Sinaloa

Sinaloa is the name of a city, a municipality and a state in Mexico. This article is about the state. For the city and municipality, see: Sinaloa, Sinaloa.

Estado de Sinaloa
File:Escudo de Sinaloa.png
Location
File:SinaloaState.png
Statistics
Capital	Culiacan
Area	58,238 km² Ranked 17th
Population (2000 census)	2,534,840 Ranked 14th
Governor (2005-2011)	Jesús Alberto Aguilar Padilla (PRI)
Federal Deputies	PRI: 7 PAN: 1
Federal Senators	PRI: 2 PAN: 1
ISO 3166-2 Postal abbr.	MX-SIN Sin.

Sinaloa is bordered by the states of Sonora to the north, Chihuahua to the northeast, Durango to the east, and Nayarit to the south. To the west of Sinaloa lies the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.

Sinaloa is the most important state in México in terms of agriculture, and additionally has one of the largest fishing fleets. Culturally, it is known for a style of music known as banda.

One of the most interesting and important cultural expressions of the American continent takes place in Sinaloa: It is the only place in the continent where the ancient ball game of Mesoamerica is still played, in a handful of small, rural communities not far from Mazatlan. The ritual ball game was central in the society, religion and cosmology of all the great Mesoamerican cultures including Teotihuacan, the Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayas. The Sinaloa version of the ball game (the consensus is that it is very faithful indeed to the original game) is called Ulama. There are efforts to avoid the extinction of this (at least) 3,500-years old unique tradition by supporting the communities and children that still play it [1].

The state capital of Sinaloa is Culiacán. Other large cities in Sinaloa with airports that serve as points of entry include Mazatlán, a tourist resort, and Los Mochis, an agricultural center.

History

Early Inhabitants

The current state of Sinaloa was inhabited by mostly hunter and gatherer tribes. The major tribes were the Cahitas, Tahues, Totorames, Pacaxees, Acaxees and the Xiximes.

Early Conquest

In March 1531, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán and his expedition of 300 Spaniards and more than 6,000 Indian allies reached the current-day site of Culiacán. In September of the same year the Villa San Miguel de Culiacán was built as a strategic center for the continuing northern expeditions and later used as a way-point in the journey from Álamos, Sonora to Guadalajara.

Mexican Independence

In 1824, at the time of Mexican independence, Sonora and Sinaloa formed the Internal Western State. The capital of the state at the time was El Fuerte. The Internal Western State was split into current day Sonora and Sinaloa in 1830.

Municipalities

Sinaloa is divided into 18 municipios (municipalities). See municipalities of Sinaloa.

Famous Sinaloenses

Companies headquartered in Sinaloa

External links