The Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte) has changed course several times in

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world h ...

, leading to a number of

border dispute A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of territories (land, water or airspace) between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the ...

s and uncertainties, both international (involving

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) and between individual

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s: *The Country Club Dispute was a dispute between

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. The

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

resolved this dispute in 1927. *The

Chamizal dispute The Chamizal dispute was an international land and boundary conflict over contested land (estimates range from ) along the Mexico–United States border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The conflict was caused by multiple ...

was a border conflict over a parcel of land between

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, and

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

, Chihuahua. The dispute was resolved by Chamizal settlement in 1963. *The Ojinaga Cut was a disputed parcel of land between

Presidio, Texas Presidio is a city in Presidio County, Texas, United States. It is situated on the Rio Grande (''Río Bravo del Norte'') River, on the opposite side of the U.S.–Mexico border from Ojinaga, Chihuahua. The name originates from Spanish and mean ...

, and

Ojinaga Ojinaga (Manuel Ojinaga) is a town and seat of the Ojinaga (municipality), municipality of Ojinaga, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. As of 2015, the town had a total population of 28,040. It is a rural border town ...

, Chihuahua. The dispute was resolved by the Boundary Treaty of 1970. *The Horcón Tract was a parcel of land surrounded by an oxbow bend of the Rio Grande, including the village of Rio Rico, Texas, that inadvertently defaulted to Mexican administration with the passage of time after an irrigation company in 1906 dug an unapproved cut across the oxbow to change the course of the river. The issue, which was not technically a dispute as both sides were in agreement about its legal status upon its discovery, was resolved by the 1970 treaty which ceded the land to Mexico, but the official handover did not take place until 1977. Numerous border treaties are jointly administered by the

International Boundary and Water Commission The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC, , CILA) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their international boundary when meandering rivers trans ...

, which was established in 1889 to maintain the border, allocate river waters between the two nations, and provide for

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

and water sanitation. Once viewed as a model of international cooperation, in recent decades the IBWC has been heavily criticized as an institutional anachronism, by-passed by modern social, environmental and political issues. In particular, jurisdictional issues regarding

water rights Water right in water law is the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious. In o ...

in the

Rio Grande Valley Lower Rio Grande Valley (), often referred to as the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas, is a region located in the southernmost part of Texas, along the northern bank of the Rio Grande. It is also known locally as the Valley or the 956 (the ...

have caused tension between farmers in the border region and sparked a "water war," according to Mexican political scientist Armand Peschard-Sverdrup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Grande Border Disputes 1963 in Mexico 1970 in Mexico Chihuahua (state) History of New Mexico International territorial disputes of the United States Mexico–United States border Modern Mexico Territorial disputes of Mexico Texas border disputes