Nuevo León

Nuevo León, state in northeastern Mexico. Nuevo León is one of Mexico’s most industrialized states. Much of the nation’s iron and steel industry is located in the state capital of Monterrey. For a very short distance in the northern part of the state, it borders the Río Grande (a major river known as the Río Bravo in Mexico), which forms much of the border between Mexico and the United States. The rest of Nuevo León’s borders are formed by other Mexican states—Coahuila on the west, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí on the southwest, and Tamaulipas on the north, east, and south.

The Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range crosses the western portion of the state from north to south. Cerro Peña Nevada (3,660 m/12,008 ft), located in the southern part of the state, is one of the highest peaks in the range. The southeastern region of Nuevo León, a relatively flat, semiarid plateau with altitudes ranging from 1700 to 2000 m (5600 to 6600 ft), is a fertile agricultural area when irrigated. The state’s climate varies widely depending on elevation and the season, ranging from below freezing in the mountains to more than 38° C (100° F) at lower elevations. Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, which encompasses the city of Monterrey as well as mountainous areas to the east and south, is the largest national park in Mexico. It features rivers, canyons, forests, caves, and waterfalls and protects a number of animal species, including black bear and bobcat. The state covers an area of 64,210 sq km (24,792 sq mi).

Nuevo León has one of the highest proportions of urban residents in Mexico. The capital city of Monterrey is an important industrial center. Its economic influence and geographic distance from the nation’s capital have given Monterrey a strong feeling of independence and autonomy from federal authorities. Other major cities include Linares, a farming and ranching center in the east; Sabinas Hidalgo, a farming and ranching town in the Sierra Madre foothills on the highway between Monterrey and the U.S. border; and Cadereyta Jiménez, a center for the cultivation of cotton, sugarcane, corn, and beans about 35 km (22 mi) east of Monterrey. The state’s population in 2005 was 4,199,292.

Economically, Nuevo León is one of Mexico’s most vital states, and has been characterized by rapid economic and population growth. It is home to numerous large companies and conglomerates, many of which are family-controlled businesses in manufacturing, finance, banking, and insurance. Nuevo León is one of Mexico’s primary manufacturing states, producing furniture, electrical equipment, beverages, food, chemical products, steel, and other metals. In the mid-1990s almost half of the state’s economically active population was employed in manufacturing, a higher percentage than any other state in Mexico. Nuevo León’s level of economic development in 1990, ranked according to various characteristics, was the third highest in the country. Monterrey is a significant distribution point for U.S. goods entering from Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, border towns south of Texas, located in the state of Tamaulipas. Monterrey is linked by a freeway to Saltillo, the important commercial and political capital of the neighboring state of Coahuila.

Because of its position along the northern frontier, Nuevo León played an influential role in Spanish colonial expansion and became a center of mining and ranching activities during that era. The construction of a railroad network in Mexico in the 1880s, with Monterrey as its major northeastern stop, stimulated economic and population growth in the region and laid the foundation for Monterrey’s development as a major industrial center. Nuevo León has long been one of the most politically conservative states in the country. In the 1930s industrialists and politicians in the state were staunchly opposed to the land reform efforts of Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas and in the 1990s the state provided one of the largest bases of support for Mexico’s conservative National Action Party.