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Mexican Facts and Figures

manufacture from within Sonora. As a result of so much foreign investment, the state is Mexico’s leading producer of electronic equipment, plastics, and chemical products. Most of these factories are focused around Hermosilla, Sonora’s capital. Although the city is not as close to the U.S. border as other communities, the city government has worked hard at attracting foreign companies. The city was first founded in 1700 as a military base for the Spaniards who were battling the Native Americans, and the old fort still stands at the heart of the city. Around Hermosilla lies fertile farmland. Irrigation projects have brought water to the desert land, and wheat, corn, cotton, pecans, oranges, and grapes flourish under the warm sun. Although the Sonora Desert, the third largest desert in North America, stretches across much of the state, reclamation projects take advantage of the state’s Yaqui, Sonora, and Mayo Rivers, opening up still more farmland for use. Chihuahua Sonora’s neighbor to the east is the state of Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state. To the north, Chihuahua is bordered by New Mexico and Texas. The Río Grande is Chihuahua’s northeastern boundary line, separating it from the state of Texas. Ciudad Juárez is the most important city on this boundary line. Like El Paso, its American sister city across the Río Grande, Juárez has grown in the valley

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carved out of the mountains by the great river. Like Tijuana and other border towns, Juárez sees a lot of American tourists coming across the border. Other sections of the city are packed with factories, most owned by American firms that have relocated in Mexico to take advantage of the low production

The official language of Mexico is Spanish, although many

people speak the native Nahuatl and Maya languages.