STATE OF SONORA

The State of Sonora is one of 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 states of Mexico. Located in the northwest of the country. It is known for its beaches and desert features. Its capital and largest city is Hermosillo.

It borders the states of Chihuahua to the east, Sinaloa and Baja California south to the northwest, north shares a border with the state of Arizona and a smaller one in New Mexico in the United States, and to the west adjacent to the Sea of Cortez or Gulf of California. It is divided into 72 municipalities, national ranking second in size after Chihuahua, with 9.2% of the Mexican territory.

The territory consists of four physiographic provinces: the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra and valleys parallel (also called Northern Plains), the desert and the coast of the Gulf of California.

General Information

The state of Sonora is located in northwestern Mexico in North America. Its shores are washed by the Sea of ​​Cortez or Gulf of California. Sonora is well linked to the so-called "Pacific Rim" which offers vast opportunities for economic development and multiple challenges and opportunities for sustainable use of natural resources. Its border with the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico allow multiple connections economic, cultural and political relations with the United States of America.

Three Mexican states have land boundary with this state: Baja California, to the west, Chihuahua, Sinaloa to the east and south, while the state of Baja California Sur has maritime borders with Sonora.

Sonora is located in a strip climate in the northern hemisphere that have formed various deserts around the globe. If we follow the parallel 30 ° north latitude across a world map of the Earth, you can see that the state is located at the same latitude as the deserts of North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and more.

An extensive network of roads, with the spine road of the four-lane highway that crosses the state from south to north, joins the rest of Sonora Mexico and the United States of America.

The state is the second largest in the country with a land area of ​​184.934 km ² representing 9.2% of the total land area. The border with the United States of America covers an area of ​​588,199 km, which for the most part borders the state of Arizona (568 km), and the rest with the state of New Mexico (20 km). The border with the state of Chihuahua is 592 km, and the state of Sinaloa is 117 km.

The extension of the Sonoran coast is 1207.81 km, which added to the extension of borders with neighboring states, resulting in the perimeter of the state is of 2.505 km.

It is located between 32 ° 29 'and 26 ° 14' north latitude and between 108 ° 26 'and 105 ° 02' latitude west of the Prime Meridian.

History

There are several theories about the origin of the name Sonora. One is that the word comes from Lady, which was the first name given to the region by Spanish explorers, led by Diego de Guzman, because they arrived in the Yaqui River on 7 October, 1533, the day of Our Lady of the Rosary. As the natives could not pronounce the letter 'N', Lady led Sonora. A second theory is that the Indians lived in reed huts sonot calls on your tongue. The Spanish changed that word to sound and then extended the name to the whole province.

Some of the oldest archaeological sites found in Sonora are related to Cochise culture, which developed in the period Paleoamerican. In the northwest of the state, some sites in the basins of the Altar, Magdalena and Concepción show an evolution of the Cochise culture to culture Trenches, characterized by certain types of pottery and building terraces and walls on the sides of the hills. Among the most characteristic of that culture is Cerro Trench.

After the invasion of the United States from 1846 to 1848 the picture was devastating. In 1853 the filibuster William Walker, who had proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Lower California, decided to expand it and instead proclaimed the Republic of Sonora, hypothetically composed of two states, Baja California and Sonora. Walker's attempt was unsuccessful, but helped the Mexican government, fearing that the United States would support the filibuster and repeat what happened in Texas, opt for the Sale of La Mesilla, in which the United States was concerned. Sonora, which was the largest state in Mexico, was maimed in more than a quarter of its territory and population losing Tubac, Tumacacori, Tucson and Yuma. Before the sale of the state Mesilla reached the Gila River to the north and west by the Colorado River.

Geography

The state of Sonora has a land area of ​​184,934 km ², it is part of the United Mexican States, and is located in the northwest side and is second in size among all the states of the Republic, with a portion of 9.2% of the total surface.

Its geographical location, is situated between 32 ° 29 'and 26 ° 14' north latitude and between 108 ° 26 'and 105 ° 02' longitude west of Greenwich. Bordered on the north by the United States of America, on the south by the state of Sinaloa, Chihuahua to the east and west by the Gulf of California and Baja California. Its physiography consists mostly of plains and mountains. The territory is wide in its northern part and gradually narrows his way south.

Sonora is a mountainous state for being in the external side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Presents a sharp decline toward the Gulf of California, which falls from a height in the Sierra de Alamos (2,000 m). The mountains are oriented in a south-southeast and north-northeast between the longitudinal valleys which form the river banks sometimes are cut by ravines and cliffs, to open with higher dimensions as it approaches the coast to finish wastelands or deserts in acquiring its greatest extent in the municipalities of Pitiquito and Caborca, which determines two main areas: the mountainous terrain and the other plane. The first, in addition to possessing the river banks has open plains fertile valleys in the high breads, can be cited among the latter those of the municipalities of Yécora, Villa Hidalgo and Cananea. The second zone, as it approaches the coast, is acquiring greater length, ending in wastelands or deserts hostile to life by its climate and geological constitution.

The river basins of the state have a steep decline to the coast, resulting in the precipitation of the water, which will be lost, except the Yaqui and Mayo, in the sands of the coast. For this reason, the valleys are formed out of the flat and in the basins of the rivers and streams are almost entirely and cut narrow gorges and hills. Among the major valleys: the Yaqui, that of May, the Ures, the Costa de Hermosillo, the Caborca, the Cumpas, the Guaymas-Empalme and San Luis Rio Colorado. The only major valleys, considering the extension in culture, are the Yaqui and Mayo. The first with an area of ​​500 000 ha and the second with 220 000 ha.

The desert region is a mostly desert scrub, except for the area where it is sandy Altar. The desert is more rich and varied life and biotic communities across America. The area houses the Altar Desert El Pinacate volcanic field, with large craters that make it seem a moonscape on earth.

At first, all of Mexico adopted DST, but the state of Sonora stopped using it in 1998, because that was what little benefit because of such high temperatures recorded in the region, and on the other hand to keep at the same time the state of Arizona, United States, that does not utilize daylight saving time. This causes the states of Baja California and Sonora empaten their schedules UTC -7.

Flora and Fauna

It features a variety of species of flora. In dry regions are a wide range of xerórilas plants such as saguaros and trees such as mesquite, palo White, ironwood, palo verde and torote as they have to adapt as systems grow at the edge of streams and on the slopes of the hills, not very high to counteract the force of the wind and be very hard wood and long roots that penetrate the earth to find a water tank. High in the mountains found evergreen trees such as pine, fir and oak.

The fauna of Sonora is rich and varied, being able to count the following as major animals, grouped by species:

Mammals: squirrel, wild sheep, deer, mountain goat, ringtail, rabbit, coyote, which, bobcat, boar, jaguar, hare, ocelot, ounce, black bear, collared peccary, puma, rat, badger, wild cat, deer tail white fox and skunk.

Birds: snipe, hawk, lark, alcatraz, owl, roadrunner, huitlacoche, chachalaca, gallardeto, water fowl, sea-green, hawk, gull, bargain huilota falcon bird fly Quelele, Wren, owl, turtledove, quail.

Fish: carp, tilapia.

The State of Sonora is divided politically into municipalities that represent the third level of government in Mexico. The state of Sonora is composed of 72 municipalities that have their own government that lies at the Town Hall, which is run by a mayor elected by popular vote.

Population

According to data II threw the Population and Housing Census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) with census date of 12 June 2010, the state of Sonora until this year had a total of 2,662,480 inhabitants of that number, 1,339,612 were men and 1,322,868 were women. The annual growth rate for the entity during the period 2005-2010 was 2.1%. The population growth has been a constant dynamic results in an increase in the last 50 years. The population density is 14.7 inhabitants per km2 Sonora, putting the state in 29th place.

The most populated cities in the Population and Housing Census 2010 are:

Economy

The main economic activities in Sonora are livestock, mining, fishing and agriculture. And recently the maquiladora industry and food production have been booming in the state. Major cities in the economic sector are: Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregon, Nogales, Guaymas, Navojoa, San Luis Rio Colorado, Agua Prieta, Caborca ​​and Puerto Peñasco among the most important cultural cities include: Los Alamos, Arizpe, Ures, Magdalena de Kino , the historic center of Hermosillo and the Rio Sonora adelaños peoples, among others.

Tourism

Thanks to its privileged location is an attractive tourist destination, due to the diversity of its landscapes, people, beautiful beaches framed color and richness and a desert meets the sea and mountains. The diversity of the ecosystems enables the State to be a variety of recreation and tourism activities like diving, fishing, swimming, mountain biking, hiking, hunting tourism and ecotourism.

Both in the water and in the lands of Sonora inhabit a large number of unique species in the world which by its nature it become a must-visit site. In addition to its natural, offers a variety of traditional dishes that manage to satisfy even the most discerning palate and dances and traditions of the ethnic groups that formed the state and still remain.

For the convenience of the visitors with all hosting services, guidance and communication.

Recently, Sonora has experienced a tourist boom especially in the city of Puerto Peñasco, where they have been installed world-class hotels to leverage the appeal of the pristine beaches of the northern Sea of ​​Cortez.



Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonora