on 3 February 1641. The transfer of powers took effect on June 24 of that same year, making Villahermosa the new capital of the Province of Tabasco. The "Fortín de la Encarnación" was immediately built in what is now the park of "the birds" on the corner that form the current streets of May 5 and Zaragoza at the foot of the hill of "La Encarnación". In 1677 as Mayor Diego de Loyola, the privateers fiercely attacked the capital Villahermosa de San Juan Bautista, forcing the authorities to leave the city and transfer the powers to the village of Tacotalpa, which was the capital of the province for 118 years. On June 21 of that year, the Mayor of Tabasco informed the Viceroy that the fear of pirate invasions had caused the depopulation of entire villages such as Cunduacán, and that Villahermosa, which was the capital, was had depopulated too."' In 1688, lookouts, trenches and fortifications were built in Villahermosa to protect the desolated city from pirate attacks. However, in 1711 Villahermosa was again fiercely attacked by the English pirates, who set fire to the Royal Warehouse that was the Government House, and the defenders had to take refuge in the "Fortín de la Encarnación", which withstood the attack, but the pirates burned down many houses leaving the town in ruins. It was until July 16, 1717, when the then Mayor of Tabasco Alonso Felipe Andrade, at the head of an army of Tabasco and Veracruz forces, attacks the pirates on the Island of Tris (now the island of Carmen) that at that time belonged to Tabasco Despite the death of [Alonso Felipe Andrade], the Tabasco forces expelled the pirates and founded that same day the military post of Nuesra Señora del Carmen (today [City of Carmen]). However, in 1757 the English pirates counterattacked the military post of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, setting it on fire and destroying it, and then re attacking the Tabasco coasts. Finally, in 1785, the Tabasco militias, commanded by Captain Juan de Amestoy and Lieutenant Francisco Interiano, defeated and permanently evicted the English from Carmen Island.

In January 1795 the Viceroy Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca authorized the change of the powers of the Province of Tabasco from Tacotalpa to Villa Hermosa de San Juan Bautista, taking effect on Monday, August 15 of that year. Thus, after 118 years, Villahermosa is again the capital of Tabasco. The neighborhood of La Punta or La Concepción was the next growth step of San Juan that transcended the first natural boundaries of the site. Developed around the church of the Immaculate Conception "La Conchita" , the neighborhood was also known as La Punta for being at the southern end of the city, on a hillside of the hill of La Eminence, between the Grijalva River, the lagoon of La Pólvora and the primary trace. The last district dating from the late colonial era, from the early years of the nineteenth century, was the neighborhood of La Santa Cruz, with its center in the church of the same name. This neighborhood was developed on marshy and grassland land north of the city center. The city lived peacefully during the last years of the Colony, being an important river port.

In addition to this, Villahermosa is one of the main congress and convention destinations in the country. In 2010 alone, 61 congresses and conventions were held with a total of 40,933 attendees, highlighting that the city is the permanent seat of the "Mexico's International Petroleum Congress and Conference"' which is held each year and brings together just over 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The city has more than 4,000 hotel rooms, large shopping, entertainment, dining and infrastructure. It has an international airport, which has flights to and from the main cities of the country; by land, roads link it to the center and south of the country; and by sea, the commercial port of Two Mouths (80 km from the city), has the capacity to receive cargo ships and cruise ships up to 10 m in line, in addition to having port infrastructure.

Residents and visitors are served by private and public healthcare institutions, hospitals, clinics, ambulatory (same day) centers, and extended stay centers. Amongst its specialized health care institutions, High Specialty Regional Hospital Women, Children's Hospital Dr. Rodolfo Nieto Padrón, and Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad Dr. Juan Graham Casasús. The government healthcare institutions, including Hospital Angeles Villahermosa and Hospital General “Dr. Daniel Gurría Urgell” del ISSSTE, are highly ranked among patients for overall care. The Seventh day Adventist Church, Hospital del Sureste, established in 1975, is a highly advanced hospital, equipped with the latest infrastructure and technology, guaranteeing security and efficiency to thousands of patients.