Northeastern Mexico

Northeastern Mexico
Location within Mexico
Country	Mexico
Municipalities of Nuevo León	51
Municipalities of Coahuila	38
Municipalities of Tamaulipas	43
Largest City	Monterrey
Government
– Governor of Nuevo León	Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz( PRI)
– Governor of Coahuila	Jorge Torres Lopez ( PRI)
– Governor of Tamaulipas	Egidio Torre Cantú ( PRI)
Area
– Total	293,576 km2 (113,350.3 sq mi)
Population (2005)
– Total	9,718,730
– Density	38.2/km2 (98.9/sq mi)
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
– Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)

Northeastern Mexico, is a geographic region of Mexico, composed of the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. The Northeast is one of the wealthiest and most industrialized regions of Mexico; with Nuevo León having the highest GDP per capita among the Mexican states, closely followed by Coahuila ranked third, and Tamaulipas ranked eighth. It also accounts for approximately 15% of Mexico's nominal gross domestic product, while its population represents only about 8.4% of the population of the whole country. The inhabitants from Northeastern Mexico are often known and referred themselves as "Norestenses" (Spanish for Northeasterns), they might be also referred as "Norteños", a term which they share with people of Northwestern Mexico applied to the inhabitants of all over Northern Mexico.

Geography

Northeastern Mexico, contains a wide variety of landscapes, ranging from pine and oak tree forests to prairie, snow covered mountains in winter to diverse types of deserts. The region, is predominantly mountainous. The Sierra Madre Oriental, sometimes considered an extension of the Rocky mountains, is one of the largest mountain ranges in Mexico. It runs from Northwest of Coahuila to southeast through a great part of Nuevo León and to a lesser extent Tamaulipas.

The climate is diverse, it varies from region to region, from arid and semi-arid(BS) and (BSh), subtropical (AC) and temperate (CW) and (CeW). Snowfall is common in highlands of Sierra Madre Oriental, especially in the municipalities of Arteaga, Coahuila and Santiago, Galeana and Aramberri in Nuevo León.

Bosques de Monterreal, Arteaga, Coahuila

Sierra Madre Mountain range

Economy

Northeastern Mexico plays a national leading role in some fields such as aeronautics, automotive industry, biotechnology, information and communication technologies, pharmaceutical industry, software development and steel producer. Monterrey is a major industrial and business center in Mexico, is home to transnational conglomerates such as Cemex (the world's largest cement company), FEMSA, Ternium, Alfa group (petrochemicals, food, telecommunications and auto parts), Axtel (second largest telecommunications company in Mexico), Vitro, Gruma, and Banorte (financial services). Also many international conglomerates such as LG, Samsung, HP, Microsoft, Hyundai and Lenovo have regional headquarters and manufacturer plants in Nuevo León.^[1][2] Coahuila also has strong manufacture oriented export economy, Saltillo, its capital city, has a growing automobile industry, hosting General Motors and Chrysler assembly plants, two engine facilities and a car transmissions plant.^[3] 37.4% of cars and 62.6% of trucks produced in Mexico are assembled in Saltillo. Saltillo is home to the Grupo Industrial Saltillo, a manufacturing conglomerate that makes home appliances, silverware, and auto parts. Torreón, the largest city of Coahuila, has a prominent also an iron, manufacturer and steel industry, and home to important conglomerates such as Delphi and (John Deere, Metzeler, Jhonson Controls, Takata, Caterpillar). Monclova stands out for the highest production of steel in Mexico and is seat of Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA).^[4] The state of Tamaulipas also has a maquiladora and manufacture export-oriented market, also it has an important agriculture industry; its largest city is Reynosa, closely followed by Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo, all of which are border cities, and are economically similar.^[5] Tampico is another important city and port of Tamaulipas. Foreign direct investment in Northeastern Mexico was 1,742.4 million USD for 2005. The region is, along with Northwestern Mexico, one of the fastest growing regions in Mexico.

List of largest cities and metropolitan areas

Rank	Metropolitan Area	State(s) and/or Territory	2005 Population Estimate
1	Monterrey	Monterrey (Nuevo León), San Nicolás (Nuevo León), Guadalupe (Nuevo León), San Pedro (Nuevo León), Apodaca (Nuevo León), Escobedo (Nuevo León), García (Nuevo León), Santa Catarina (Nuevo León), Juárez (Nuevo León), Cadereyta (Nuevo León), Santiago (Nuevo León)	3,664,331
2	Comarca Lagunera	Torreón, Coahuila, Matamoros (Coahuila), San Pedro de las Colonias (Coahuila), Viesca (Coahuila), Gómez Palacio (Durango), Ciudad Lerdo (Durango)	1,910,000
4	Reynosa	Reynosa (Tamaulipas), Río Bravo (Tamaulipas), McAllen (Texas, USA)	1,007,538
6	Matamoros	Matamoros (Tamaulipas), Brownsville (Texas, USA)	864,756
7	Tampico	Tampico (Tamaulipas), Altamira (Tamaulipas), Miramar (Tamaulipas), Ciudad Madero (Tamaulipas)	818,102
8	Nuevo Laredo	Nuevo Laredo (Tamaulipas), Laredo (Texas, USA)	718,073
9	Saltillo	Saltillo (Coahuila), Ramos Arizpe (Coahuila)	648,929
10	Monclova	Monclova (Coahuila), Ciudad Frontera (Coahuila)	294,191
11	Victoria	Ciudad Victoria (Tamaulipas)	282,178
12	Ciudad Acuña	Ciudad Acuña (Coahuila)	220,000
13	Piedras Negras	Piedras Negras (Coahuila)	143,915
14	Linares	Linares (Nuevo León), Hualahuises (Nuevo León)	82,090
15	Montemorelos	Montemorelos (Nuevo León)	53,854
16	Sabinas	Sabinas (Coahuila)	53,042
17	Galeana	Galeana (Nuevo León)	38,930
18	Sabinas Hidalgo	Sabinas Hidalgo (Nuevo León)	35,242
19	Doctor Arroyo	Doctor Arroyo (Nuevo León)	33,269
20	Allende	Allende (Nuevo León)	29,568

See also

• Eastern Mexico
• North-Central Mexico
• Northwestern Mexico
• South-Central Mexico
• Southeastern Mexico
• Southwestern Mexico
• Western Mexico
• States of Mexico
  • Ranked list of Mexican states
  • List of Mexican states by Human Development Index
  • List of Mexican states by Gross domestic product

References

1. ^ INEGI, Población total por entidad federativa según sexo, 2000 y 2005 and PIB estatal
2. ^ http://sg.nl.gob.mx/DataNL/files%5CDNL00000431.pdf
3. ^ Industrial Costs in Mexico - A Guide for Foreign Investors 2007. Bancomext. 2007. pp. 90. 
4. ^ Rohter, Larry (1989-06-22). "Monclova Journal; Steel Town Buckles Under $100 Billion Burden". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/22/world/monclova-journal-steel-town-buckles-under-100-billion-burden.html. Retrieved 2009-09-13. 
5. ^ Industrial Costs in Mexico - A Guide for Foreign Investors 2007. Bancomext. 2007. pp. 102. 

External links

• (Spanish) Mexico Development Gateway: Northeastern Mexico