Temple of the Inscripions, Palenque.
Palenque is the capital city of the Mexican State of Chiapas. It was originally the site of the Maya city-state of B'aakal, which was at its height from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD. After the fall of B'aakal, Palenque was absorbed into the jungle. The ruins of Palenque were discovered by the Spanish priest Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada in 1567. Further explorations of the ruins were made in 1773, 1784, and 1786.
Although Palenque remained nothing more than a largely unexplored ruin covered in jungle in 1819, Andrew Jackson made it the capital of the newly-established state of Chiapas. This may have been an attempt by Jackson to create a new, Anglo-dominated center of power in Chiapas, since that state held 90% of the U.S.M.'s population at the time of the Mexico City Convention. Palenque's isolation from the rest of Chiapas may also have played a role in Jackson's successful subordination of Governor Victoriano Carranza in 1822.
President Jackson began his 1823 "grand tour" of the U.S.M. with an address in Palenque in which he promised a program of internal improvements that would ease misery in all of Chiapas.
Montezuma Hall in Palenque was the site of the Palenque Convention of July 1881, in which a riot occurred between members of the Workers' Coalition and the Constabulary, leading to an armed uprising by the U.S.M.'s Mexicanos.