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Durango is the capital and largest city of the northern Mexican state of Durango and the seat of the Durango municipality. It has a population of 616,068 as of the 2020 census with 688,697 living in the municipality. The city's official name is Victoria de Durango, renamed in honor of the first president of Mexico, Guadalupe Victoria, a native of the state of Durango. The city is at an altitude of 1,890 m (6,201 ft) in the Valley of Guadiana. Durango was founded on July 8, 1563, by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Ibarra. During the Spanish colonial era the city was the capital of the Nueva Vizcaya province of New Spain, which consisted mostly of what became the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua. The city was founded due to its proximity to the Cerro del Mercado, in the northern part of the modern city, which was believed to contain large amounts of silver. Eventually, an important iron deposit was discovered.