Montemorelos is a city and surrounding municipality of 60,829 inhabitants located in the Northern Mexican state of

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

, in the valley of the Pilon River. It was named after

José María Morelos José María Teclo Morelos Pérez y Pavón () (30 September 1765 – 22 December 1815) was a Mexican Catholic priest, statesman and military leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of ...

History

In 1637,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Martín de Zavala Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

promised a large tract of land in central Nuevo León to Captain

Alonso de León Alonso de León "El Mozo" (c. 1639–1691) was explorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. Early life Alonso de León González was born in 1639, in the settlement of Cade ...

on condition that, in less than a year, a colonial settlement is built and populated inside its borders. De León distributed the estate to his children and one of them, Alonso de León González ("The younger"), established his property in the northern banks of the Pilón River, organized an outpost and dedicated it to Our Lady of Regla, a

black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Black Madonna can be found both ...

venerated by Catholics in Chipiona, Cádiz. The settlement grew rapidly and soon the residents requested the intervention of the

Bishop of Guadalajara The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guadalajara ( la, Archidioecesis Guadalaiarensis) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese based in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. It currently covers an area of 20,827 km² (8,044 Square Miles). The di ...

so that a church could be built and dedicated to

St Matthew Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

. The elevation of this parochial church in 1665 marks the foundation of modern-day Montemorelos.

Geography

The municipality of Montemorelos is located in the central region of Nuevo León, near the city of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

. Coordinates for Montemorelos are 25°11' N and 99°50' W. The area of the municipality is 1,706.2 square km. The municipality is surrounded by the Madre Oriental and Los Nogales mountain ranges. Montemorelos has several rivers, none of them navigable. The most important rivers located in the municipality are:

Ramos Ramos is a surname of Spanish and Portuguese origin that means "bouquets" or "branches". Notable people with the surname include: * Adrián Ramos (born 1986), Colombian footballer * Aldrech Ramos (born 1988), Filipino basketball player * Aleja ...

, Pilón, Blanquillo, and Potosí rivers.

Climate

Montemorelos is in the temperate climate zone, according to classification of Wladimir Köppen in 1936, and the semi-warm climate sub-group of the subhumid type. It is warm and dry during the summertime, humid and cold in the winter. The average high temperature varies between 22 and 24 °C in the months of March, April, October and November. During the summer temperatures around 40 °C are common. Sporadic rains generally occur during September and October and also in March and April.

Demographics

According to the INEGI 2005 CensusLink to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática the city of Montemorelos has 52,741 residents, of which 26,286 were male and 26,455 are female. Out of its population only 84 or 0.18% of its inhabitants are of Native Indian origin. 38,669 inhabitants belong to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and 8,070 belonged to other religions. There are 14,327 households in the Montemorelos municipality of which 13,637 were owner occupied.

Economy

Agricultural

Montemorelos is considered as the orchard of the State of Nuevo León for its fertile lands and growth of fruits and grains. Due to the quality of its citruses the city of Montemorelos is called the Orange Capital. It also cultivates

grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The interior flesh is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark pink. Grapefruit is ...

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

gleans Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

and

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

Industrial

To a great extent of the industries that exist in the municipality, rotate around

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

. The first processor of orange juice in Latin America was built in Montemorelos. Montemorelos also has assembly plants and manufacturing plants. The products that are handled are: shoes, dresses, books, and construction blocks.

References

External links

Montemorelos Official Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon Populated places in Nuevo León