Puebla, in full Puebla de Zaragoza, city, capital of Puebla estado (state), central Mexico. Founded as Puebla de los Angeles in 1532, the city lies on a broad plain 7,093 feet (2,162 metres) above sea level, about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Mexico City. It is spread across foothills where the Sierra Madre Oriental intersects the seismically active Neo-Volcánica Range of central Mexico, between the volcanoes Matlalcueyetl (La Malinche) to the west and Popocatépetl to the east. Since Spanish colonial times, Puebla has been considered a military key to the control of Mexico because of its strategic position on