Free Custom «Origins of Los Dos Laredos Analysis» Essay Paper

The present day Texas derived its origins from the previous settlers majority whom were Spaniards from borderline Mexico. The subsequent creation of Nuevo, Laredo from its predecessor was thus accompanied by significant struggle between two populations, the Americans and the settling Spaniards with a view of concurring each other. This long standing struggle therefore led to the subsequent creation of the phenomenal twin cities that were to become a lasting and sensational reminder to this part of the expansive America. “In the time before recorded history, the land of current day South Texas and northern Mexico was very wild and untamed. In the often-harsh semiarid region, the most distinctive feature was the Rio Grande, known to the people of Mexico as the Rio Bravo. Named and renamed by the Indians, seamen, conquistadors, and settlers in various sectors of its course, some earlier pre-Columbian designations bestowed by the Indians were posoge, mets’ichi chena, and paslapaane, all meaning big or great river, a name that would stand the test of time” (Adams 1).

 

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The town which was originally christened as Villa de San Agustin Laredo was originally founded in the year 1755 in the then industrial development age. The town’s design is essentially attributed to a man by the name ‘Tomas Dan Sanchez’ (Pauletta 123). This town came up during the formulation of the phenomenal New Spain, which was derived from its previous derivative in the expansive Spanish lands. The name was derived from the set up of events accompanying the honoured saint called, ‘Saint Augustine de Hippo’ (Pauletta 123). The town grew expansively over the years to eventually become the ‘republica de Rio Grande’. It growth was attributed to the occurrence of a rebellion against a previous prominent figure and dictator who known as Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana (Pauletta 124). The rebellion did not last as it was quickly dismantled by the then military arm.

The uprising

In 1846, there was on occurrence of war related activities in the town between setting Mexicans and Native Americans due to fundamental issues based on racial perspectives, border aspects, and other economic aspects (Pauletta 125). This came to be known as the ‘Mexican-American’ war during that contemporary setting. The aftermath of the war events lead to the eventual settling of the Texas Rangers by ousting the previous settles from majority of their farms. After culmination of events of the war, this led to critical negotiations between American native representatives and the Mexican side representatives. Events of the negotiations led to signing of a treaty between the two parties, who were in essence the Americans and the Mexicans. This led to giving up of the land to the territory of the Americans, in essence the United States of America (Pauletta 125). The Mexicans were essentially dissatisfied by the events leading to ceding the land to the American territory. The Mexican authorities held a convention in which they decided to carry out a petition that would see the town being returned to the jurisdiction of the Mexican authorities.

This eventually led to the development of a referendum in which the treaty of Guadelupe Hildago would be called off and the land reverted to the Mexican authorities (Pauletta 126). By this time the American military was strictly taking charge of the town and all its aspects. The referendum results led to an overwhelming majority who voted positively for the petition to return the town to the Mexican authorities. When the two sides met, the American side refused to withdraw military surveillance from the town (Pauletta 127). Local Mexicans would then become infuriated leading to the exit of Mexican locals to form a different town adjacent to Villa de San Agustin Laredo. “Spanish efforts failed to define, defend, and occupy regions and river north of the Rio Grande...As for Laredo, it would in time become one of the few early settlements-villas del norte-founded north of the Great River to survive the colonial period; it is the second oldest continuously occupied community in what is today Texas. The roots of the community predate recorder history” (Adams 2)

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New Town Formation

The town that was eventually formed across the great river came to be known as the ‘Nuevo Laredo.’ According to a historical analyst, ‘Nuevo’ was to symbolically signify the rebirth and reinvention of the lost Spanish glory. It was elementally aimed at cementing the emerging competition concerns between these two predominantly competitive societies living with one another across the expansive river. “By the turn of the twentieth century, Laredo was a booming port of trade, commerce,, and financial intermediation as well as principal facilitator of import-export services on the southern border of the United States-a position maintained to the current day” (Adams xii). This therefore stands as the modern day Hispanic Laredo, which grew up after the great exit from Texas Laredo. Numerous developments sprung up from the onset of this fundamentally emerging society. Some economists have categorically analysed the impending relations between the two as socially driven through ethnically and racially instigated biasness. “As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO) of open markets and globalization unfolded, Los Dos Laredos-the sister cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico-further expanded to become by 2006 a well –synchronized inland port and merchandise distribution hub with a significant regional commercial financial sector” (Adams xiii).

Economic Development

The manner in which present day Mexican Laredo stunned the economic analysts by historically going against the predetermined expectations is of great importance to its development and progress. “In the years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, trade, not war, was the focus of the empire. The merchants or pocheta, were among the most powerful groups in the Aztec society” (Adams 2).  However, the rise of Laredo was also subject to numerous forms of uncertainties considering the differing situations to which the town was elementally exposed to due to uncertainties. “For three decades after the rise of the Republic of Texas, the frontier of fortunes of Laredo were impacted by armed rebels, shifting political loyalties, Indian depredations, and periods of famine and drought puncturated by devastating floods” (Adams 59). This elementally led to destruction of Laredo leading to its unfortunate downfall in the later years during the 18^th century. However, these struggles were not to end until the unfortunate deprivation of the two city frontiers “Following the success of the Texas spawned attacks, border hostilities, and countermoves that would end in another war with Mexico by 1846-followed by a decade-long border wide ‘commercial war in the 1850s” (Adams 59). The eventual struggles between the two entities led to a revolutionised notion in terms of the existing relationships leading to the eventual creation of illegal trade fundamentals in the sister city of Nuevo Laredo.

Internal Issues

After the end of the phenomenal war between the two competitors, this eventually led to the creation of significant changes being seen in terms of development and administrative control. “The return to normal of commercial activities was now more than ever under the close watch of the U.S federal government. The carpetbaggers and ‘radical scalawag’ republicans that arrived in Texas during this period remained suspect through the reconstruction period and administration of governor Edmund Jackson Davis, a former Laredo attorney, former general officer in the Union army in command of the first Texas Cavalry, and reputed South Texas native” (Adams 95).

The development of the Nuevo Laredo was subject numerous disturbances resulting from the significant involvement of foreigners in their midst who were mainly targeting key establishments in this new country. The utilization of trade as a bait to set up key business establishments was exploited during these times when establishing control over Laredo was becoming more of a struggle than a reality aspect. “Given the occupation of the Spanish Crown with affairs in Europe during the late 17902s, Escandon expected no assistance and moved to deal with the problem on his terms. Unable to eliminate the Apaches totally, Escandon urged the escaldes and encouraging them to camp near Laredo for the purpose of Trade” (Adams 31). This was a formal approach towards concurring trade activities and introducing the emergence of a different influential power on the land of Laredo.       

Laredo therefore can be viewed as a twin city that holds significant rich history as shown by the struggle in maintaining its status amid numerous struggles at maintaining its existence and the people’s prosperity. From an outlook of the literary work, ‘a tale of two cities’, Los Dos Laredo serves to portray critical events, emerging factors and acute concerns exposed to a people constantly involved with the aspect of economic prosperity. The trajectory of history, in Laredo and elsewhere, has generally been from the absolute space lived by archaic peoples to the ‘abstract space’ surveyed by moderns. Because Laredo is a very old city, at least by the standards of the American West, we moderns tend to romanticize it as a place somehow different, or other, then those suburban landscapes now constructed by flexible capital” (Moore 81). This represents a fundamental affect when considering the events associated with the development of the city to its current status taking into account aspects associated with its origin.