Coahuila

For the Native American people, see Cahuilla.

Coahuila (Spanish pronunciation: [koaˈwila] ), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (IPA: [koaˈwila ðe saɾaˈɣosa]), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northeastern Mexico on the US border.

Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west. To the north, Coahuila accounts for a 512 kilometres (318 mi) stretch of the Mexico–United States border, adjacent to the U.S. state of Texas along the course of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte). With an area of 151,563 square kilometres (58,519 sq mi), it is the nation's third-largest state. It comprises 38 municipalities (municipios). In 2010, Coahuila's population is 2,748,391 inhabitants.

The five largest cities in Coahuila are the state capital city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón, third largest is Monclova (a former state capital), fourth largest is Ciudad Acuña, and fifth largest is Piedras Negras.

Etymology

The name Coahuila is derived from the Nahuatl name of the region Kuahuilan or Cuahuilan, which is literally translated by Vito Alessio Robles as "place of the trees", although other translations like "flying viper" exist. The official name of the state Coahuila de Zaragoza is after the Mexican general Ignacio Zaragoza who is hailed as a national hero after his victory against the invading French army during the Battle of Puebla.

History

The Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in the capital of the Aztecs. Such exploration was delayed because the northern climate was harsher and there was no gold. The first Spanish settlement in the region now called Coahuila was at Minas de la Trinidad in 1577. Saltillo was settled in 1586, to form part of the province of New Spain, Nueva Vizcaya of the vice-royalty. Later it became one of the first provinces of Nueva Extremadura to be explored by Europeans.

"Coahuila and Texas" was one of the constituent states of the newly independent United Mexican States under their 1824 Constitution, and included Texas, Coahuila and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1835, when it seceded to form the Republic of Texas. Monclova was the capital of the state from 1833 to 1835.

In 1840 Coahuila briefly became a member of the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande.

On February 19, 1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868.

During the Mexican Revolution, Francisco Villa attacked the city of Torreón.

On April 4, 2004, the border city of Piedras Negras was flooded. More than 30 people died and more than 4,000 lost their homes. In 2007 Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions (Pacto Civil de Solidaridad) to same-sex couples.

Geography

The Sierra Madre Oriental runs northwest to southeast through the State, and the higher elevations are home to the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests. The northernmost fingers of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra del Burro and the Sierra del Carmen, reach to the border with the United States at the Rio Grande.

East of the range, the land slopes gently toward the Rio Grande, and is drained by several rivers, including the Salado and its tributary, the Sabinas River. The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the eastern portion of the State, and extends across the Rio Grande into southern Texas.

The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, and is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. The Bolsón de Mapimí is a large endorheic basin which covers much of the western portion of the State and extends into adjacent portions of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The Nazas River, which flows east from Durango, and the Aguanaval River, which flows north from Zacatecas, empty into lakes in the Bolsón. Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the (Comarca Lagunera), which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango.

Coahuila contains two biosphere reserves. Maderas del Carmen lies on the northern border of the State, and includes sections of the Chihuahuan desert and sky islands of pine-oak forest in the Sierra del Carmen. The springs, lakes, and wetlands of Cuatro Ciénegas lie west of Monclova on the west slope of the Sierra Madre.

Coahuila is largely arid or semi-arid, but the rivers of the State support extensive irrigated agriculture, particularly cotton. The Parras district in the southern part of the State produces wines and brandies. The pine-oak forests of the Sierra Madre produce timber.

Flora and fauna

Flora and fauna of Coahuila Ursus americanus Felis concolor Tamiasciurus Cynomys ludovicianus Aquila chrysaetos Meleagris gallopavo Crotalus molossus Antilocapra americana Odocoileus virginianus Didelphis virginiana Acer grandidentatum Opuntia ficus-indica Echinocactus grusonii Cylindropuntia imbricata Pinus ponderosa

Major communities

• Ciudad Acuña
• Ciudad Frontera
• Guerrero
• Ciudad Melchor Múzquiz
• Francisco I. Madero
• Matamoros
• Monclova
• Nueva Rosita
• Parras de la Fuente
• Piedras Negras
• Ramos Arizpe
• Sabinas
• Saltillo
• San Pedro
• Torreón

List of governors

This list is incomplete

• José María Garza Galán (1886–1893)
• José María Múzquiz (1894)
• Miguel Cárdenas (1894–1909)
• Jesús de Valle (1909–1911)
• Venustiano Carranza (1911–1913)
• Gustavo Espinoza Mireles (1917–1920)
• Luis Gutiérrez Ortíz (1920–1921)
• Arnulfo González (1921–1923)
• Carlos Garza Castro (1923–1925)
• Manuel Pérez Treviño (1925–1929)
• Bruno Neira González (1929-1929)
• Nazario S. Ortiz Garza (1929–1933)
• Jesús Valdez Sánchez (1933–1937)
• Pedro Rodríguez Triana (1937–1941)
• Gabriel Cervera Riza (1941-1941)
• Benecio López Padilla (1941–1945)
• Ignacio Cepeda Dávila (1945–1947)
• Ricardo Ainslie Rivera (1947–1948)
• Paz Faz Risa (1948-1948)
• Raúl López Sánchez (1948–1951)
• Roman Cepeda Flores (1951–1957)
• Raúl Madero González (1957–1963)
• Braulio Fernández Aguirre (1963–1969)
• Eulalio Gutiérrez Treviño (1969–1975)
• Oscar Flores Tapia (1975–1981)
• Francisco José Madero González (1981-1981)
• José de las Fuentes Rodríguez (1981–1987)
• Eliseo Mendoza Berrueto (1987–1993)
• Rogelio Montemayor Seguy (1993–1999)
• Enrique Martínez y Martínez (1999–2005)
• Humberto Moreira Valdés (2005–2011) (Left)
• Jorge Torres López (2011) (Humberto Moreira's substitute)
• Rubén Moreira Valdez (2011–2017)