Pico de Orizaba

Where is Pico de Orizaba?

Pico de Orizaba is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

You will find it in: Mexico.

Summit: 19.030° N, 97.270° W

The story behind it

The volcano stands on the border between the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla, at the south-eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Its Nahuatl name, Citlaltépetl, is usually read as citlalli, star, plus tepetl, mountain, but Nahuatl speakers today call it Istaktepetl, white mountain, and some researchers think the star version came from a Spanish speaker who did not know the real name. Nine glaciers lie on its slopes, among them the Gran Glaciar Norte, the largest glacier in Mexico, covering about nine square kilometres. The volcano is dormant rather than extinct; its last eruption was in 1846 and it was a small one. F. Maynard and William F. Raynolds are recorded as the first people known to reach the summit, in 1848. The height is usually given as 5 636 metres, but other authorities, including the National Geographic Society, have published 5 747 metres. Since the peak stands about 110 kilometres from the Gulf of Mexico, ships heading for the port can spot its white top long before the coast appears.

Find it on the globe

Pico de Orizaba is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.