sonora (redirected from Sonora, Mexico)

Sonora (sōnō`rä), state (1990 pop. 1,823,606), 70,484 sq mi (182,554 sq km), NW Mexico, on the Gulf of California, S of Arizona. Hermosillo is the capital. Sonora is mostly mountainous, with vast desert stretches; along the gulf are low, broad coastlands. Reclamation projects on the Yaqui, Sonora, Mayo, and other rivers have opened large areas to agriculture. The most extensively irrigated of all Mexican states, Sonora is a leading national producer of cotton and wheat; other cereals and vegetables are also grown. Agriculture is highly mechanized. Cattle raising and fishing are important, and large quantities of shrimp are exported to the United States. Gold, silver, copper, and other metals are mined in Sonora. Power plants at Hermosillo and Guaymas have aided Sonora's rapid industrialization. Food processing and textile manufacture are major industries, and numerous maquiladoras, low-cost foreign-owned plants which finish products for export to the United States, exist throughout the region. Nogales is the chief point of entry from the United States. Systematic Spanish exploration of Sonora, principally by Cristóbal de Oñate, began after Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's expedition in 1540. Spanish missionaries, notably Eusebio Francisco Kino, were active in colonizing the territory during the 17th cent. Originally part of Nueva Viscaya, which also included the present-day states of Chihuahua and Durango, Sonora was later united with Sinaloa; they became separate states in 1830. Sonora played a key role in the Mexican revolution against Porfirio Díaz that began in 1910.

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Sonora

State (pop., 2000: 2,216,969), northwestern Mexico. Bordering the U.S. and the Gulf of California, it covers 70,291 sq mi (182,052 sq km); its capital is Hermosillo. Explored by Spaniards in the 1530s, it became an important colonial mining district for copper, gold, and silver. It became a state in 1830, but the Yaqui Indian peoples were not finally subdued until the 20th century. It is generally arid and semiarid, and irrigation is used to grow winter vegetables, cereals, cotton, tobacco, and corn (maize).

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Sonora

a state of NW Mexico, on the Gulf of California: consists of a narrow coastal plain rising inland to the Sierra Madre Occidental; an important mining area in colonial times. Capital: Hermosillo. Pop.: 2 213 370 (2000). Area: 184 934 sq. km (71 403 sq. miles)

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sonora [sə′nȯr·ə]

(meteorology)

A summer thunderstorm in the mountains and deserts of southern California and Baja California.