Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with

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 ...

, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of

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 is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. It is divided into 43 municipalities. Tamaulipas is bordered by the states of Nuevo León to the west, San Luis Potosí to the southwest, and

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

to the southeast. To the north, it has a stretch of the U.S.–Mexico border with the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and to the east it is bordered by the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. In addition to the capital city, Ciudad Victoria, the state's largest cities include Reynosa, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Tampico, and Mante.

Etymology

The name Tamaulipas is derived from ''Tamaholipa'', a Huastec term in which the ''tam-'' prefix signifies "place (where)". No scholarly agreement exists on the meaning of ''holipa'', but "high hills" is a common interpretation. Another explanation of the state name is that it is derived from ''Ta ma ho'lipam'' ("place where the Lipan Apache prey").

History

The area known as Tamaulipas has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years. Several different cultures (north coastal, south coastal, lowlands, and mountains) have come and gone during that period. Tamaulipas was originally populated by the nomad Chichimec and sedentary Huastec, in addition to non-Chichimec hunter-gatherer and fishing tribes.

Spanish era

A gradual process was needed for Spain to subjugate the inhabitants of Tamaulipas in the 16th and 17th centuries. The first permanent Spanish settlement in the area was Tampico in 1554. Further settlement was done by

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionaries; widespread cattle and sheep ranching by the Spanish bolstered the area's economy while forcing native populations from their original lands. Repeated indigenous rebellions kept the area unstable and weakened colonial interest in the region. What is now Tamaulipas was first incorporated as a separate province of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...

in 1746 with the name Nuevo Santander. The local government capital during this time moved from Santander to San Carlos, and finally to Aguayo. The territory of this time spanned from the San Antonio River to the northeast to the Gulf of Mexico, then south to the Pánuco River near Tampico and west to the Sierra Madre Mountains. The area became a haven for rebellious Indians who fled there after increased Spanish settlements in Nuevo León and Coahuila. In 1784 Nuevo Santander (Tamaulipas) led by Escandón, annexed San Antonio de los Llanos and its dependencies on the Purificación lagoon together with a certain number of ranches on the right bank of the Río Grande that belonged to Nuevo León. New settlements were then founded and the line of towns along the Rio Grande would later be dubbed the “villas del norte,” or northern towns (Laredo, Revilla uerrero Mier, Camargo, and Reynosa) which were established as a key part of Escandón’s plan for the pacification and colonization of the province. These settlements, from Laredo to Reynosa, served as a defensive line for larger centers of population in the Mexican interior. Moreover, the villas functioned as a means to introduce Spanish “civilization” to the indigenous groups of the area. The Tamaulipas-Nuevo Leon border likely runs along old Mesquite Posts. In the mid-17th century, various Apache bands from the Southern Plains, after acquiring horses from Europeans in New Mexico, moved southeastward into the

Edwards Plateau The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region at the crossroads of Central, South, and West Texas. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the Pecos River and Chihua ...

, displacing the native hunting and gathering groups. One of these groups was known as Lipan (see Hodge 1907 Vol. I:769 for a confusing list of synonyms). After 1750, when most Apache groups of the Central Texas highlands were displaced by

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...

and moved into the coastal plain of southern Texas, the Europeans of the San Antonio area began referring to all Apache groups in southern Texas as Lipan or Lipan Apache. Many Indian groups of missions in southern Texas and northeastern Mexico had recently been displaced from their territory through the southward push by the Lipan Apaches and were still hostile toward Apaches, linking arms with the local Spanish authorities against their common foe. By 1790, Europeans turned their attention from the aboriginal groups and focused on containing the Apache invaders. In northeastern Coahuila and adjacent Texas, Spanish and Apache displacements created an unusual ethnic mix. Here, the local Indians mixed with displaced groups from Coahuila and Chihuahua and Texas. Some groups, to escape the pressure, combined and migrated north into the Central Texas highlands.

Independent Mexico

In 1824, after the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

from Spain, and the fall of the Mexican Empire, Tamaulipas was one of the 19 founder states of the new United Mexican States. Slavery was formally abolished by the 1824 Constitution. During the fights between centralists and federalists that after independence, the successful Texas Revolution led to the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836. The new republic claimed as part of its territory northern Tamaulipas. Political divisions of Mexico 1824 (location map scheme)

Political divisions of Mexico 1824 (location map scheme)

In 1840, it became a part of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande. In 1848, after the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the ...

, Tamaulipas lost more than a quarter of its territory via the

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

. American president James K. Polk had desired to annex Mexican territory as far south as Tampico although his negotiator Nicholas Trist disregarded this and settled on a border with Texas on the Rio Grande. Its capital was kept at Aguayo, which later was renamed Ciudad Victoria in honor of

Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and political leader who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence. ...

, first

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 ...

. In the wake of the war, Tamaulipas remained an object of interest to American expansionists. The climate was considered suitable for the spread of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

by Southerners who desired the admission of new territory to shift the balance in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

back towards the

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

s. Senator Albert Gallatin Brown declared "I want Tamaulipas, Potosi, and one or two other Mexican states; and I want them all for the same reason - for the plantation and spreading of slavery". In the 1850s José María Jesús Carbajal led several incursions into Tamaulipas before being indicted for violating the Neutrality Act. Filibustering efforts were also directed towards

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

with the Lopez Expedition, which was desired for the same reason as Tamaulipas. The

French occupation French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Fran ...

and reign of Emperor Maximilian during the 1860s was difficult for Tamaulipas, at least on the borders and in the city of Tampico. Portions of Tamaulipas supported the republican forces led by President Benito Juarez in resisting the French, especially in the north. Two years after French occupation began, Tamaulipas as a state finally acceded to Maximilian's rule, and the last French soldiers left the state in 1866, leading up to Maximilian's execution and fall of the Second Mexican Empire in 1867. However, the years after Maximilian's defeat were ones of rebuilding and great growth in Tamaulipas.

International trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significa ...

began to blossom, especially with the coming of the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

to Tampico, which was developing as not only a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

city but also as an industrial and commercial center. The railroad allowed goods to flow quickly from the mines and cities of the interior and the Texas border to Tampico for processing and shipment. This, in turn, caused significant growth in towns such as Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo. Since the

revolution of 1910 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 destructio ...

, successive governments have dedicated themselves to building industry and infrastructure in Tamaulipas, including communications and educational systems. Norberto Treviño Zapata founded the state university system, as well as reformed the state oil industry. Marte Gómez provided increased farm sizes for private family farmers. And more recently, Emilio Martínez Manautou led industrial growth. Lately, a push has been to strengthen

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

, including efforts to increase the price of fish and shellfish on the international market. During the 1970s,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

was experiencing the

Colombian Conflict The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left guerr ...

, leading to the rise of illicit criminal organizations like the

Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...

and Medellín Cartel led by drug traffickers like Pablo Escobar and Fabio Ochoa Vásquez. In Mexico, there had already existed various illicit organizations doing drug trafficking like the Gulf Cartel, Milenio Cartel, Juaréz Cartel, Guadalajara Cartel, and a new group of vigilante drug traffickers called La Familia Michoacana. The Gulf Cartel was in charge of the State of Tamaulipas and other gulf coast states, leading to the drug trafficking rates going high in the 1990s. Around that time, a group of defectors from the

Mexican Special Forces In Mexico, both the army and navy have special forces groups or elite units. Army Special Forces The Army has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three Special Forces Brigades, a High Command GAFE ( Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Es ...

that participated in the Chiapas conflict defected as Osiel Cárdenas Guillén made them promises that they would receive better wages if they worked as the enforcer group of the Gulf Cartel called Los Zetas. They did incursions in states like Michoacán and merged La Familia Michoacana as an enforcer group from 2004 to 2006. In 2006, their crimes resulted in the Mexican drug war and

Joint Operation Nuevo León-Tamaulipas Joint Operation Nuevo León-Tamaulipas is an anti-drug joint operation in two Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León by Federal Police and the Mexican Armed Forces. The objective of the joint operation is to eliminate Los Zetas and Gulf ...

Geography

Sierra Madre Oriental - La Independencia Jaumave, Tam

The

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towa ...

crosses the southern part of the municipality of Victoria. The coastal plains along the Gulf have a large presence in the state, whereas inland the landscape is adorned by

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 ...

species and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

. Predominant fauna in the region include the cougar (''Puma concolor''), long-tailed weasel (''Mustela frenata''), ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis''),

American badger The American badger (''Taxidea taxus'') is a North American badger similar in appearance to the European badger, although not closely related. It is found in the western, central, and northeastern United States, northern Mexico, and south-ce ...

(''Taxidea taxus''), North American beaver (''Castor canadensis''), plain chachalaca (''Ortalis vetula'') and quail. In the western part of the state, the Sierra Madre Oriental displays warm valleys and high sierras with peaks reaching in the Pedragoso Sierra; in the Borregos Sierra; in La Gloria Sierra; in Cerro el Nacimiento; and above sea level in the Sierra el Pinal. The

Sierra de Tamaulipas The Sierra de Tamaulipas is an isolated, semi-tropical mountain range in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Its highest point is . There are no cities or towns in the Sierra and the small population is largely agricultural. The higher elevations o ...

and the Sierra de San Carlos are isolated mountain ranges in eastern Tamaulipas. In terms of hydrology, the Bravo, Purificacion, and Guayalejo Rivers flow into the Gulf of Mexico after crossing the state from the western inland. On their way, their basins and zones of influence naturally correspond to the areas destined for agricultural use. The Rio Grande, known to Mexicans as the Río Bravo, represents the northern frontier shared with the United States. One of the tributaries of this natural border, the San Juan River, feeds the Marte R. Gómez Dam. Agricultural and cattle-raising activities are served by 14 other dams across the state, with a total capacity of 7,500 million m³ of water. File:Rio Grande SE of Falcon Reservoir, Municipality of Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico (12 August 2007).jpg,

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

ca. 3 miles southeast of Falcon Reservoir, Municipality of Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico (August 2007) File:Thornscrub south of Reynosa, Municipality of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico (13 August 2007).jpg, Thornscrub south of Reynosa, Municipality of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico (August 2007) File:Grassland habitat on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (18 March 2009).jpg, Grassland habitat on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (March 2009) File:Rio Sabinas, Municipality of Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, Mexico (15 April 2001).jpg, Dawn on the Rio Sabinas near Highway 85, Municipality of Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, Mexico (April 2001) File:El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Municipality of Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, Mexico (16 April 2001).jpg, Road into the cloud forest of El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Municipality of Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, Mexico (April 2001) File:Cloud forest vegetation in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, 24 September 2003.jpg, Lush cloud forest vegetation and waterfall in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (August 2004). File:Cloud forest road in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, 24 September 2003.jpg, The few roads in the cloud forest of El Cielo Biosphere Reserve are suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles only (August 2004). File:Cloud forest stream in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, 24 September 2003.jpg, Cloud forest stream in El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (August 2004) File:Rio Guayalejo & Cerro del Bernal, Municipality of Gonzlaez, Tamaulipas, Mexico (17 April 2001).jpg, Rio Guayalejo at Highway 80 with silhouette of Cerro del Bernal, Municipality of Gonzlaez, Tamaulipas, Mexico (April 2001) File:Sierra Madre Oriental, Municipality of Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, Mexico (10 August 2003).jpg, Gravel road through the arid interior slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Municipality of Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, Mexico (August 2003)

Climate

About 58% of the state has a hot

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

. In the centre, north, and towards southwest, an

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

and

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 ...

predominate (both of these account for 38% of the state). A temperate subtropical climate is found in the extreme southwest of the state while in the extreme southeast, such as Tampico, there is a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

. Mean annual temperature in the state is around while mean annual precipitation is , mostly concentrated between June to September.

Government and infrastructure

State agencies include: * Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (Tamaulipas) * Secretetaria De Obras Publica * Procuraduria General De Justica Tamaulipas * Policia Estatal

Economy

Northern Tamaulipas shares its economic culture with that of

, and is primarily characterized by agriculture and strong growth in all industrial sectors. This region is home to many of the maquiladoras, factories owned by foreign companies but worked by Mexicans, primarily by women. In the state there are important industrial parks such as the Oradel Industrial Center, located in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. Southern Tamaulipas' economy is primarily based on the

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewabl ...

industries. There are petrochemical production plants around Altamira as well as a principal Gulf coast container port, refinery facilities in

Ciudad Madero Ciudad Madero is a coastal city, located in southeast Tamaulipas in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the seventh most populous city in the state, with a census-estimated 2015 population of 209,175 within an area of 18.0 square miles (46.6 km2) the c ...

and many oil-industry support service companies in Tampico, as well as a major

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

and

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/ crude oi ...

port. Also of importance are the tourism and fishing industries, as well as much commercial shipping, based in Tampico and Altamira. The little village of

La Pesca La Pesca is a small town in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Río Soto La Marina, between the Laguna Madre to the north and the Laguna Morales to the south. It stands due east of state cap ...

, in the municipality of Soto La Marina, about midway between Brownsville, Texas and Tampico, is a rapidly growing tourist area with lovely beaches and excellent fishing both in the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Soto La Marina. The central zone contains the capital, Ciudad Victoria, and is home to much forestry and farming, as well as some industrial development. About 30% of the population lives here, both in the capital and in

Ciudad Mante Mante, formally Ciudad Mante, is a city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city is the municipal seat of El Mante municipality in extreme southern Tamaulipas, and lies in the northwestern portion of the municipality. It had a 2005 census ...

. Ciudad Victoria is a significant educational center, home to the

Autonomous University of Tamaulipas , mottoeng = Truth, Beauty, Probity , established = , type = Public university , rector = ING. José Andrés Suárez Fernández , faculty = , staff = , students = , undergrad ...

(which also has campuses in other cities in the state), the Regional Technical Institute of Ciudad Victoria, the University of Valle de Bravo, and other institutions of learning. As of the 1990 Mexican census, 13 percent of the homes had only dirt floors, nearly 19 percent had no running water, and over 15 percent of the homes had no electricity. This was better than the national average but was skewed because of the high rate of development in the urban centers. In rural communities in Tamaulipas, access to running water was available in less than 40 percent of homes. As of 2005, Tamaulipas's economy represents 3.3% of Mexico's total

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...

or 21,664 million USD. Tamaulipas's economy has a strong focus on export oriented manufacturing (i.e. maquiladora / IMMEX). As of 2005, 258,762 people are employed in the manufacturing sector. Foreign direct investment in Tamaulipas was 386.2 million USD for 2005. The average wage for an employee in Tamaulipas is approximately 240 pesos per day, $2.00 to $3.00 an hour.

Demographics

There is a large number of people (around 200 000 only in the city of Reynosa) born in the southern neighboring state of Veracruz who are economic immigrants that end up working in the maquila industry.

Education

Tamaulipas enjoys standards slightly higher than the national averages, since illiteracy has been reduced to 5% for those over 15 years of age, average schooling reaches 7.8 years, and as many as 11% have earned a professional degree. Institutions of higher education include: * Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Tamaulipas (IEST) *

Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Madero Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Madero is a technological institute in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordere ...

(ITCM) * Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas * Tec Campus Tampico (ITESM)

Transportation

Airports

Tamaulipas is served by 5 international airports and one national airport. *

is served by: Ciudad Mante National Airport * Ciudad Victoria is served by: General Pedro J. Méndez International Airport * Matamoros is served by: General Servando Canales International Airport * Nuevo Laredo is served by: Quetzalcóatl International Airport * Reynosa is served by: General Lucio Blanco International Airport * Tampico is served by: General Francisco Javier Mina International Airport

Media

Newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

of Tamaulipas include: ''El Bravo'', ''El Diario de Ciudad Victoria'', ''El Mañana'', ''El Mañana de Reynosa'', ''El Mercurio de Tamaulipas'', ''El Sol de la Tarde'', ''El Sol de Tampico'', ''Hora Cero Tamaulipas'', ''La Razón'', ''La Tarde'', ''La Verdad de Tamaulipas'', ''Milenio'', ''Periódico Valle del Norte'', and ''Siempre con la verdad a tiempo.''

Notable natives and residents

* José Ángel Gurría Treviño, diplomat and economist, Secretary-General of the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

. * Intocable, Regional Mexican musical group * Fito Olivares, Cumbia singer/musician * Alicja Bachleda-Curus, actress, singer * Rosemary Barkett, US judge *

Jean-Louis Berlandier Jean-Louis Berlandier (1803 – 1851) was a French-Mexican naturalist, physician, and anthropologist. Early life Berlandier was born in Geneva, and later trained as a botanist there. During this time he probably served an apprenticeship to a ...

(1803 – 1851) French-Mexican naturalist, physician, and anthropologist. *

James Carlos Blake James Carlos Blake (born May 26, 1947) is an American writer of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays. His work has received extensive critical favor and several notable awards. He has been called “one of the greatest chroniclers of the my ...

, award-winning novelist * José María Jesús Carbajal, Mexican freedom fighter, military governor of Tamaulipas * Linda Christian, actress * Ivan Contreras, volleyball olympics *

Ana Brenda Contreras Ana Brenda Contreras (born 24 December 1986), also known as Ana Breco, is an American actress, singer and model. From 2010 to 2011, she played Aurora Alcázar in the telenovela ''Teresa''. From 2018 to 2019, Contreras starred as Cristal Jennings ...

, actress, singer * Amalia González Caballero de Castillo Ledón, diplomat, cabinet minister, minister plenipotentiary, writer, * Laura Elizondo, beauty queen/model * Juan García Esquivel, composer/band leader/pianist *

Laura Flores Laura Aurora Flores Heras (born August 23, 1963) is a Mexican actress, hostess and singer. Biography Laura Flores had a hit single "El Alma No Tiene Color" ("The Soul Has No Color"), which was a duet with Marco Antonio Solís taken from the ...

, actress *

Rafael Aguilar Guajardo Rafael Aguilar Guajardo (1950 – 12 April 1993) was a Mexican drug lord, federal police commander of the Direccion Federal de Seguridad (DFS) in Mexico, and one of the Juárez Cartel co-founders. He was the right-hand man to Pablo Acosta Vi ...

, drug criminal * Manuel González Flores, general and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1880 to 1884. * Víctor García, singer *

Elma González Elma L. González (born June 6, 1942) is a Mexican-born American plant cell biologist. She is Professor Emerita of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1974, she was appointed professor of cell and mole ...

, plant cell biologist * Rodrigo González, musician and songwriter * Emilio Portes Gil, president of Mexico after the death of Alvaro Obregon in 1928. *

Alejandro Gomez Monteverde Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr (Rus ...

, director/producer * Manuel Raga, basketball player * Aurora Robles, model * James de La Rosa, welterweight boxer *

Juan de la Rosa Juan Pedro de la Rosa (born August 7, 1986 in Tamaulipas, Mexico) is a Mexican professional boxer, and is the brother of welterweight boxer James de la Rosa. Personal life De la Rosa's father is Mexican and his mother is an African-American. H ...

, boxer on the NBC's show The Contender *

Arleth Terán Arleth Rocìo Terán Sotelo (; born 3 December 1976), known professionally as Arleth Terán, is a Mexican actress appearing on TV soap operas. Early life Arleth studied acting at "Centro de Educacion Televisa" and went on to television. She d ...

, actress * Rigo Tovar, singer/songwriter/composer/actor *

Ismael Valdez Ismael may refer to: People * Ismael Balkhi, a political activist from Afghanistan * Ismael Blanco (born 1983), an Argentine professional footballer * Ismael Prego "Wismichu", a Spanish youtuber * Ismael Villegas, a Puerto Rican Major League Bas ...

, former starting pitcher in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

Eduardo Verástegui José Eduardo Verástegui Córdoba (; born May 21, 1974) is a Mexican producer and actor. He was part of band Kairo and later a solo music career, before he started appearing in Mexican telenovelas and eventually feature films like ''Chasing Pap ...

, actor/model * B. Traven, German author and activist * Juan Garcia Abrego, drug criminal *

Juan Nepomuceno Guerra Juan Nepomuceno Guerra Cárdenas (July 18, 1915 – July 12, 2001) was a Mexican drug lord who founded and led the Gulf Cartel for over 50 years. He is often considered the "godfather" of U.S-Mexico border cartels. He began his criminal career ...

, smuggler/founder of C.D.G. * Mauricio Garces, actor * Mayra Flores, politician, first Mexican-born American congressperson

State anthem

The current anthem of the state of Tamaulipas is ', composed in 1926 by Rafael Antonio Pérez Pérez, set to music by Alfredo Tamayo Marín. Normally, only the chorus, first verse and chorus are sung in public.

Crime

This state is known to be the site of a territorial struggle between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. The resulting deaths and unresolved kidnappings from the gang violence have been described as a "humanitarian tragedy". The state of Tamaulipas is one of the most affected by violence in the country, mainly caused by organized crime. In February 2010, an armed conflict broke out between the criminal groups known as the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, resulting in many border cities becoming "ghost towns"; such is the case of the border strip known as "La Frontera Chica" made up of the cities of Miguel Alemán, Mier, Camargo and Nueva Ciudad Guerrero. In November 2010, the Mexican army, together with the Federal Police and the Navy, launched an operation around the north of the state of Tamaulipas, allowing hundreds of families to return to their homes after months of exile in other states, mainly in municipalities like Mier, where around 4,000 people returned. According to INEGI, in 2012 Tamaulipas contained 9 municipalities with a homicide rate higher than 100 per 100,000 inhabitants: Cruillas (106), San Fernando (175), Llera (159), Mier (156), Güémez (141), Hidalgo (135), Nuevo Laredo (134), González (109) and Soto la Marina (100). On the other hand, the municipalities that had had the most intentional homicides in 2012 were Nuevo Laredo (536 homicides), Victoria (165) and San Fernando (102). In 2013, 880 homicides were recorded in the state, giving a rate of 25 per 100,000 inhabitants. This placed it that year in the 9th position of the states with the most homicides in Mexico. In 2013, Tamaulipas reached the first national place in kidnappings with 275 known cases and the ninth place in violent highway robbery (68 cases). Currently Tamaulipas continues to be affected by violence, this being one of the factors that have greatly hindered the economic and social activity of the state. In 2014 it was estimated that the losses due to violence by each company in Tamaulipas reached an average of 95 thousand pesos per year (fourth highest in the country). This placed it above the national average in terms of cost of crime for each company (13,600 pesos against the national average of 12,800).

References

External links

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Tamaulipas state government

Ley de Escudo de Armas y el Himno de Tamaulipas
{{Authority control States of Mexico States and territories established in 1824 1824 establishments in Mexico