The Bolsón de Mapimí is an

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

, or internal drainage, basin in which no

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s or streams drain to the sea, but rather toward the center of the basin, often terminating in swamps and ephemeral lakes. It is located in the center-north of the

Mexican Plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States b ...

. The basin is shared by the states of Durango, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

. It takes its name from Mapimí, a town in Durango. The largest city in the basin is

Torreón Torreón () is a city and seat of Torreón Municipality in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2021, the city's population was 735,340. The metropolitan population as of 2015 was 1,497,734, making it the ninth-biggest metropolitan area in ...

. Parts of the basin host much industrial and agricultural activity. However, most of the region is sparsely populated.

Geography

The Bolsón de Mapimí is a large area, measuring more than north to south and the same distance east to west, lying between 25 and 29 degrees north latitude. The total area is about and the average elevation is . The Greater Bolsón de Mapimí covers adjacent areas extending north to the Rio Grande, which are similar in terrain and climate but have streams which have outlets to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The Bolsón is bounded on the west by 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 ...

and the

Conchos River The Río Conchos (Conchos River) is a large river in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It joins the Río Bravo del Norte (known in the United States as the Rio Grande) at the town of Ojinaga, Chihuahua. Description The Rio Conchos is the main riv ...

basin, by the basin of the Rio Grande to the north, and by the mountain ranges of the

Sierra del Carmen The Sierra del Carmen, also called the Sierra Maderas del Carmen, is a northern finger of the Sierra Madre Oriental in the state of Coahuila, Mexico. The Sierra begins at the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park and extends southeast for about , r ...

and Sierra Madre Oriental to the east. At its southern edge, near the state line of Zacatecas, the Bolson shades into another endorheic basin called

Llanos El Salado {{Short description, Endorheic basin in Mexico Llanos el Salado is a large endorheic basin of central Mexico. It is located on the Mexican Plateau, and covers portions of several Mexican states, including eastern and northeastern Zacatecas, Norther ...

. Major rivers flowing northward into the basin are the

Nazas River The Nazas River is a river located in northern Mexico, in the states of Coahuila and Durango. It is part of the endorheic Bolsón de Mapimí. It is only long, but irrigates an area of in the middle of the desert. The Nazas is also nurtured by t ...

and its tributaries, which originate in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Durango, and the

Aguanaval River The Aguanaval River is a river located in northeastern Mexico. Geography It originates in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental range of Zacatecas state, and flows generally north through Zacatecas and Durango states to empty into the endorheic B ...

, which flows north from central Zacatecas. The two rivers terminate in the southern part of the Bolsón in an area called the

Comarca Lagunera The Comarca Lagunera or La Comarca de la Laguna ("region of lagoons") is a region of northern Mexico occupying large portions of the states of Durango and Coahuila, with rich soils produced by periodic flooding of the Nazas and Aguanaval rivers. ...

, centered on the city of Torreón, Coahuila, which formerly contained large, shallow lakes, now usually dry. The Bolsón de Mapimí consists of desert plains separated by low mountain ranges. Cerro Centinela, which rises to (, south of Torreón is at the southern edge. Within the Bolsón most of the mountain ranges are in elevation. Los Alamitos range near the center of the Bolsón reaches Vista del valle de Cuatrociénegas

The Bolsón is the southernmost extension of the

Chihuahua Desert Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state ** Chihuahua Mu ...

. The area receives between of precipitation annually, mostly falling in summer. The city of Torreón receives . Summer temperatures are hot. June is the hottest month in Torreón with an average temperature of . Winters are mild with an average temperature of in December in Torreón. Freezes are common in winter. The largest conurbation in the basin is the Comarca Lagunera, with nearly 1.5 million inhabitants, roughly half of whom live in the city of Torreón. Most of the Bolsón is sparsely populated, with settlements centered on mines and areas where irrigated agriculture is possible.

History

Prior to the arrival of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

the Bolsón de Mapimí was inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherers. Bands of the

Toboso people The Toboso people were an indigenous group of what is today northern Mexico, living in the modern states of Chihuahua and Coahuila and along the middle reaches of the Conchos River as well as in the Bolsón de Mapimí region. They were associate ...

, of whom little is known, inhabited most of the Bolsón. In the north lived the Chisos who had a similar culture. Spanish penetration into the Bolson began in the 1590s with Jesuit missionaries, slave traders, and

Tlaxcalan Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

Indians whom the Spanish persuaded by grants of land and freedom from taxes to move north to aid in assimilating the Indians and resolving the long-running

Chichimeca War The Chichimeca War (1550–90) was a military conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Chichimeca Confederation established in the territories today known as the Central Mexican Plateau, called by the Conquistadores La Gran Chichimeca. Th ...

. The Toboso and Chisos began raiding Spanish settlements at an early date and participated in wars against Spanish settlements in 1644, 1667, and 1684. Most of the Toboso and Chisos were absorbed into the Spanish population in the early 18th century. In the 19th century the Bolsón was still largely unpopulated. In the 1840s and 1850s the Bolsón became a base for Comanches from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

who met at well-watered locations, consolidated their forces, often numbering hundreds of warriors, and struck off in every direction on destructive raids of mines and ranches.Smith, Ralph A. "The Comanche Bridge between Oklahoma and Mexico, 1843-1844" ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol. 39, No. 1, 1961, p. 56 (See Comanche-Mexico War) Much of the Bolsón was owned by the Sánchez Navarro family, possibly the largest ranch in the Americas in the 1840s and 1850s.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolson de Mapimi Drainage basins of Mexico Endorheic basins of North America Mexican Plateau Landforms of Chihuahua (state) Landforms of Coahuila Landforms of Durango Landforms of Zacatecas Natural history of the Mexican Plateau

Geography

History

See also

References

External links