It is situated at 18° 49' N, 97° 10' W, at an altitude of 1280 m, and covers a total surface area of 77.32 km². In the year 2000 census, the municipality reported a total population of 30,945.
This part of the future state of Veracruz was brought under Aztec sway in or around 1450 under Emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the area was awarded to the conquistador Ojeda el Tuerto. Ojeda introduced sugar cane into the area, and the San Juan Bautista Nogales sugar mill – one of the earliest, if not the very first on the American continent – was later established there.
In 1627, Rodrigo de Viveros y Aberrucia, owner of the sugar mill at the time, was named the First Count of the Valley of Orizaba by Philip III of Spain.
On October 27, 1812, during the War of Independence, the sugar mill was taken by surprise by General José María Morelos, who used it as a staging post for his attack on the royalist forces in Orizaba the next day.
On June 14, 1862, with the invading French army stationed in Orizaba, General Ignacio Zaragoza set up his headquarters in Nogales.
On January 7, 1907, in the years of tension leading up to the Mexican Revolution, Nogales textile workers protesting their treatment by French textile-mill owners were massacred by the federal troops of President Porfirio Díaz.
In 1971, Nogales was awarded the status of a city.History