Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Matamoros, officially Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas and the seat of the municipality of the same name. It stands on the southern bank of the Rio Grande directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, and forms the Mexican half of a binational metropolitan area of roughly 1.39 million people, the fourth largest on the border between Mexico and the United States. The 2020 census counted 510,739 people in the city proper, which covers 115.3 square kilometres, making it the second largest city in Tamaulipas. Its economy rests on cross-border trade and on maquiladora assembly plants, including automotive plants for several major brands, although agriculture came first historically because the municipality holds some of the biggest irrigation zones in northern Mexico. Matamoros has been the site of battles and events in several wars, and it earned the title Undefeated, Loyal and Heroic. The Mexican national anthem was first played in public at its Teatro de la Reforma, and each February the city and Brownsville share the Charro Days and Sombrero Festival.