Noria de Ángeles is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Mexican state of
Zacatecas
Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...
, located approximately southeast of the state capital of
Zacatecas City
Zacatecas () is the principal city within the municipalities of Mexico, municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the ...
.
Geography
The municipality of Noria de Ángeles is located at an elevation between on the
Mexican Plateau
The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano (), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States border in the north to the T ...
in southeastern Zacatecas. It borders the Zacatecan municipalities of
Villa Hidalgo to the east,
Pinos to the southeast,
Loreto to the south,
Luis Moya
Luis Rodríguez Moya, better known as Luis Moya (born 23 September 1960) is a Spanish former rally co-driver, synonymous with driver Carlos Sainz. He is the third most successful co-driver in the history of the World Rally Championship (WRC), ...
to the west,
Ojocaliente to the northwest, and
Villa González Ortega to the north.
It also borders the municipality of
Salinas in the state of
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí.
It ...
to the northeast. The municipality covers an area of and comprises 0.5% of the state's area.
[
As of 2009, 60.8% of the land in Noria de Ángeles is used for agriculture. ]Matorral
300px, Springtime in Santiago.html" ;"title="Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago">Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago along the Pan-American Highway
Matorral is a Spanish language, Spanish word, along with ''tomil ...
(33.1%) and grassland (3.5%) cover much of the remainder, while the abandoned Real de Ángeles mine and its tailings
In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...
area cover 1.9% of the municipality's land area. Most of the municipality lies in the endorheic basin
An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...
of El Salado
El Salado is a town in the municipality of Álamos in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is south southeast of Álamos and northwest of El Fuerte, in Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico Ci ...
, while a portion of the south is drained by the Chicalote River, a tributary of the San Pedro or Aguascalientes River, itself a branch of the Río Verde.[
Noria de Ángeles has a temperate semi-arid climate with dry winters. Average temperatures in the municipality range between , and average annual precipitation ranges between .][
]
History
Noria de Ángeles is situated in an area that was originally inhabited by the Guachichil
The Guachichil, Cuauchichil, or Quauhchichitl are an exonym for an Indigenous people of Mexico. Prior to European contact, they occupied the most extensive territory of all the Indigenous Chichimeca tribes in pre-Columbian central Mexico.
The ...
, one of the Chichimeca
Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajío region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the same meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" tha ...
nations. The settlement of Noria de Ángeles was first registered on 15 January 1621,Noria
A noria (, ''nā‘ūra'', plural ''nawāʿīr'', from , ''nā‘orā'', lit. "growler") is a hydropowered '' scoop wheel'' used to lift water into a small aqueduct, either for the purpose of irrigation or to supply water to cities and village ...
de Ángeles on 19 August 1916. From 1935 to 1941, the municipality was named after Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated b ...
.UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
list of World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
s in 2010 as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (), also known as the Silver Route, was a Viceroyalty of New Spain, Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico (in the modern U.S.), that wa ...
.
In 1979, the village of Real de Ángeles was demolished and rebuilt to the east to make way for an open-pit
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth.
Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...
silver mine. The world's largest such mine in the 1980s, it was operated from 1982 to 1998 by Grupo Frisco, a mining company owned by Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business oligarch, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his e ...
. Grupo Frisco has been repeatedly sanctioned for failing to comply with environmental regulations during the mine's operation and closure. The full extent of the mine's impact on the local environment and the health of the local population has yet to be thoroughly investigated.
Administration
The municipal government of Noria de Ángeles comprises a president, a councillor (Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
: ''síndico''), and ten trustees (''regidores''), six elected by relative majority
A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast.
For ...
and four by proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
.[ The current president of the municipality is Manuel Becerra de la Rosa.
]
Demographics
In the 2020 Mexican Census, Noria de Ángeles recorded a population of 16,284 inhabitants living in 4126 households.[
There are 36 inhabited localities in the municipality,][ of which only the municipal seat, also called Noria de Ángeles, is classified as urban.][
]
Economy
The main economic activities in Noria de Ángeles are agriculture and cattle farming.[ The main crops grown are alfalfa and vegetables such as onions, lettuce and tomatillos.]
References
{{Zacatecas, state=collapsed
Municipalities of Zacatecas
1833 establishments in Mexico
States and territories established in 1833