Coahuila
—  State  —
Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza
Flag Seal
Anthem: Himno Coahuilense
State of Coahuila within Mexico
Coordinates: 27°18′08″N 102°02′41″W / 27.30222°N 102.04472°W / 27.30222; -102.04472Coordinates: 27°18′08″N 102°02′41″W / 27.30222°N 102.04472°W / 27.30222; -102.04472
Country	Mexico
Capital	Saltillo
Largest City	Torreón
Municipalities	38
Admission	May 7, 1824[1]
Order	16th[a]
Government
• Governor	Ruben Moreira Valdez
• Senators[2]	Guillermo Anaya Ernesto Saro B. Jesús María Ramón
• Deputies[3]	Federal Deputies • Héctor Fernández • Héctor Franco López • Noé Fernando Garza • Hugo Martínez • Tereso Medina • Ignacio Moreira • Miguel Ángel Riquelme • Melchor Sánchez • Francisco Saracho • Jesús Ramírez • Tomasa Vives • Telma Guajardo • Elsa Martínez
Area[4]
• Total	151,563 km2 (58,519 sq mi)
	Ranked 3rd
Highest elevation[5]	3,710 m (12,170 ft)
Population (2010)[6]
• Total	2,748,391
• Rank	16th
• Density	18/km2 (47/sq mi)
• Density rank	26th
Demonym	Coahuilense
Time zone	CST (UTC−6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC−5)
Postal code	25 - 27
Area code	Area codes • 842 • 844 • 861 • 862 • 864 • 866 • 867 • 869 • 871 • 872 • 873 • 877 • 878
ISO 3166 code	MX-COA
HDI	0.850 High Ranked 9th
GDP	US$ 21,556,311.01 mil[b]
Website	Official Web Site
^ a. Joined to the federation under the name of Coahuila y Texas also recognized as Coahuila y Tejas. ^ b. The state's GDP was 275,920,781 million of pesos in 2008,[7] amount corresponding to 21,556,311.01 millon of dollars, being a dollar worth 12.80 pesos (value of June 3, 2010).[8]

Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (Spanish pronunciation: [koaˈwila ðe saɾaˈɣosa]), officially 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 the Federal District, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northeastern Mexico.

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 U.S. - Mexico border, adjacent to the United States 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 capital of Coahuila is Saltillo, and its largest city is Torreón. Coahuila also includes the cities of Monclova (a former state capital), Piedras Negras, and Ciudad Acuña.

Etymology[link]

From the Nahuatl Kuahuilan also Cuahuilan (Place of the Trees). The researcher Vito Alessio Robles gave the final translation to the word Coahuila.

History[link]

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 its 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 4000 lost their homes. In 2007, Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions (Pacto Civil de Solidaridad) to same-sex couples.^[9]

Geography[link]

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.

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. 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[link]

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

Demographics[link]

The last population census run across Mexico in the year 2010, reports Coahuila de Zaragoza as having 2,748,391 inhabitants, which, considering its size, means that the state has a very low density, in fact as low as only 15 persons per square kilometer.

Coahuila's population is mainly made up of people of Criollo (European) extraction along with mestizos. Less than 7,500 natives reside in Coahuila, or merely 0.3% of the total population. The rest of the population is composed of American, Canadian, and Japanese communities.

The rest of the demographic particulars in the state are very similar to national averages, such as a high life expectancy (reaching 75 years of age) and a Catholic majority.

Education[link]

Institutions of higher learning in Coahuila, Mexico include:

• Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo
• Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro (UAAAN)
• Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila

Economy[link]

About 95% of Mexico's coal reserves are found in Coahuila, which is the country's top mining state. Saltillo also has a growing automobile industry, hosting General Motors and Chrysler assembly plants.

As of 2005, Coahuila's economy represents 3.5% of Mexico's total gross domestic product or 22,874 million USD.^[10] Coahuila's economy has a strong focus on export oriented manufacturing (i.e. maquiladora / INMEX). As of 2005, 221,273 people are employed in the manufacturing sector.^[11] Foreign direct investment in Coahuila was 143.1 million USD for 2005. The average wage for an employee in Coahuila is approximately 190 pesos per day.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand Coahuila is the Mexican state with the highest level of public debt in the nation.

Municipalities[link]

Coahuila is subdivided into five regions and 38 municipalities (municipios). For a full list with municipal seats, see: municipalities of Coahuila

Major communities[link]

Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila.

• 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[link]

This list is incomplete

• José María Garza Galán (1886–1893)^[12]
• 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 (2011-2011) (Humberto Moreira's sustitute)
• Rubén Moreira Valdez (2011-2017)

Notable people[link]

• Venustiano Carranza - President of Mexico
• Luis Farell - Combat pilot and general
• Eulalio Gutiérrez - President of Mexico
• Joakim Soria - MLB closer
• Pablo Montero - Singer and actor
• Horacio Piña - MLB pitcher)
• Mario Domm - musician and lead singer of Mexican pop band Camila
• Sangre Chicana - Professional wrestler
• Dr. Wagner - Profesional Wrestler
• Dr. Wagner, Jr. - Professional wrestler
• Ari Telch - Actor
• Andrea Villarreal - Feminist and revolutionary
• Rosario Ybarra - Politician and senator
• Humberto Zurita - Actor, director and producer
• Francisco Ignacio Madero - President of Mexico November 1911 - February 1913
• Reading Wood Black - Founder of Uvalde, Texas spent American Civil War years in Coahuila.

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	North America portal
	Latin America portal
	Mexico portal

• Coahuila y Texas
• Nueva Extremadura
• Nueva Vizcaya
• States of Mexico

References[link]