This part of the future state of Veracruz was brought under
Aztec sway in or around 1450 under Emperor
Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. Following the
Spanish conquest of Mexico, the area was awarded to the
conquistador Ojeda el Tuerto. Ojeda introduced
sugar cane into the area, and the San Juan Bautista Nogales sugar mill – one of the earliest, if not the very first on the American continent – was later established there. In 1627,
Rodrigo de Vivero y Aberrucia, owner of the sugar mill at the time, was named the First Count of the Valley of Orizaba by
Philip III of Spain. On 27 October 1812, during the
War of Independence, the sugar mill was taken by surprise by General
José María Morelos, who used it as a staging post for his attack on the royalist forces in
Orizaba the next day. On 14 June 1862, with the invading
French army stationed in Orizaba, General
Ignacio Zaragoza set up his headquarters in Nogales. On 7 January 1907, in the years of tension leading up to the
Mexican Revolution, Nogales textile workers protesting their treatment by French textile-mill owners were massacred by the federal troops of President
Porfirio Díaz. In 1910, Nogales was awarded the status of a town (
villa) and, in 1971, city status (
ciudad). ==Notable people==