Navojoa is the fifth-largest city in the northern

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

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 ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

and is situated in the southern part of the state. The city is the administrative seat of Navojoa Municipality, located in the Mayo River Valley.

History

The city name derives from the native Mayo language meaning "Cactus House" or "Cactus Place" ("Navo"=

Cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

, "Jova"= House). The valley has been continuously inhabited since pre-Hispanic times by the

Mayo people The Mayo or ''Yoreme'' are an indigenous group in Mexico, living in the northern states of southern Sonora, northern Sinaloa and small settlements in Durango. Mayo people originally lived near the Mayo River and Fuerte River valleys. The May ...

. In September 1536, Diego de Guzmán, a Spaniard, became the first known European to reach the valley and the first

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionaries started settling in the region in 1614. Several geoglyphs from the Mayo tribe can be found along the Mayo River. Due to the city's distant location from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, the difficult times of Mexico's independence in the early 19th century were largely absent from the region. However, the city had some importance after the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

of 1910. The Mexican Revolutionary

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

was born in Hacienda Siquisiva, a small town near Navojoa. Álvaro Obregón became

president of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the ...

after the revolt and initiated an '' agricultural revolution'' in the Mayo/Yaqui Valley, introducing modern agricultural techniques and making this valley one of the most prosperous agricultural regions in Mexico.

Economy

Navojoa is part of the large economic center known as the Mayo Valley, which together with Ciudad Obregón and the Yaqui Valley, form one of the most productive agricultural regions in Mexico. Although

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

remains the main source of income, the Navojoa region is increasingly dependent on industrial foreign investment and

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

, especially

shrimp farm Shrimp farming is an aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing shrimp or prawns (crustaceans of the groups Caridea or Dendrobranchiata) for human consumption. Marine Commercial marine shrimp farmin ...

ing. Two large swine production companies that export mainly to the United States, Germany and Japan, a recycled containerboard mill and box factory privately owned by Sonoran investors, as well as one brewery belonging to the

FEMSA Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business as FEMSA, is a Mexican multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. It operates the largest independent Coca-Cola bottling group in the world and the ...

group (recently acquired from Heineken), are among the main industries in Navojoa. The city gains importance through its geographic diversity featuring close access to coastal, desert, and southwest mountainous areas as well as its close proximity to the United States and the neighboring state of Sinaloa. Navojoa is south of

Ciudad Obregón Ciudad Obregón is a city in southern Sonora. It is the state's second largest city after Hermosillo and serves as the municipal seat of Cajeme, as of 2020, the city has a population of 436,484. Ciudad Obregón is south of the state's northe ...

connected primarily by a toll highway (Mex. 15) that extends north across the state of Sonora to the

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

border.

Transportation

Airports

Ciudad Obregón International Airport (CEN) is the nearest commercial airport, north of Navojoa. It receives flights from

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the ...

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

, Loreto,

Los Cabos LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

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 ancho ...

, and, internationally, from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, Phoenix and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

in the United States. Airlines serving this airport include Aeromexico, AeroCalafia, Interjet, Volaris and low-cost airline VivaAerobus. Alternate Airports to CEN are Hermosillo Intl. Airport (IATA: HMO) and in a lower sense Los Mochis (IATA: LMM). HMO also receives low cost airlines' flights incoming from the main cities of the Republic such as: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Querétaro, Monterrey, Tijuana, Puebla among others. Navojoa also has a local airport (see: Navojoa Airport) next to the industrial sector, which is suitable for light private planes. It is about south of the city center.

Buses

Several companies offer low, mid and luxury class bus services from Navojoa to the Mexican Republic and international destinations such as Tucson, Phoenix and Los Angeles in the US. Connections are offered by foreign partner companies to other USA and Canada destinations. A bus station was built in the north of the city; however it is not used and small stations in the city center are used instead. Old public city buses have been replaced with new models with air conditioning, called SUBA. They run every few minutes and provide simple and cheap transport.

Railroad

A north-south freight-only railroad is in operation, connecting to the Mexican border in Nogales and to

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

Highways

The most important highway serving Navojoa is

Mexican Federal Highway 15 Federal Highway 15 ( es, Carretera Federal 15, Fed. 15 ) is Mexico 15 International Highway or Mexico- Nogales Highway, is a primary north-south highway, and is a free part of the federal highways corridors ( es, los corredores carreteros fe ...

, a four-lane highway which connects it to north to Ciudad Obregón, Guaymas, Hermosillo, Nogales and the United States of America; and to the south to the states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, State of Mexico and Mexico City. The main state routes serving Navojoa are Sonora State Highway 149 and Sonora State Highway 162. Also, the Periférico is a semi-beltway encompassing some of Navojoa's southern and western neighborhoods and it is used as a truck route or bypass for Mexican Federal Highway 15. It is enlarged from 2 to 4 lanes in the western section between Centenario Boulevard and Sosa Chávez Boulevard with the project ending in december of 2017.

Others

Although Navojoa's streets are almost all paved, horse-drawn carts are still used by the residents of the small surrounding communities ( San Ignacio Cohuirimpo, etc.). Horse carts are numerous enough that there is a parking lot reserved for them on Hidalgo Avenue near the City Market in central Navojoa.

Education

The following institutions of higher education are based in Navojoa: * Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (ITSON) *

Universidad de Sonora The University of Sonora ( Universidad de Sonora, abbreviated as Unison) is a public university in the northwestern state of Sonora, Mexico that has a strong research program. The university was founded in 1942 and is considered the main cultura ...

- Unidad Navojoa * Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Campus Navojoa (UPN) * Universidad de Navojoa - Affiliated with the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

; also known as Colegio del Pacifico * Universidad Estatal de Sonora (UES) * Instituto Pedagógigo de Postgrado de Sonora (IPPSON) * Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) - Campus Obregón/Unidad Navojoa * Atelier Sonorense * Universidad TecMilenio Campus Navojoa. * Universidad del Desarrollo Profesional (UNIDEP) Campus Navojoa.

Tourism

Navojoa has many hotels with a range of cost and quality. Most hotels are located off Pesqueira Street, mainly between the 1-km-long area between Tecnológico Avenue and Centenario Boulevard.

Museums

The "Museo Regional del Mayo" (Mayo's Regional Museum) is located in the former railroad station building opposite Santa Fe Springs square. The Museum has 5 rooms which exhibit temporary paint, handicraft and sculpture expositions, pre-Hispanic and colonial objects, ethnographic expositions dedicated to the Mayos' culture and other objects related to Navojoa's history. The Tehuelibampo Museum is an eco-museum with 89 petroglyphics carved in the stones over 500 years ago by the Mayo people. It is located next to the Mayo river, some kilometers north-west of Navojoa.

Beaches

The city is near the Gulf of California which offers a variety of beaches. The surrounding country is also popular for hunting ducks, doves and deer.

Las Bocas Las Bocas is a minor archaeological site in the Mexican state of Puebla, whose name has become attached, often erroneously, to a wide-ranging type of Olmec-style figurines and pottery. The Las Bocas site, part of the Balsas River basin, was hea ...

, 30 miles south of Navojoa, is a small beach community on the Gulf of California that is frequently visited by the local residents of Navojoa during spring. (April–May). It is particularly popular during "Semana Santa" (Holy Week), when campers stay for seven days and then return to Navojoa for Easter celebrations. Many people from Navojoa own a second house in Las Bocas. Although one of the closer beaches to Navojoa is located about one hour away in a small town called Huatabampo. The beach is named after the town, hence the name, "Huatabampito" where many families gather year long to enjoy the beauty of the ocean.

Adolfo Ruiz Cortinez dam

The

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Dam The Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Dam, built in 1955 is a medium-sized reservoir, located in the Mexican state of Sonora; it provides water for the Río Mayo Irrigation district. At 1,100 million m3 it ranks the 25th largest reservoir in Mexico ...

, also called Mocúzarit, is a popular fishing spot and stores water used for irrigating the valley via the Mayo River. Other uses include kayaking, water-skiing, geoglyph-viewing and other leisure activities.

Others

Navojoa also acts as a hub for those visiting the colonial town of

Álamos Álamos () is a town in Álamos Municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. Historically an important center of silver mining, the town's economy is now dominated by the tourist sector. Designated a ''pueblo mágico ...

, which is inland toward the mountains of the Sierra Madre.

Climate

Navojoa has a borderline

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''BSh/BWh'') with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is scarce, but is more common during the summer months during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

season.

Sister cities

* Santa Fe Springs,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States *

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

, Spain. *

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000,0 ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

Sports

There are two main public sports facilities in Navojoa. One is "Unidad Deportiva Faustino Félix Serna" with many different baseball, baseball and softball fields, basketball courts, a pool, a professional baseball stadium, a professional basketball arena and many other sport facilities. The other main sports center, "Unidad Deportiva Oriente" is located in the eastern part of the city. Private sports centers are available too, one of them is the "Casino Social de Navojoa", located near downtown. Another one is "La Quinta Racquet Club" located in Los Naranjos neighborhood. The city of Navojoa has its own

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team called '' Mayos de Navojoa'' which is a member of the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico, the most important baseball league in México. Well-known native baseball players, all of them played in MLB: * Gabriel "Gabe" Alvarez,

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. * Luis Alfonso "Cochito" Cruz,

LA Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

. * Francisco "Paquín" Estrada,

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

. *

Isidro Márquez Isidro Márquez Espinoza (born May 14, 1965) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox. Career Márquez played during one season at the major league level for the Chicag ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. *

Fernando Valenzuela Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea (, born November 1, 1960) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. Valenzuela played 17 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons, from to and to . While he played for six MLB teams, he is best remembered f ...

Other famous natives

Valentín Elizalde Valentín Elizalde Valencia (; 1 February 1979 – 25 November 2006) was a Regional Mexican singer. Nicknamed "El Gallo de Oro" (The Golden Rooster), he was known for his off-key style and his biggest hits included: "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor", " ...

, Banda singer * Ignacio Almada, writer * Javier Alatorre, journalist and anchor for ''

Hechos Hechos (Facts) is the news program of TV Azteca in Mexico, aired on its Azteca Uno network. ''Hechos'' newscasts air in the morning, at midday and at 9pm on weekdays and weekdays on Saturdays. All three weekday editions of ''Hechos'' beat Televis ...

'', a news show for

TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two natio ...

President of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the ...

from 1920 to 1924 * Luis Ramón "Yori Boy" Campas, boxer, former IBF World Jr. Middleweight champion * Beatriz Adriana, folk music singer * Manuel Echeverría, baseball player *

Arturo Chacón Cruz Arturo Chacón Cruz (August 20, 1977) is a Mexican American operatic tenor. A winner of the Operalia competition in 2005, he went on to sing leading roles at many North American opera theatres, including Los Angeles Opera, Washington National ...

, tenor * Rafael Moreno, Catholic singer * Rodolfo Coronel, popular folk music singer * Juan Manuel González Flores, vice-president of th
International University Sports Federation
* Ana Patricia Gámez, winner of Nuestra Belleza Latina 2010 * Fausto Isidro Meza Flores,

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

and high-ranking leader of the Beltran-Leyva CartelOpenSanctions.org: Fausto Isidro MEZA FLORES
/ref>

References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Sonora
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México El Monobloque: International Alternative music band

External links

Navojoa, Ayuntamiento Digital
''(Official Website of Navojoa, Sonora)''
Social Events on Navojoa
NVY.mx
Picture of Social Tu Portal son sabor Sonorense de Navojoa
keondas.com
Picture of Social Events Portal de Navojoa
Navoyork.com
Sonora Turismo
Secretariat of Tourism of Sonora
Mayos de Navojoa

team, members of th
Mexican Pacific League

Satellite view on Google Maps
{{Authority control Populated places in Sonora