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 PUEBLA, a state of Mexico, occupying the south-east angle of the great central plateau, or that part of it known as the Anahuac table-land. It is bounded N. and E. by the state of Vera Cruz, S. by the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, and W. by the states of Morelos, Mexico, Tlaxcala and Hidalgo. Area, 12,204 sq. m. Pop. (1900), 1,021,133, largely civilized Indians. Lofty mountains overlook the plateau from the north-east and west, three of the highest peaks, Orizaba, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl rising above the permanent snow-line, while another, Malinche, lifts its isolated mass nearly to that limit. In the south the table-land breaks away and long fertile valleys lead downward toward the warm southern plains. The central table-land forms part of the watershed between the eastern and western drainage systems, some of the streams in the north and south-east emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, while the Atoyac, which has its source in Tlaxcala, crosses the state and discharges into the Pacific through the Mescala. Puebla has a temperate, healthful climate, one of the best in Mexico. The soil is generally fertile and the rainfall abundant. Agriculture is the principal industry. The Mexican, Interoceanic and Mexican Southern railways cross the state and afford ample transportation facilities.  PUEBLA (full title La Puebla de los Angeles, and more recently, Puebla de Zaragoza), a city of Mexico and capital of the state of the same name, on the banks of the Atoyac river, 60 m. S.E. of the city of Mexico, with which it is connected by two lines of railway. Pop. (1900), 93,152, including a large percentage of Indians. Its railway connexions put it in daily communication with the national capital, Vera Cruz, Pachuca, Oaxaca, and the terminal ports of the Tehuantepec railway—Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz. The city is built on a broad healthy plain, about 7200 ft. above sea-level. It is well provided with street railways, electric and gas illumination, water and drainage. The great Doric cathedral, about 165×320 ft., is perhaps the finest ecclesiastical building in Latin America. It was begun about 1552, but not completed until 1649. Among other churches, famous for their lavish decorations, are those of San José, San Cristobal, Santa Catarina and San Domingo. The “Teatro Principal,” built in 1790, is said to be the oldest existing theatre on the continent. There are two other theatres, and an immense bull-ring. Among the more conspicuous public buildings are the palace of justice, the building of the state legislature, a school of medicine to which is attached the Palafoxiana Library of over 100,000 volumes, an academy of fine arts, and the national college. At Fort Guadalupe, near the city, there are several hot sulphur springs, which are used for medicinal baths. Puebla is one of the busiest manufacturing cities in Mexico, and among its products are cotton and woollen textiles, soap, glass, straw hats, pottery and leather goods. There are also some large foundries.

Puebla was founded in 1532 by Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, archbishop of Santo Domingo, and the celebrated Franciscan friar Toribio Motolinia. In 1550 it became the see of the bishopric originally created in 1526 at Tlaxcala. The appellation “de los Angeles,” which is now practically dropped, originated in a popular belief that during the building of the cathedral two angels every night added as much to the height of the walls as the workmen had completed on the preceding day. Its present title was given in honour of General Ignacio Zaragoza (1829-1862), who successfully defended the city against the first French attack in 1862. It was captured in the following year by the French, and then by the Mexicans under Porfirio Diaz in 1867. In the war between Mexico and the United States it was captured by General Winfield Scott and was his headquarters from June to August 1847.  PUEBLO, a city and the county-seat of Pueblo county, the second largest city of Colorado, U.S.A., and one of the most important industrial centres west of the Missouri river, situated on the Arkansas river, about 120 m. S. by E. of Denver. Pop. (1890), 24,558; (1900), 28,157, of whom 4705 were foreign-born, 1250 being Austrian, 587 German, 529 Italian, 415 Irish, 391 Swedish, 385 English and 341 English Canadian; (1910, census), 44,395. It is served by five great continental railway

systems—the Denver & Rio Grande, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Missouri Pacific, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Colorado & Southern, giving it altogether a dozen outlets. It lies about 4680 ft. above the sea, in a valley at the junction of the prairies with the foothills of the Rockies, on both banks of the Arkansas river, near its confluence with Fountain Creek; the city has an exceptionally good climate and attracts many winter visitors. There are a state insane asylum and four hospitals, of which the Minnequa Hospital (for the employés of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co.) and St Mary's Hospital are the most notable. Among the public buildings are the McClelland public library (1891) and the court-house, the latter of white stone quarried in the vicinity. The Mineral Palace (1891), having a roof formed of twenty-eight domes, in the northern part of the city, contains a collection of the minerals of the state. Pueblo is chiefly an industrial city, and is often called the Steel City, or the Pittsburg of the West. Cheap fuel is furnished by the excellent coal of Canyon City (about 30 m. west), Walsenburg (about 40 m. south-west) and Trinidad (about 75 m. south). Petroleum deposits in the immediate vicinity are of growing importance. Fluxing material is only about 50 m. away, around Cripple Creek. The rich river valley yields abundant crops of alfalfa, sugar beets, cantaloupes, apples and peaches, and the dry lands behind its shores prove fertile under irrigation or under the Campbell system of dry farming; on the plains livestock interests are important. In 1905 Pueblo's total factory products were valued. at $2,197,293 (an increase of 52.6% since 1900); if the output of the great smelting and refining establishments just outside the city limits had been included, the value would have been considerably larger. Pueblo is the greatest smelting centre west of the Missouri and probably the greatest in the United States. The bulk of the steel rails used on western railways are from the mills of the Pueblo district.

Pueblo was originally a Mexican settlement. A considerable body of Mormons settled here temporarily on their way to Utah in 1846-1847, and a trading post was established in 1850; but the site, owing principally to Indian troubles, had been practically abandoned before 1858, when another settlement was made on the Fontaine qui Bouille, or Fountain Creek. Two years later Pueblo was surveyed and platted. The first railway—the Denver & Rio Grande—came through in 1872. Pueblo was chartered as a city in 1870, and again, with an enlarged area, in 1887.  PUEBLO INDIANS, the Spanish name (puebla=village) for the town-building tribes of American Indians of the Keresan, Shoshonean, Tanoan and Zuñian stocks, whose representatives are now practically confined to New Mexico and Arizona. Formerly they had a far greater range. They were alike in their sedentary agricultural characteristics, and had not the warlike disposition of the Plains Indians. Their modern history begins with their discovery in 1539 by Father Marcos de Niza. In the following year they were subdued by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Two years later they made a successful revolt, but in 1586 they had again to submit. In 1680 they once more rebelled, but by 1692 they were finally conquered. Their houses are communal, generally but one structure for the whole village. These houses are sometimes built of stone, but oftener of adobe, several storeys high, each storey receding from the one below. The common plan is a hollow square or curved figure, though in some cases the form of a pyramid is followed. A feature of each town is the underground chamber used for tribal ceremonies. Many of the towns are built on high table-lands inaccessible except by steep trails. The Pueblos are a short, sturdy type of American Indians, very active, but mild-mannered and much darker than those of the plains. They are farmers and herdsmen, and are skilful in basket-work, weaving, pottery and carving. They are notable for their highly developed ceremonial customs, and their blankets and earthenware are decorated with religious symbolism.  PUELCHE, a tribe of South-American Indians of Araucanian stock. Their home is the Pampas region of southern Argentina around the Colorado river. They are chiefly nomadic, breeding cattle and horses, and lead a wild, lawless life.