Sotavento Region is one of the regions of

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Geography

Sotavento Region lies on the southern

Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, we ...

. ''Sotavento'' means leeward, and the region lies in the rain shadow of the coastal

Sierra de Chiconquiaco The Sierra de Chiconquiaco is a coastal mountain range in Veracruz state of eastern Mexico. Geography The Sierra extends generally east–west. It is bounded on the north by the plain of the Nautla River, which empties eastwards into the Gulf ...

, which makes it drier than the rest of Veracruz' coastal lowlands to the north and south. The

Veracruz dry forests The Veracruz dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion located in central Veracruz, Mexico. They cover an area of . The dry climate is a result of the rain shadow created by the Sierra de Chiconquiaco. The fore ...

ecoregion covers much of the region. It is bounded on the northeast by 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 S ...

, on the east and south by

Papaloapan Region The Cuenca del Papaloapan Region is in the north of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico where the foothills of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca meet the coastal plain of Veracruz. The principal city is San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, the second largest in Oaxaca st ...

, on the west by Mountains Region, and on the north by

Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

Notes

References

Regions of Veracruz {{Veracruz-geo-stub