VERA CRUZ, a sea-port and commercial town in the republic of Mexico, is situated in 19° 11' N. lat., 96° 8' W. long., on the south western shores of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico; popu lation about 11,000. The town is built on a level end arid shore, consisting of sand, and almost entirely destitute of vegetation. At the back of the town are shifting sand-hills from 25 to 36 feet high, which it is supposed owe their origin to the gales of the norteR. The high temperature which these sand-hills acquire in summer, and the reflection of the solar rays from them, are regarded as the principal causes of the great heat then experienced in the town. During the summer months, from May to September, both inclusive, the mean temperature of Vera Cruz is 81'5° Fehr., or somewhat higher than the mean annual temperature of the equator. During three of these months (July to September) the rains are very abundant. Water is scarce and of bad quality. The water used by the poorer classes for drinking is brought by an aqueduct from a lake about 6 miles from the town ; but the water collected in the tanks is much better.
Vera Cruz is the port of the city of Mexico, and the most important commercial town of the republic, though its harbour is in fact only a roadstead formed by several shoals, which inclose in a semicircular form a tract of sea which in many parts offers good anchorage. The largest of these shoals, called La Gallego, lies opposite the town; and at its western extremity is a rocky island, ou which the fortress of San Juan de Ulm is built. The strait which separates the fortress from the town, and is the most secure portion of the harbour, is less than 700 yards wide, and about 1000 yards long. Vera Cruz is always dangerous to navigators. From October to April the nortes blow with incredible violence; the air is filled with sand, and the sky darkened with clouds; whilst the waves are driven with such impetuosity on the beach, that the whole line of coast is one sheet of foam. All communication between the shipping and the town is suspended, even when vessels are at anchor under the walls of the castle, or secured to the rock on which it stands by iron rings fastened there for the purpose; but these gales purify the atmosphere, and tend to abate or remove the vomito pride, a kind of yellow fever, which during the summer proves fatal to foreigners along the whole eastern coast of Mexico. During the prevalence of the vomito prieto the wealthier merchants and others retiro to Xalapa. [Mexico, vol. iii. col. 700.] Vera Cruz is inclosed by walls, and has straight, wide, and well paved °treats. Many of the houses are excellent, and erected at great expense, on account of the scarcity of materials. They are constructed
of a porous white coral, which composes the cliffs on the coast; and their flat roofs, covered with cement, receive the rain-water for the tanks, or algibes, with which every good house is furnished, and which bold sufficient water for two or three years' consumption. The public buildings aro not distinguished by beauty. There are several churches and hospitals.
During the War of Independence, the Spaniards kept possession of the castle of San Juan de Ulua till November 1825, and the towu lost more than half its inhabitants, as well as a large part of its trade. It has since recovered much of its population, but it has not regained its commerce. Before 1820 Vera Cruz was the only port on the eastern coast of Mexico from which the produce of the country was exported, and by which foreign goods destined for the consumption of the interior reached their destination. At that period the value of the articles exported amounted to 21,780,000 and those imported to 14,650,000 Spanish dollars. Other porta of the country have since been thrown open to the foreign trade, and many of its productions, especially the produce of the northern mines, have found their way to other ports, especially to Tampico. Vera Cruz however serves still as an outlet for the produce of the mines situated south of 21° N. lat., for all the cochineal destined for the markets of Europe and the United States, and for the tobacco, sugar, and coffee which are grown in the plain between the Gulf of Mexico and the table-land of Anahuac, with the jalap, vanilla, and sarsaparilla which are collected mostly on the declivities of the table-land. It is probable however that all these articles taken together do not reach half of the above sum. The imports however have not decreased in the same pro portion, as the greater part of the table-land, and oven some tracts along the Pacific, are supplied with foreign goods from the capital, which receives them by way of Vera Cruz.
The Wand on which the castle of San Juan de Ulua is built was visited for the first time by Europeans under the command of Juan de Grijalva in 1518, and in the following year Cortex landed his army at the place where the town now stands; but the town founded by him, and called Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, was some miles farther north. After three years that place was abandoned, and another town was built a little farther south, at a place still called Antigua, to distinguish it from the present town. This situation was also found Inconvenient, and the present town was built towards the close of the 16th century, but it was not incorporated before 1615. The fortress of San Juan was taken by the United States army in the late war with Mexico.