Cananea is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the northern portion of the
Mexican state of
Sonora, on the
U.S. border. Its municipal seat is the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
Cananea
Cananea is a city in the Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, in the vicinity of the U.S−Mexico border.
The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The p ...
, located at .
Population
The population of the municipality of Cananea was 35,892.
Most of the population lives in the municipal seat, which had 31,560 inhabitants. This represented over 95.8% of the total.
*Population in 1980: 25,327
*Population in 1990: 26,931
*Population in 2000: 32,061
*Population in 2010: 32,936
Towns and villages
The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are:
History
The territory now occupied by the municipality was originally a rancheria inhabited by the Pima Indians, who had been pacified by the Spanish in the seventeenth century.
According to local information, the word Cananea comes from two Apache words: “can” which means "meat" and “efa” which means "horse".
The colonial development of Cananea was influenced gby the nearby missions of Arizpe, Santa María and Cocóspera. In the middle of the nineteenth century Cananea became part of the province of
Sonora, becoming a "real de minas". On 8 November 1901, Cananea was raised to municipal status, after having been part of the municipality of Fronteras.
In 1906 the site was stage to perhaps the most famous strike in Mexican history, the "huelga de Cananea". This strike was against the American owned mining company and was put down by forces brought across the border from the United States with considerable loss of life on the part of the striking miners. This strike is considered to be one of the precursors to the
Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Cananea became a municipality in 1901. In 1937 the territory of Naco separated and it became
municipality of Naco. On 31 October 2001, the city of Cananea temporarily became the capital of the state of
Sonora during the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the municipality.
Geography
This ''
municipio
' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...
'' borders
Cochise County, Arizona, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
to the north, and the municipalities of
Arizpe
Arizpe (or Arispe) is a small town and the municipal seat of the Arizpe Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located at 30°20'"N 110°09'"W. The area of the municipality is 2,806.78 sq.km. The population in 2005 was ...
(south),
Naco and
Bacoachi
Bacoachi is a small town in Bacoachi Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. The area of the municipality is 487 square miles (1,260.65 km²) and the population (rural and urban) was 1,456 in 2005, with 924 inhabitants resi ...
(east) and
Ímuris and
Santa Cruz (west). Its total area is 4,414.1 square kilometers and its average elevation is 1,500 meters above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
.
In addition to the municipal seat there are several small communities: ejido Morelos, Emiliano Zapata, Zaragoza and Vicente.
Cananea has a relatively high altitude. The most important mountain peaks are Manzanal, Los Ajos, Cananeita, Magallanes, Azul and la Mariquita (2,480 m), which is the site of the
Guillermo Haro Observatory, an astronomical observatory of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The most important rivers are: Sonora, Bacanuchi and San Pedro; other streams are: Jaralito, Río Claro, Santa Bárbara, Los Difuntos, El Sauz, El Berrendo, El Álamo, Villa Verde, El Chiflón, Cuitaca, Cocóspera, El Anillo and San Antonio.
There were 34 wells (2000), of which 20 were for irrigation, 11 for water supply for the Compañía Minera de Cananea, and four for drinking water for Cananea and ejido Zaragoza.
The climate is semihot subhumid with an average monthly maximum temperature of 23.5 °C in the months of June to September and an average monthly minimum temperature of 7.4 °C in December and January; the average annual temperature is 15.3 °C.
The vegetation is pasture in almost all of the area, while there are still stands of oak pine in the higher elevations. The areas that can be irrigated are scarce.
Adjacent municipalities and counties
*
Naco Municipality - northeast
*
Fronteras Municipality
Fronteras Municipality is a municipality in Sonora in north-western Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It ...
- east
*
Bacoachi Municipality
Bacoachi (municipality) is a Municipalities of Mexico, municipality in Sonora in north-western Mexico.
References
{{coord, 30.6532, N, 109.9790, W, source:wikidata, display=title
Municipalities of Sonora ...
- southeast
*
Arizpe Municipality
Arizpe (municipality) is a municipality in Sonora in north-western Mexico. The Municipality of Arizpe is one of the 72 municipalities of the Mexican state of Sonora, located in the north-central region of the state in the Sierra Madre Occidental ...
- south
*
Ímuris Municipality - southwest
*
Santa Cruz Municipality - northwest
*
Cochise County, Arizona - north
Economic activity
Mining is still very important, with copper mines in the municipal seat. Cattle raising is also widely practiced. The main agricultural products are corn, beans, barley, sorghum, alfalfa, and apples.
In the municipal seat there are manufacturing companies that operate under the system called
maquila
A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...
, assembling products for re-export to the United States.
Government
The current
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of Cananea is
Jesus Reginaldo Moreno Garcia, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and his term expires in 2012. He is a retired teacher.
References
External links
* {{in lang, es}
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México
Populated places established in 1901
Municipalities of Sonora
*