Chihuahua (state)

The state of Chihuahua is one of the 31 states of Mexico, and the largest; it is located in the northwestern part of the country. It has a mainland area of 244,938 km². It is largely a desert state, although there are areas of significant rainfall and green forests. In fact, Chihuahua state has more forest than any other Mexican state. ISO 3166-2 is MX-CHH.

The state is named after its capital city, Chihuahua City. The origin of the name is not known for sure, but it is old, predating the Spanish, and is thought to derive from the Nahuatl Xicuahua, or "dry, sandy place".

Chihuahua is bounded on the north mostly by the Rio Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and Texas, and to some extent by the state line of New Mexico. The states of Sonora and Sinaloa border it on the west, Durango on the south, and Coahuila on the east.

As of 1990, there were 2.5 million inhabitants of the state. The largest city is not the capital, Chihuahua, with a half-million inhabitants, but Ciudad Juarez, with 800,000 residents. The capital was founded in 1709 by Don Antonio Deza y Ulloa[?].

Chihuahua is known for its production of apples, nuts, timber, cattle, sheep, and nonferrous metals.

One of the most notable features of Chihuahua is the Barranca del Cobre, or Copper Canyon, a spectacular canyon system rivalling the Grand Canyon.

External link

• http://www.chihuahua.gob.mx : Site of the government in Spanish

See also: Mexico, Geography of Mexico