Northern Mexico

Northern Mexico is an informal cultural and geographical region covering the northern part of Mexico, often called simply the North. There is no official boundary, and writers disagree about which states belong. A narrow reading counts only the states that touch the United States, namely Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora and Tamaulipas. Wider readings add Durango, Sinaloa and Baja California Sur, and some include northern parts of Zacatecas, or place the start of the North above the Tropic of Cancer. The region is mostly dry and desert in climate, though temperate areas also occur, and its relief ranges from the Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental and the mountains of Baja California to the Pacific and Gulf coastal plains. Its history includes a nomadic hunter-gatherer past, the Spanish colony of Nueva Vizcaya, the later Interior Provinces, and heavy United States investment during the Porfiriato.