Avenida de los Insurgentes , sometimes known simply as
Insurgentes, is the longest
avenueA street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address...
in
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
and said to be the longest in the world with a length of 28.8 km (18 miles) on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the early 20th century known as the Via del Centenario which ran from city centre to the southern suburbs.
Many decades later, after it was
pavedRoad surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain traffic . Such surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic. The most common modern paving methods are asphalt and concrete. In the past, brick was extensively used, as was metalling...
and widened its name was changed to Avenida de los Insurgentes, apparently this happened during the administration of
PresidentThe Constitutional Citizen President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the head of government and the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
Miguel AlemánMiguel Alemán Valdés served as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.-Life:Alemán was born in Sayula in the state of Veracruz as the son of General Miguel Alemán González and Tomasa Valdés Ledezma...
, when the area attracted wealthy urbanites for sophisticated, modern housing.
The avenue was named after the Insurgent Army (
Ejército de los Insurgentes) that fought for Mexican independence from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
during the
Mexican War of IndependenceThe Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought independence from Spain...
from 1810 to 1821.
The avenue's southern terminus is located near Volcán Ajusco in the intersection with the Viaducto Tlalpan avenue, where it becomes
Highway 95Mexican Federal Highway 95 connects Mexico City to Acapulco, Guerrero.The highway is the main road that leads to the Lagunas de Zempoala National Park....
in direction to
CuernavacaCuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It is also a municipality. It is located about south of Mexico City on the D-95 freeway....
.
Avenida de los Insurgentes , sometimes known simply as
Insurgentes, is the longest
avenueA street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address...
in
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
and said to be the longest in the world with a length of 28.8 km (18 miles) on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the early 20th century known as the Via del Centenario which ran from city centre to the southern suburbs.
Many decades later, after it was
pavedRoad surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain traffic . Such surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic. The most common modern paving methods are asphalt and concrete. In the past, brick was extensively used, as was metalling...
and widened its name was changed to Avenida de los Insurgentes, apparently this happened during the administration of
PresidentThe Constitutional Citizen President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the head of government and the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
Miguel AlemánMiguel Alemán Valdés served as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.-Life:Alemán was born in Sayula in the state of Veracruz as the son of General Miguel Alemán González and Tomasa Valdés Ledezma...
, when the area attracted wealthy urbanites for sophisticated, modern housing.
The avenue was named after the Insurgent Army (
Ejército de los Insurgentes) that fought for Mexican independence from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
during the
Mexican War of IndependenceThe Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought independence from Spain...
from 1810 to 1821.
The avenue's southern terminus is located near Volcán Ajusco in the intersection with the Viaducto Tlalpan avenue, where it becomes
Highway 95Mexican Federal Highway 95 connects Mexico City to Acapulco, Guerrero.The highway is the main road that leads to the Lagunas de Zempoala National Park....
in direction to
CuernavacaCuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It is also a municipality. It is located about south of Mexico City on the D-95 freeway....
. The northern terminus is located in the intersection with Avenida Acueducto where it becomes the highway to
PachucaPachuca, formally Pachuca de Soto is the capital of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of which the city serves as municipal seat...
.
The avenue crosses five of the 16 boroughs of the city. Many of Mexico City's emblematic colonias (such as
CondesaCondesa is a neighborhood in the central borough of Cuauhtémoc in Mexico City. Nowadays the zone known as Condesa consists of three colonias: Condesa, Hipódromo and Hipódromo-Condesa. It is well known for its Art Deco architecture. It was developed at the turn of the 20th century in what was...
,
RomaColonia Roma is a neighborhood in the central borough of Cuauhtémoc in Mexico City. Officially what locals call Colonia Roma are actually two neighborhoods: Colonia Roma Sur and Colonia Roma Norte. It is well known for its Beaux-Arts architecture...
,
del ValleColonia del Valle or just del Valle is a neighborhood in the central borough of Benito Juárez in Mexico City and is one of the biggest colonias in the city...
, Napoles,
San ÁngelSan Ángel is a neighborhood in the borough of Álvaro Obregón in the Mexican Federal District.The historic neighborhood of San Ángel lies to the southwest of Mexico City in the delegación of Álvaro Obregón, whose namesake was assassinated here in 1928...
,
PedregalEl Pedregal is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
) are either crossed or on the side of Insurgentes. The
Mexico City MetrobúsMetrobús is a bus rapid transit system in Mexico City, Mexico.It was officially opened to the public on 19 June 2005.- Route :The first line covers a distance of up to 20 kilometres, running in a dedicated bus-lane built against the central reservation of Avenida de los Insurgentes...
bus rapid transitBus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems that use buses to provide a service that is of a higher speed than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
system, opened in 2005, runs through the avenue, from
San ÁngelSan Ángel is a neighborhood in the borough of Álvaro Obregón in the Mexican Federal District.The historic neighborhood of San Ángel lies to the southwest of Mexico City in the delegación of Álvaro Obregón, whose namesake was assassinated here in 1928...
to
Metro Indios VerdesMetro Indios Verdes is a station on the Mexico City Metro. Indios Verdes, located in the northern reaches of Mexico City, is the current terminal station for the Metro's Line 3.Indios Verdes literally means "Green Indians"...
.
Notable locations
- World Trade Center México
The World Trade Center México is a building complex located in Mexico City, Mexico. Its most famous and recognizable feature is the 52-story, 207m high Torre WTC, the third tallest building in Mexico City , or fourth when measured by its 191m roof height...
- The World Trade Center
The World Trade Center was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks...
of Mexico. It's located next to the Polyforum Cultural SiqueirosThe Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros is a multi-functional cultural facility, located in Mexico City's World Trade Center Mexico building complex. It is a well-known location, both as part of the landmark WTC Mexico complex as well as for its unique shape and extensive mural work by Mexican artist...
. It is one of the tallest buildings in the city with 52 floors. It has its own conference center and shopping mall.
- Teatro de los Insurgentes
Teatro de los Insurgentes is a theater located on Mexico City's Avenida de los Insurgentes.It was built by José María Dávila in 1953 as part of President Miguel Alemán's program of urban renewal. Dávila commissioned muralist Diego Rivera to paint La historia del teatro, a visual history of the...
(Insurgents' Theater)
- Important theater built in 1953 by José María Dávila
- Ciudad Universitaria (C.U.)
The National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest one-campus university in the Americas in terms of student population...
- Is the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest one-campus university in the Americas in terms of student population...
. The speed limit in this zone is 40 mph.
- Cuicuilco
Cuicuilco was an ancient city in the central Mexican highlands, on the southern shore of the Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico. Today, it is a significant archaeological site that was occupied during the Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative...
archaeological area
- It was the ancient village of the Cuicuilcas who used to live in what is today southern part of the city, just 1km away from the campus. Xitle Volcano destroyed the city circa 1100BC. It remains the Imán pyramid
A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least four faces...
.
There are several shopping malls located along the avenue, including
PerisurPerisur is a shopping mall located in the Coyoacan borough in southern Mexico City at the intersection of Insurgentes Avenue and Anillo Periférico, next to UNAM main Campus in Ciudad Universitaria and to the Jardines del Pedregal upscale neighborhood...
, Galerias Insurgentes and Centro Insurgentes.
Throughout its span,
Insurgentes crosses several
ejes viales as well as the Circuito Interior and
Anillo PeriféricoThe Anillo Periférico is the name given to the outer beltway of Mexico City. The beltway gained major media attention when the Mexico City mayor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, started a project to turn a southern section of the ring into a two-story highway...
highway rings twice.
External links
Brief description of the avenue.