Sinaloa
—  State  —
Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa
Flag Seal
State of Sinaloa within Mexico
Coordinates: 25°0′10″N 107°30′10″W / 25.00278°N 107.50278°W / 25.00278; -107.50278Coordinates: 25°0′10″N 107°30′10″W / 25.00278°N 107.50278°W / 25.00278; -107.50278
Country	Mexico
Capital	Culiacán Rosales
Largest City	Culiacán Rosales
Municipalities	18
Admission	October 14, 1830[1]
Order	20th
Government
• Governor	Mario López Valdez
• Senators[2]	Francisco Labastida Margarita Villaescusa (I) María Serrano
• Deputies[3]	Federal Deputies • Rolando Bojórquez • Germán Contreras • Miguel Ángel García • Hadamira Gastélum • Aarón Irízar López • Óscar Javier Lara • Óscar Lara Salazar • Óscar Levin Coppel • Alfredo Villegas • Rolando Zubia Rivera • Manuel Clouthier • Eduardo Robles Medina • Adolfo Rojo Montoya • Herón Escobar García
Area[4]
• Total	57,377 km2 (22,153 sq mi)
	Ranked 18th
Highest elevation[5]	2,520 m (8,270 ft)
Population (2010)[6]
• Total	2,767,761
• Rank	15th
• Density	48/km2 (120/sq mi)
• Density rank	18th
Demonym	Sinaloense
Time zone	MST (UTC−7)
• Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC−6)
Postal code	80-82
Area code	Area codes • 667 • 668 • 669 • 672 • 673 • 687 • 694 • 695 • 696 • 697 • 698
ISO 3166 code	MX-SIN
HDI	0.842 high Ranked 13th
GDP	US$ 13,749,376.25 th[a]
Website	Official Web Site
^ a. The state's GDP was $175,992,016 thousand of pesos in 2008,[6] amount corresponding to $13,749,376.25 thousand of dollars, being a dollar worth 12.80 pesos (value of June 3, 2010).[7]

Sinaloa (Spanish pronunciation: [sinaˈloa]), officially Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales.

It is located in Northwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Sonora to the north, Chihuahua and Durango to the east (separated from them by the Sierra Madre Occidental) and Nayarit to the south. To the west, Sinaloa has a significant share of coastline on the Gulf of California.

The state covers an area of 57,377 square kilometers (22,153 sq mi), and includes the Islands of Palmito Verde, Palmito de la Virgen, Altamura, Santa María, Saliaca, Macapule and San Ignacio.

In addition to the capital city, the state's important cities include Mazatlán and Los Mochis.

History[link]

Prior to the coming of the Spaniards, much of Sinaloa was inhabited by the Cáhita.

In 1531 Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán with a force of over 10,000 defeated a force of 30,000 Cáhita at the site of Culiacan. Beltran de Guzman established a Spanish and allied Indian outpost at Culiacan. Over the next decade, the Cáhita suffered severe depopulation from smallpox and other diseases the Spanish brought.

The Spanish organized Sinaloa as part of the gobierno of Nueva Galicia. In 1564, the area was realigned, with the area of Culiacan and Cosala remainind in the control of Nueva Galicia, while the areas to the north, south and west were put in the newly formed Nueva Vizcaya, making the Culiacan area an exclave of Nueva Galicia. The first capital of Nueva Vizcaya was located in San Sebastian, Sinaloa, near Copala, but the capital moved to Durango, Durango in 1583.^[8]

Starting in 1599, Jesuit missionaries spread out from a base at what is now Sinaloa de Leyva, and by 1610, the Spanish influence had been extended to the northern edge of Sinaloa. In 1601, the Jesuits' movement into the eastern part of Sinaloa lead to the Acaxee going to war. The Spanish eventually managed to reassert authority in the Sierra Madre and executed 48 Acaxee leaders.^[9]

After Mexican independence, Sinaloa was joined with Senora as Occidente State, but it became a separate state in 1830.

Geography and environment[link]

The coastal plain is a narrow strip of land that stretches along the length of the state and lies between the ocean and the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental Range, which dominates the eastern part of the state. Sinaloa is traversed by many rivers, which carve broad valleys into the foothills. The largest of these rivers are the Culiacán, Fuerte, and Sinaloa.

Sinaloa has a warm climate on the coastal side, moderately warm in the valleys and foothills, moderately cold in the lower mountains and cold in the higher elevations. Its weather characteristics vary from subtropical, found on the plains, to cold in the nearby mountains. Temperatures range from 22 °C (72 °F) to 43 °C (109 °F) with rains during the summer.

Numerous species of plants and animals are found within Sinaloa. Notable among the tree species is the elephant tree, Bursera microphylla.^[10]

Culture[link]

Culturally, it is known for a style of music known as banda, and corrido is also popular. It is the only place in the continent where the ancient ball game of Mesoamerica is still played, in a handful of small, rural communities not far from Mazatlán. The ritual ball game was central in the society, religion and cosmology of all the great Mesoamerican cultures including the Mixtecs, Aztecs, and Maya.

A Ulama player in Sinaloa.

The Sinaloa version of the ball game is called ulama, and is very similar to the original.^[11] There are efforts to avoid the extinction of this 3500-year old unique tradition by supporting the communities and children who still play it.^[12]

Demography[link]

According to the 2010 census, Sinaloa is home to 2,767,761^[6] inhabitants, 61% of which reside in the capital city of Culiacán and the municipalities of Mazatlán and Ahome. It is a young state in terms of population, 56% of which is younger than 30 years.

Other demographic particulars report 87% of the state following the Catholic faith; 1% of those over five years of age speaking an indigenous dialect together with the Spanish language; the main indigenous ethnic groups still residing in the state are the Mixtecs and Maya, followed by the Nahuatl and the Zapotecs. Life expectancy in the state follows the national tendency of higher rates for women than men, a difference of almost five years in the case of Sinaloa, at 72.5 and 77.4 years respectively.

In ethnic composition, Sinaloa received large historic waves of immigration from Europe, the Americas and Asia (mainly China, Japan and the Philippines during Spanish and later American rule), and retirees from the U.S. and Canada. Coastal towns and communities have some persons of British–Irish, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Russian ancestry. There was also a sizable influx of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.

Education[link]

In terms of education, average schooling reaches 8.5 years; 7% of those over 15 years of age are illiterate, and 5% of children under 14 years of age do not attend school.^{[citation needed]}

Institutions of higher education include Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Sinaloa, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Mazatlán and Universidad Casa Blanca.

Municipalities[link]

Sinaloa is subdivided into 18 municipios (municipalities) See Municipalities of Sinaloa

The state's major cities include the capital Culiacán, Mazatlán, a tourist resort, and Los Mochis, an agricultural center.

Economy[link]

Tamazula River in Culiacán, Sinaloa

The main productive activities of Sinaloa are agriculture, fishing, livestock breeding, commerce and industry. The products obtained from these activities are used for both local and national consumption. Agriculture produces tomatoes, beans, corn, wheat, sorghum, potatoes, soybeans, sugarcane and squash. Sinaloa is the most prominent state in Mexico in terms of agriculture, and additionally has the second largest fishing fleet. Livestock produces meat, sausages, cheese and milk also sour creme. Cannabis and Opium are also cultivated in high quantities in this region.

Government and politics[link]

The current governor of Sinaloa is CPA Mario López Valdéz (aka Malova) (PAN), elected for the period 2011–2016. The state is represented in Mexico City by three Senators in the upper house of Mexican Congress: Francisco Labastida Ochoa (PRI), Margarita Villaescusa (Independent) and María Serrano (PAN). It also has fourteen federal deputies in the lower house.

Notable natives and residents[link]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	North America portal
	Latin America portal
	Mexico portal

• Sinaloa Cartel

Notes[link]

References[link]

• C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Elephant Tree: Bursera microphylla, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
• Asociacion de Gestores del Patrimonio Historico y Cultural de Mazatlán. 2009. The Mesoamerican Ballgame-Ulama

External links[link]

• (Spanish) Sinaloa state government
• The History of Indigenous Sinaloa
• PBS Frontline: The place Mexico's drug kingpins call home

v t e  State of Sinaloa Culiacán (capital) Municipalities and (municipal seats) Ahome (Los Mochis) Angostura (Angostura) Badiraguato (Badiraguato) Choix (Choix) Concordia (Concordia) Cosalá (Cosalá) Culiacán (Culiacán) El Fuerte (El Fuerte) Elota (La Cruz) Escuinapa (Escuinapa) Guasave (Guasave) Mazatlán (Mazatlán) Mocorito (Mocorito) Navolato (Navolato) Rosario (Rosario) Salvador Alvarado (Guamúchil) San Ignacio (San Ignacio) Sinaloa (Sinaloa de Leyva)

v t e States of Mexico States Aguascalientes Baja California Baja California Sur Campeche Chiapas Chihuahua Coahuila Colima Durango Guanajuato Guerrero Hidalgo Jalisco México Michoacán Morelos Nayarit Nuevo León Oaxaca Puebla Querétaro Quintana Roo San Luis Potosí Sinaloa Sonora Tabasco Tamaulipas Tlaxcala Veracruz Yucatán Zacatecas Federal District Mexico City