Fronteras is the seat of Fronteras Municipality in the northeastern part of the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a separate ent ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

. Frontera translates as Border. The elevation is 1,120 meters and neighboring municipalities are

Agua Prieta Agua Prieta (English: ''Dark Water'', Opata: ''Bachicuy'') is a town in Agua Prieta Municipality in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the Mexico–U.S. border, adjacent to the town of Douglas, Arizona. The m ...

, Nacozari and Bacoachi. The area is 2839.62 km², which represents 1.53% of the state total. Fronteras was founded by the Jesuits as a mission in 1645.

Geography

Fronteras is located in a mountainous area on the west side of the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Co ...

. The average annual temperature is 16.9 °C. The rainy season is from July to August and the average annual rainfall is 427.5 millimeters.

Demographics and industry

The municipal population was 7,081 (2.34 /km²) in 2000, although in a second counting in 2005 this had increased to 7,470. The most important settlement and the municipal seat had 874 inhabitants in 2000. Industry is the most important economic activity together with agriculture and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

raising. There was one ''

maquiladora A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...

'' in 2000. The main agricultural crops were wheat, beans, corn and grasses for cattle fodder. The cattle herd was substantial with over 30,000 head counted in 2000. Almost all were for meat production.

History and landmarks

The Spanish explorer

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

(1735-1788) led the first Spanish overland expedition to the

Las Californias The Californias ( Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican sta ...

Province of New Spain in 1769, previously only sighted and claimed for the Crown from the sea. He established the first Spanish settlement in present-day California, the

Presidio of San Diego El Presidio Real de San Diego (Royal Presidio of San Diego) is a historic fort in San Diego, California. It was established on May 14, 1769, by Gaspar de Portolá, leader of the first European land exploration of Alta California—at that time ...

, and was the second European (after

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

) to see the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from ...

. Visitors can explore the Misión de Cuquiárachi founded in 1645 by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

missionary Marcos del Río. It is one of the

Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert ( es, Misiones jesuíticas en el desierto de Sonora) are a series of Jesuit Catholic religious outposts established by the Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders for religious conversions of the Pima ...

. Two archaeological zones, of ancient

Pima Pima or PIMA may refer to: People * Pima people, the Akimel O'odham, Indigenous peoples in Arizona (U.S.) and Sonora (Mexico) Places * Pima, Arizona, a town in Graham County * Pima County, Arizona * Pima Canyon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains ...

Indigenous people of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

settlement sites, are located near the village of Ojo de Agua. Other points of interest are the Jacinto López reservoir, and the Cave of Presidio de Fronteras. In the early 20th century, Fronteras gained fame as the home of Plutarco Elias Calles, recognized as the architect of modern Mexico and the country's 40th president. Although born in the coastal town of Guaymas, Sonora, Elias Calles became the prosperous owner of the Fronteras flour mill, and developed his political alliances in Fronteras. In 2010, Fronteras again gained prominence with the discovery of a large deposit of dinosaur fossils, claimed by paleontologists as unique species previously unknown to science.

References

External links

Fronteras, Ayuntamiento Digital
(official website of Fronteras, Sonora)
Gobierno de Sonora article on Fronteras

Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico

INEGI
Populated places in Sonora Populated places established in 1645 {{Sonora-geo-stub