Nayarit, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit (English: Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its capital city is Tepic.
It is bordered by the states of Sinaloa to the northwest, Durango to the north, Zacatecas to the northeast and Jalisco to the south. To the west, Nayarit has a significant share of coastline on the Pacific Ocean, including the islands of Marías and Marietas. The beaches of San Blas and the so-called "Riviera Nayarit" are popular with tourists and snowbirds. Besides tourism, the economy of the state is based mainly on agriculture and fishing. It is also one of two states where the tarantula species Brachypelma klaasi is found, the other being Jalisco.
Home to Uto-Aztecan indigenous peoples such as the Huichol and Cora, the region was exposed to the conquistadores Hernán Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán in the 16th century. Spanish governance was made difficult by indigenous rebellions and by the inhospitable terrain of the Sierra del Nayar. The last independent Cora communities were subjugated in 1722. The state's name recalls the Cora people's label for themselves: Náayerite, commemorating Nayar, a resistance leader.
Nayarit
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Coordinates: 22°N 105°W
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nayarit
State
Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit
Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit (Spanish)
The Aguamilpa Dam
The Aguamilpa Dam
Coat of arms of Nayarit
Coat of arms
State of Nayarit within Mexico
State of Nayarit within Mexico
Coordinates: 22°N 105°W
Country Mexico
Capital
and largest city Tepic
Municipalities 20
Admission January 26, 1917[1]
Order 28th
Government
• Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero
• Senators[2] Cora Cecilia Pinedo Alonso
Rosa Elena Jiménez Arteaga
Gloria Elizabeth Núñez Sánchez
• Deputies[3]
Federal Deputies
Area[4]
• Total 27,857 km2 (10,756 sq mi)
Ranked 23rd
Highest elevation[5] 2,760 m (9,060 ft)
Population (2020)[6]
• Total 1,235,456
• Rank 29th
• Density 44/km2 (110/sq mi)
• Rank 23rd
Demonym Nayarita
GDP[7]
• Total MXN 205 billion
(US$10.2 billion) (2022)
• Per capita (US$8,171) (2022)
Time zones UTC−7 (MST)
UTC−6 (CST)
Postal code
63
Area code
Area codes
ISO 3166 code MX-NAY
HDI Increase 0.755 high Ranked 17th of 32
Website Official website
Nayarit (Spanish pronunciation: [naʝaˈɾit]), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit (English: Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its capital city is Tepic.
It is bordered by the states of Sinaloa to the northwest, Durango to the north, Zacatecas to the northeast and Jalisco to the south. To the west, Nayarit has a significant share of coastline on the Pacific Ocean, including the islands of Marías and Marietas. The beaches of San Blas and the so-called "Riviera Nayarit" are popular with tourists and snowbirds. Besides tourism, the economy of the state is based mainly on agriculture and fishing. It is also one of two states where the tarantula species Brachypelma klaasi is found, the other being Jalisco.
Home to Uto-Aztecan indigenous peoples such as the Huichol and Cora, the region was exposed to the conquistadores Hernán Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán in the 16th century. Spanish governance was made difficult by indigenous rebellions and by the inhospitable terrain of the Sierra del Nayar. The last independent Cora communities were subjugated in 1722. The state's name recalls the Cora people's label for themselves: Náayerite, commemorating Nayar, a resistance leader.[8]
History
Map of Nayarit before the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire
The colonial contaduría (accounting offices) in the old port town of San Blas
Radiocarbon dating estimate Aztatlán colonization of the western Mexican coast – including parts of Sinaloa, Nayarit and Jalisco – as occurring as early as 900 AD, with some evidence suggesting it might have been as early as 520 AD. Encountered on the western coast by the Spanish invaders in 1500, the cultures were descended from these original Aztatlán settlements and other Classic-stage cultures who had merged with them.[9][10]
Hernán Cortés was the first known European to enter into the area now known as Nayarit, which he claimed for Spain as part of Nueva Galicia. Under Nuño de Guzmán, Spaniards took the region with considerable brutality, causing the indigenous inhabitants to revolt, in what was later referred to as the Mixtón War.[11][12] After almost two centuries of resistance, the last independent Cora communities were incorporated into Spanish administration by force in 1722. Then followed intense missionary efforts by Jesuits to convert the indigenous.[13]
In the colonial period, the port of San Blas was one of the most important trade ports on the American Pacific coast. Galleons transporting goods from Manila, the Philippines arrived here before the rise of the port of Acapulco.[citation needed] Today, the town still boasts colonial architecture from its heyday, such as the aduana (customs office), the contaduría (accounting offices) and the fortress that protected the port against pirates.[citation needed]
In Nayarit, the struggle for independence from Spain was initiated by the priest José María Mercado, who conquered Tepic and San Blas before being defeated and executed by Spanish royalists. In 1824, in the first constitution of the Mexican Republic, Nayarit was a part of Jalisco. [citation needed] In the mid-1800s Comanche Indians, from Texas and Oklahoma, attacked Tepic causing widespread destruction. During the second half of the 19th century, Nayarit was one of the most turbulent territories in Mexico. The population was in open revolt, demanding access to land.[14]
Nayarit was one of the last territories admitted as a state of the Mexican federation, which occurred on May 1, 1917.[15]
Geography
See also: Sierra Madre Occidental
Sayulita on Nayarit's Pacific coast, a former fishing village now mostly given over to tourism, part of the area now marketed as "La Riviera Nayarit"
Nayarit covers 27,815 square kilometers (10,739 sq mi), making it one of the smaller states in Mexico.[16] Nayarit is located between latitude lines 23°05' north and 20°36' south and longitude lines 103°43' east and 105°46' west. Its terrain is broken up by the western ends of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. Its highest mountains are: San Juan, Sanguangüey, El Ceboruco, Cumbre de Pajaritos and Picachos. Nayarit has two volcanoes, Ceboruco and Sangangüey. In the northeast are broad, tropical plains watered by the Río Grande de Santiago, a continuation of the Lerma River. The main state rivers are the Río Grande de Santiago, San Pedro Mezquital, Acaponeta, Ameca, and Las Cañas. The Río Grande de Santiago is the largest river in Nayarit. The Santiago and its tributaries are of major importance for agricultural irrigation. The Ameca and the Las Cañas lie on the border between Nayarit and the states of Jalisco and Sinaloa, respectively. Notable lagoons in Nayarit include Santa María del Oro, San Pedro Lagunillas and Agua Brava.