Orizaba (, Otomi: ) is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a 2020 census population of 120,500 and is almost coextensive with its small municipality, with only a few small areas outside the city. The municipality, with an area of 27.97 km<sup>2</sup> (10.799 sq mi), had a population of 123,182. While the metropolitan area of Orizaba has a population of 462,261 as 2020.
In 2015, Orizaba earned the designation of Pueblo Mágico from Mexico's federal government and celebrated the 10-year anniversary of this designation in October of 2025. The Pueblo Mágico program grants this designation to towns that offer visitors "cultural richness, historical relevance, cuisine, art crafts, and great hospitality."
In the town of Ixhuatlancillo north of Orizaba, and in a large mountainous area to the south (the Sierra de Zongolica), live many thousands of people who speak a variant of Nahuatl which is often called Orizaba Nahuatl (ISO code nlv).
Naming
It is generally understood that the name Orizaba comes from a Hispanicized pronunciation of the Nahuatl name Āhuilizāpan [a: wi li sa: pan], which means "place of pleasing waters." Another possibility, however, is the word Harish (Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, in 16th-century Spanish pronunciation), this place being the hometown of the first Spanish settlers (1521) of Orizaba. Harish or—in a simplified form—Ariz, with the addition (under the influence of the Arabic language) of the gentilic "i" and/or with the ending "aba", meaning fortification, would have become Ariziba or Arizaba, from which Orizaba would have derived. (The word Harish—in turn—is, according to some authors, linked to the capital of Tartessus and could refer to the biblical Tarshish. Its Semitic meaning could be "trading post" or "foundry site", since Tartessus was a major Phoenician center of tin commerce and bronze production.)
Geography
thumb|250px|The Orizaba Valley<br>Looking north, Orizaba in the middle distance, the Pico de Orizaba on the horizon
The town lies at 1,200 m. (4000 ft.), at the confluence of the Río Blanco with several tributaries, including the Río Orizaba, near the mouth of a large valley heading westward into the eastern Sierra Madre Oriental. This location, at the bottom of the ascent into the mountains, is an important transition point along what has been for centuries the main trade route between Mexico City and Veracruz on the Gulf Coast. in 1938 the upper Río Blanco watershed was designated Cañón del Río Blanco National Park.
Orizaba has an unusually wet dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb).
The climate is generally pleasant, though often cloudy and rainy, and the soil of the Orizaba valley is extraordinarily fertile. Overlooking the valley from the north is the Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl), a volcano that, at 5,636 m. (18,490 ft.), is the highest mountain in Mexico and third highest in North America.
History
Prehistory and conquest
Orizaba was already an important town at the time of the Spanish conquest, and it was in Orizaba that La Malinche, Hernán Cortés's interpreter and mistress, was married to the Spanish gentleman Juan Jaramillo. A plaque at the Temple of "The Immaculate Conception" in Huiloapan commemorates this event.
Colonial period
During the colonial period, Orizaba became an important city. On January 27, 1774, the Spanish king Carlos III granted town (villa) status to Orizaba, and on November 29, 1830 Orizaba was declared a city.
Independence war
In October 1812, José María Morelos captured the city for the insurgent army. In 1821 to the end of the war, Agustín de Iturbide was in Orizaba before and after the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba in the neighbor city.
Independent period
thumb|Orizaba during the [[Porfiriato]]
When Lucas Alamán established, in 1836, the first textile factory (Cocolapan) of Orizaba, the city started its economic life as an industrial city.
In 1839, the newspaper La Luz was created and Veracruz Governor Francisco Hernández y Hernández gave the name of Veracruz-Llave (remembering General Ignacio de la Llave, who was born in Orizaba) to the state.
On May 8, 1874, Orizaba was declared the capital city of Veracruz by Governor Apolinar Castillo, but in 1878 the status was transferred to Xalapa.
During the rule of Porfirio Díaz, Orizaba was declared the most educated city in the country.
In the late years of Díaz's government, there was an important workers' strike in Cananea. Another important strike, in Río Blanco, took place in Orizaba and was an important prelude to the Mexican Revolution.
The US transport ship USS Orizaba (ID-1536), active in both World Wars, was named after the city.