Cosalá () is a small city and the seat of its surrounding municipality in the Mexican

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Sinaloa. It stands at . The city reported 6,577 inhabitants in the 2010 census.

Overview

Cosalá is located 155 km. from state capital

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish conquerors Lázar ...

. The Royal of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, shortened its name to the Royal Mines of Cosalá is the municipal seat. Francisco Iriarte y Conde, governor of

Occidente State Estado de Occidente ( en, Western State; also known as Sonora y Sinaloa) was a Mexican state established in 1824. The constitution was drafted in that year and the government was initially established with its capital at El Fuerte, Sinaloa. The f ...

declared Cosalá the capital of the western state in 1826. This was due to the growing threat of attack on the former capital

El Fuerte, Sinaloa El Fuerte () is a city and El Fuerte Municipality its surrounding municipality in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city population reported in the 2010 census was 12,566 people. El Fuerte, meaning "The Fort", was named a Pueblo ...

by the forces of Juan Banderas, leader of the

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Sta ...

at that point in the

Yaqui Wars The Yaqui Wars, were a series of armed conflicts between New Spain, and its successor state, the Mexican Republic, against the Yaqui Natives. The period began in 1533 and lasted until 1929. The Yaqui Wars, along with the Caste War against the M ...

.Edward H. Spicer, ''Cycles of Conquest'' (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962) p. 60 Iriarte introduced printing in Sonora and Sinaloa and it was in Cosalá that the first newspaper of Sinaloa, "The Impartial Spectator" was published. In its surroundings are attractions such as the Vado Hondo waterfall and town reservoirs "Comedero" and "El Salto" a few miles from town. Both these lakes are stocked with largemouth bass. The Museum of Mineralogy mainly displays photographs and documents on the history of mining in Sinaloa. Cosalá was the dominant region in the social and political life of the State of Sinaloa until it became its capital in the early independent Mexico.

Climate

Cosalá is classified as having a

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

Tropical Wet and Dry climate (Aw) despite being situated about 1 degree above the Tropic of Cancer. Most municipalities to the north of Cosalá, such as

, have semi-arid to arid climates, as one moves towards the Sonoran–Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest, and into the Sonoran Desert. Cosalá experiences much greater diurnal temperature variations than most Tropical Wet and Dry climates, especially during the winter months, where temperatures regularly drop as low as 10C in January and February (compare this to

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding '' municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip ...

, located about 1 degree south, inside the Tropic of Cancer, where nighttime temperatures in January and February are about 15C on average). Daytime temperatures also tend to be hotter than most locations further south (highs approaching 37C in May/Jun, compared to 30C-33C for Mazatlán), and as such, Cosala's climate behaves more similarly to a semi-arid climate, in this regard, than a truly tropical climate. The record low temperature of 1C, is also substantially colder than Mazatlan's 7.5C.

Attractions

*The Gruta México, a giant cave with stalactites and stalagmites *The Santa Ursula Temple, built in the 18th century which represents the most significant church of Cosalá *The Museum of Mining and History, unique in the country because it traces the mining history of the State with collections of: **documents **old photographs **pre-Hispanic and colonial metallic objects **mineral samples **books **weapons **carriages and horseshoes from the 18th and 19th centuries Cosalá, Sinaloa, was named a "

Pueblo Mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

" in 2005 for its natural environment, cultural riches, and historical relevance.

External links

*http://www.sinaloa.gob.mx/conociendo/municipios/cosala.htm *http://www.tourbymexico.com/sinaloa/cosala/cosala.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20110208073000/http://cosala-sinaloa.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosalá Populated places in Sinaloa Pueblos Mágicos World Heritage Tentative List for Mexico