Mexico States (original) (raw)

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Updates:

On 2015-10-29, the legislature of Quintana Roo unanimously approved the creation of the municipality of Puerto Morelos. This community was separated from the municipality of Benito Juarez. (See source [15]).

A law effective 2016-01-30 changes the official name of Distrito Federal to Ciudad de M�xico.

Quintana Roo is switching to Eastern Time on 2015-02-01 at 2:00 a.m. It will not observe daylight saving time.

Update 5 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes, the successor to FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2011-08-31. It changes the name of Veracruz-Llave to Veracruz.

The formal name of Quer�taro state is Quer�taro Arteaga, not Quer�taro de Arteaga, although a Google search in 2004 found more references to the latter by eleven to one. The Constitution of Veracruz state (source [7]) gives the formal name as "Veracruz-Llave", but the state government website (source [8]) uses the name "Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave". The capital of Veracruz state is sometimes called Jalapa, sometimes Xalapa, sometimes Jalapa Enr�quez, and sometimes Xalapa Enr�quez. The fashion seems to have turned from Jalapa to Xalapa recently. When I was first investigating it, there were official city websites at www.xalapa.gob.mx and www.jalapa.gob.mx, both of them using the spelling Xalapa. In the 1990s, almost all sources, including Mexican ones, used Jalapa. Source [14] said "Jalapa, formerly Xalapa".

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Mexico, the draft standard showed 31 states and one federal district. The final standard shows the same divisions and the same codes, except for the federal district. The code for Distrito Federal was changed from D.F to DIF.

Country overview:

Mexico has been independent during the whole of the 20th century.

Other names of country:

1. Danish: Mexico
2. Dutch: Mexico, Verenigde Mexicaanse Staten (formal)
3. English: United Mexican States (formal)
4. Finnish: Meksiko
5. French: Mexique m
6. German: Mexiko n
7. Icelandic: Mex�k�
8. Italian: Messico m
9. Norwegian: De forente stater Mexico (formal) (Bokm�l), Dei sameinte statane Mexico (formal) (Nynorsk), Mexico
10. Portuguese: M�xico m, Estados mp Unidos Mexicanos (formal)
11. Russian: Мексика, Мексиканские Соединенные Штаты (formal)
12. Spanish: M�jico m, M�xico m, Estados mp Unidos Mexicanos (formal)
13. Swedish: Mexiko
14. Turkish: Birleşik Meksika Devletleri (formal)

Origin of name:

from ethnic name, Mexic; said to mean "moon-navel-place" in Aztec

Primary subdivisions:

Mexico is divided into 31 estados (states) and one distrito federal (federal district).

Notes on codes:

In the 1960s, the U.S. and Canadian postal authorities developed two-letter state and province codes, with care to avoid overlap. That is, no state code was the same as any province code. Computer systems very frequently used these sets of codes. Many companies and government agencies have to deal with data from all of North America. The Mexican authorities never got around to deciding on an official set of two-letter state codes, so anyone who wanted to use such a set, made up their own. It's not very hard to find a set of two-letter, mnemonic state/province codes for all three countries with no overlap, so some groups did just that; others didn't care about the overlap, because they were using a combination of state and country code to identify a particular division. I recently did a search and found a dozen different systems of state codes or abbreviations for Mexico, most of which were two-letter codes. They were used by industry groups (railroads, airlines) and governments (state police departments, military), among others. No two of them were identical. The 'C' states were especially mixed, so that in different systems, CP might represent Campeche or Chiapas, CH might mean Chiapas, Chihuaha, or Coahuila, etc.

A new problem has recently arisen. Almost all code systems use NL for Nuevo Le�n. In 2002, as a result of Newfoundland changing its official name to Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian postal service changed the official abbreviation from NF to NL. Now, maintainers of computer systems that use two-letter codes as a primary key for the states and provinces of North America are in a quandary. If they leave the code for Newfoundland unchanged, they're no longer in compliance with Canadian postal standards. If they change it to NL to comply with Canada, they will also have to change their code for Nuevo Le�n. If there are old archived records that don't get updated, they will have incorrect data when they are retrieved.

"Postal addressing systems" is a document available online from the Universal Postal Union. Its entry for Mexico has a list of states and their codes. Most of the codes are the same as the conventional abbreviations, converted to all capitals, unaccented. Exceptions are BC for Baja California, CAM for Campeche, and QROO for Quintana Roo.

Both the FIPS codes and the INEGI codes number the states from 01 to 32 in alphabetical order. Now, historically, the digraph "ch" was treated as single letter in Spanish, falling between "c" and "d" in alphabetical order. (Likewise, "ll" was a letter between "l" and "m.") Sorting names by computer required special handling for "ch" and "ll" words. In 1994, the international academy responsible for the Spanish language, the Real Academia Espa�ola, decreed that "ch" words would henceforth be sorted between "cg" and "ci," and "ll" between "lk" and "lm." INEGI doesn't seem to have gotten the message, because they're still (2014) listing Chiapas after Colima.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of Mexico page.

The states are divided into municipios (municipalities), and the federal district is divided into delegaciones (delegations). There are also uninhabited islands (about 5,073 sq. km.) that are directly owned by the federal government.

Territorial extent:

1. The states of Coahuila and San Luis Potos� make contact along a border a little over a kilometer long, not apparent on small-scale maps.
2. Baja California includes Islas Angel de la Guarda, Montague, San Lorenzo, Salsipuedes, Smith, and other islands in the Gulf of California; and Cedros and Guadalupe in the Pacific Ocean.
3. Baja California Sur includes Islas El Carmen, San Jos�, Cerralvo, Esp�ritu Santo, San Marcos, and other islands in the Gulf of California; and Santa Margarita and Magdalena in the Pacific Ocean.
4. Campeche includes Isla del Carmen, and some isolated cays up to Cayo Arcas.
5. Colima includes the Revillagigedo Islands (Socorro, Clari�n, San Benedicto, and Roca Partida).
6. Jalisco broke into two separate parts, the smaller one containing Colotl�n, when Nayarit split off in 1917. A few years later, some territory was annexed to form a corridor between the two.
7. Nayarit includes the Islas Mar�as, or Tres Mar�as Islands, consisting of Isla Mar�a Madre, Isla Mar�a Magdalena, and Isla Mar�a Cleofas, named for the three women who stood by the cross in the Gospel of John; as well as Islas San Juanito, Isabela, and the Marietas.
8. Quintana Roo includes Islas Cozumel, Mujeres, Holbox, Contoy, Tamalcas, Cayo Chel�n, and the Banco Chinchorro (a ring of islands, including Cayos Lobos and Norte, around Cayo Centro).
9. Sinaloa includes a number of barrier islands, of which the largest are Islas Talchichilte, de Altamura, Santa Maria, and San Ignacio.
10. Sonora includes Islas Tiburon, San Esteban, Pelicano, Lobos, and other islands in the Gulf of California.
11. Tamaulipas includes a series of barrier islands, such as Barras Soto la Marina and Los Americanos.
12. Veracruz includes some small barrier islands and reefs. Isla El Idolo is behind a sandspit.
13. Yucat�n includes the Arrecife Alacran, a group of islands of which Isla P�rez is the largest; and Cayo Arenas.

The UN LOCODE page for Mexico lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names:

States:

1. Aguascalientes: Spanish aguas: waters, calientes: hot, for thermal springs near the city
2. Baja California: the 1824 Constitution created the territories of Alta and Baja California (Spanish for Upper and Lower California). Alta California was later acquired by the United States. See the United States entry for the derivation of California.
3. Campeche: after the Mayan domain of Ah Kin Pech
4. Chiapas: from Nahuatl for "in the Ch�a River"
5. Chihuahua: native word for dry or sandy spot
6. Ciudad de M�xico: Spanish for city of Mexico
7. Coahuila (de Zaragoza): after the ethnic name Coahuiltec, and General Ignacio Zaragoza (1829-1862)
8. Colima: from native name Colliman, meaning that which our ancestors conquered
9. Durango: after the city, which was named by Francisco de Ibarra in 1563 for Durango, Spain
10. Guanajuato: from Tarasco quanas: frogs, huato: mountainous, i.e. high place with many frogs
11. Guerrero: after Vicente Guerrero (1783-1831), fighter for independence (it happens that guerrero is Spanish for "warrior").
12. Hidalgo: after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), Mexican founding father. Incidentally, Hidalgo is a Spanish word for nobleman. It originated as a contraction of the sarcastic phrase "hijo de algo" (son of something).
13. Jalisco: native word for "over the sand"
14. M�xico: see country name
15. Michoac�n (de Ocampo): after Melchor Ocampo (1814-1861), statesman
16. Morelos: after Jos� Maria Morelos y Pav�n (1765-1815), fighter for independence
17. Nayarit: named for Nayar, a Cora chief and priest
18. Nuevo Le�n: after the kingdom of Le�n in Spain (nuevo: new)
19. Oaxaca: from Aztec huaxyacac: at the point of the robinia trees
20. Puebla: for the city, originally Ciudad de Puebla de los Angeles (city of the village of the angels)
21. Quer�taro (Arteaga): from Tarasco for "place where they play ball", and General Jos� Mar�a Arteaga (1827?-1865)
22. Quintana Roo: after Andr�s Quintana Roo, a Yucatec fighter for Mexican independence
23. San Luis Potos�: after Potos� in Bolivia, in the hope that it, too, would have rich mines
24. Sonora: Spanish for sonorous, to note the sound made by local marble when struck
25. Tabasco: probably named for Tabscoob, native chief
26. Tamaulipas: native word for "high mountains"
27. Tlaxcala: after the ethnic name Tlaxcaltec
28. Veracruz(-Llave): for its largest city, originally Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (rich city of the true cross), and the governor, General Ignacio de la Llave (1818-1863). Incidentally, llave is Spanish for key.
29. Zacatecas: Nahuatl for "where zacate grass grows"

Intendencia:

1. Guadalajara: named for its capital, which was named for the birthplace in Spain of its founder, Nu�o Beltr�n de Guzm�n, in 1531. The Spanish name, in turn, comes from Arabic wadi al-hijarah: river of stones.

Change history:

The Mexican government's archive site (source [11]) had a series of maps showing changes in the country's administrative subdivisions. Source [2] has a similar series of historical maps. The information below was put together from both sources. The Mexican archives are now at source [12], but I haven't been able to navigate the site with either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

1. Prior to 1776: The virreinato (viceroyalty) of Nueva Espa�a was divided into M�xico (reino), Nueva Galicia (reino), Nueva Vizcaya (gobernaci�n), Yucat�n (gobernaci�n), and Provincias Septentrionales, as well as other divisions outside of Mexico. These in turn were subdivided into provinces. M�xico consisted of the provinces of Antequera de Oaxaca, M�xico, Michoac�n, Puebla de los �ngeles, and Tlaxcala. Nueva Galicia had Colima, Xalisco, and Zacatecas. Nueva Vizcaya had Chihuahua and Guadiana (or Durango). Yucat�n had Campeche, M�rida de Yucut�n, and Tabasco. The Provincias Septentrionales (northern provinces) were Colonia del Nuevo Santander (Provincia de los Tamaulipas), Nuevo Reino de Le�n, Provincia de Coahuila (Nueva Extremadura), Provincia de la Nueva California, Provincia de la Vieja California, Provincia de los Tejas (Nueva Filipinas), Provincia de Nuevo M�xico de Santa Fe, Provincia de San Jos� de Nayarit (Nuevo Reino de Toledo), Provincia de Sinaloa, and Provincia de Sonora. The provinces of Chiapas and Soconusco, part of modern Mexico, were then included in the Audiencia of Guatemala.
2. 1776: A higher-ranking political entity, named Gobierno Superior y Comandancia General de las Provincias Internas, was created within but independent of Nueva Espa�a. It consisted of the provinces of Nuevo M�xico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Sonora y Sinaloa ("provincias internas de occidente", or western internal provinces), and Coahuila, Nuevo Reino de Le�n, Nuevo Santander, and Tejas ("provincias internas de oriente", or eastern). Among the former northern provinces, only Nueva California and Vieja California - and, according to the map, San Jos� de Nayarit - remained directly subject to the viceroyalty. Comparison of the pre-1776 and post-1776 maps in the Atlas Porr�a indicates that the part of Sonora north of roughly 32� was transferred to Nueva California; Sinaloa was merged with the remainder of Sonora, forming "Gobierno de las Provincias de Sonora y Sinaloa"; Chihuahua and Durango provinces disappeared, apparently making Nueva Vizcaya a single entity; the westernmost part of Tejas was transferred to Nueva Vizcaya; the northern part of Michoac�n is marked off as "part of the intendency of San Luis Potos�". On the map, each of the provincias internas is labeled a "gobierno" (government).
3. 1788: Mexico reorganized into twelve intendencias (intendencies) named Arispe, Durango, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, M�rida, M�xico, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potos�, Valladolid, Veracruz, and Zacatecas. (Archive site)
4. 1796: Compared to the archive site, the Atlas Porr�a shows and describes the following differences: each intendency has a capital shown, with the same name as the intendency; there are also four gobiernos which were not subject to any intendent but were directly subordinate to the viceroyalty. The four gobiernos are Nueva California, Nuevo M�xico, Tlaxcala, and Vieja California. All of these fall outside the area shown on the archive site, except Tlaxcala, which is within Puebla. Some names are different: Arizpe, Santa Fe de Guanajuato, M�rida de Yucut�n, Antequera de Oaxaca, and Valladolid de Michoac�n (the correspondence should be obvious).
5. 1824-10-04: Under the Constitution of 1824, the official name of the country became Estados Unidos Mexicanos. It comprised 19 states (Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila y Tejas, Durango, Guanajuato, M�xico, Michoac�n, Nuevo Le�n, Oaxaca, Puebla de los �ngeles, Quer�taro, San Luis Potos�, Sonora y Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Xalisco, Yucat�n, and Zacatecas) and four territories (Alta California, Baja California, Colima, and Santa F� de Nuevo M�xico). Alta California was the former Nueva California, and Baja was the former Vieja.
6. 1824-11-18: Distrito Federal split from M�xico state by decree.
7. 1824-11-24: Tlaxcala territory split from Puebla state.
8. 1825: Soconusco split from Chiapas state and became neutral territory.
9. 1830-10-13: Sonora y Sinaloa state split into Sinaloa and Sonora states.
10. 1835-05-23: Aguascalientes provisional territory split from Xalisco state.
11. 1836-03-02: Republic of Texas (formerly part of Coahuila y Tejas state) declared independence from Mexico.
12. 1842-09-11: Soconusco merged with Mexico and with Chiapas state again.
13. 1848-02-02: By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded land approximately equivalent to its territories of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nuevo M�xico (New Mexico) and the northern part of Sonora to the United States.
14. 1850-04-25: Two partidos (secondary administrative divisions), named Norte and Sur, created within Baja California territory.
15. 1853-12-30: Gadsden Purchase (known as La Mesilla to Mexicans) transferred from Mexico to the United States, becoming part of New Mexico territory.
16. 1857-02-05: Constitution of 1857 took effect. Comparing the list of states and territories under this constitution to the previous situation, it appears that Nuevo Le�n state was incorporated into Coahuila; Aguascalientes, Colima, and Tlaxcala changed status from territories to states; Guerrero state was formed from parts of M�xico, Michoac�n, and Puebla.
17. 1863-04-29: Campeche state split from Yucut�n. Campeche had been provisionally created on 1862-02-19.
18. 1864-02-26: Nuevo Le�n state split from Coahuila.
19. 1869-01-15: Hidalgo state split from M�xico state.
20. 1869-04-16: Morelos state split from M�xico state.
21. 1884-12-12: Tepic territory split from Jalisco state.
22. 1887-12-14: Status of the two partidos of Baja California changed to distritos (districts).
23. 1902-11-24: Quintana Roo territory split from Yucat�n state. Its de facto capital was Campamento General Vega.
24. 1904-02-27: Santa Cruz de Bravo became official capital of Quintana Roo.
25. 1915-06: Capital of Quintana Roo moved to Payo Obispo.
26. 1916-02-03: Name of capital of Tabasco state changed from San Juan Bautista (de Villahermosa de Tabasco) to Villahermosa.
27. 1917-02-05: Under the Constitution of 1917, Tepic territory became Nayarit state. (The constitution also provides, in Article 44, that if the seat of government should move to some other place, Distrito Federal would become the state of Valle de M�xico.)
28. 1931-02-07: Baja California territory (capital La Paz) split into Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur territories. They had previously been districts of Baja California territory. The official names were Territorio Norte (Sur) de la Baja California.
29. 1936-09-28: Name of capital of Quintana Roo territory changed from Payo Obispo to Chetumal.
30. 1953-08-16: Baja California Norte territory became Baja California state. (Federal constitution changed on 1952-01-16; Diario Oficial announced the formation of the new state on 1952-11-21; constitution of Baja California state promulgated on 1953-08-16.)
31. 1974-10-08: Status of Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo changed from territories to states.
32. 2015-10-29: In Quintana Roo, the new municipality of Puerto Morelos was separated from the municipality of Benito Juarez.
33. 2016-01-30: Name of Distrito Federal changed to Ciudad de M�xico.

Other names of subdivisions:

1. There are two Baja Californias. If the name Baja California is used without either Norte or Sur, Norte is usually meant. There are three M�xicos: the country, the state, and the city. When it's necessary to distinguish the latter two, Estado de M�xico and Ciudad de M�xico are used.
2. Baja California: Baixa Calif�rnia Norte (Portuguese); Baja California Norte (variant); Bassa California del Nord (Italian); Basse-Californie du Nord (French); Lower California (variant); Niederkalifornien (German); Territorio Norte (obsolete)
3. Baja California Sur: Baixa Calif�rnia Sul (Portuguese); Bassa California del Sud (Italian); Basse-Californie du Sud (French); Territorio Sur (obsolete)
4. Campeche: Campeachy (obsolete); Camp�che (French-variant)
5. Ciudad de M�xico: Distretto Federale (Italian); Distrito Federal (obsolete); Federal District (obsolete); Mexico City (English)
6. Coahuila: Coahuila de Saragoza (variant); Coahuila de Zaragoza (formal)
7. M�xico: Edo. de Mexico, Estado de M�xico (variant)
8. Michoac�n: Michoac�n de Ocampo (formal)
9. Nayarit: Tepic (obsolete)
10. Nuevo Le�n: Neu-Leon (German); Nouveau-L�on (French)
11. Quer�taro: Quer�taro Arteaga (formal)
12. Veracruz: Veracruz-Llave, Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (formal)

Population history:

Sources:

1. [1] Pick, James B., Edgar W. Butler, Elezabeth L. Lanzer. Atlas of Mexico. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1989. Its sources are: "1900 Mexican Census of Population"; "1930, 1950 and 1970 Mexican Censuses of Population, Resumen General"; and "1980 Mexican Census of Population," Vol. 1, Table 2.
2. [2] Nuevo Atlas Porr�a de la Rep�blica Mexicana, Cuarta Edici�n. Editorial Porr�a, S.A., Mexico City, 1979.
3. [3] Chisholm, George G., ed., Longman's Gazetteer of the World. Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1920 (apparently not revised since the 1895 first edition).
4. [4] Almanaque Mundial (1992 edition), Editorial America, Virginia Gardens, FL.
5. [5] Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Vol. II. New York: United Nations, 1991.
6. [6] INEGI (retrieved 2006-07-29).
7. [7] Constitution of Veracruz (retrieved 2004-12-11).
8. [8] Veracruz state government website (retrieved 2004-08-30).
9. [9] City of Xalapa website (retrieved 2004-08-30).
10. [10] City of Xalapa website (www.jalapa.gob.mx, dead link, retrieved 2004-12-11).
11. [11] Maps on the Mexican government's archive site (http://www.agn.gob.mx/archivos/circunsc.html, dead link, retrieved 2004-05-05).
12. [12] Portal de Mapas, Planos e Ilustraciones (retrieved 2009-11-17).
13. [13] Censo de Poblaci�n y Vivienda 2010 , Consulta interactiva de datos. INEGI (retrieved 2014-02-22). The search panel gave the choice between data with or without estimation. I picked "with," which is explained as "Total number of people resident in the country at the moment of the interview. Includes the estimation of 1,344,585 people, which corresponds to 448,195 households without information about occupants" (my translation).
14. [14] Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition. Merriam-Webster, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1997.
15. [15] El Congreso de Quintana Roo aprueba la creaci�n de un nuevo municipio , Creation of a new municipality: Puerto Morelos.