Sonora Facts
Sonora Facts
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Interesting Sonora Facts: |
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The Colorado River flows into Mexico from Arizona, separating Sonora from Baja California. |
Besides the Sierra Madre Occidental chain, which runs north-south through the eastern part of the state, Sonora has a plains region and a coastline on the Gulf of California. |
The majority of Sonora has a desert or arid climate, with the higher elevations in the mountains having cooler temperatures. |
Hermosillo is the capital and largest city in Sonora. It has a metro area of more than 800,000 people. |
Drug cartel violence and crime in general has devastated Sonora's once lively tourist industry over the last two decades. Despite the problems, tourists still come to Sonora's beach resort locations of Puerto Penasco and San Carlos. |
The formerly nation-wide dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is still powerful in Sonora: the current governor and one senator are members of the political party. |
Sonora is eighteenth among all Mexican states in population with more than 2,800,000 people. Due to its large physical size, though, it is twenty-seventh in density among Mexican states. |
The city of Nogales, Sonora is located on the border with Arizona. Many Mexicans cross the border legally into the United States everyday to visit family and friends and to work. Conversely, thousands of Americans visit Nogales daily for authentic Mexican food and to get good deals on different items. |
Sonora became the twelfth member of the United Mexican States on January 10, 1824. |
In 1854, about one quarter of Sonora was sold to the United States in the "Gadsden Purchase." The United States acquired most of what is today southern Arizona, including Yuma and Tucson, and the bootheel of New Mexico. The U.S. wanted the land south of the Gila River to allow American railroads to build lines to southern California. |
Despite its arid climate, agriculture comprised the most important sector of Sonora's economy. Modern irrigation equipment allows ranchers and farmers to water fields and the long growing seasons mean that more crops can be grown. Sonora is also known for its livestock, especially large cattle ranches. |
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