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'Navojoa'

Navojoa.jpg Coat of arms
'Motto:' ''La Perla del Mayo'' ''("The Pearl of the Mayo")''
Foundation date	1825
Population	103,312 city; 144,598 municipality (2005 census)
Altitude	33 m (108 ft)
Latitude	27° 03' North
Longitude	109° 25' West
Extension	4,380.69 km² (1,691 mi²) municipality
UTC	–7 GMT (Mountain Time)
Telephone area code	+52 (Country) 642 (City)
Mayor (alcalde)	Onésimo Mariscales Delgadillo (2006-2009)
'Sources:' Navojoa

'Navojoa' is the third-largest city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and is situated in the southern part of Sonora, 608 kilometers (360 miles) south of the state's border with the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the administrative seat of a large municipality, located in the Mayo Valley.

Contents

History

Demographics

Economy

Transportation

Education

Tourism

Information about the Municipality of Navojoa

Sister cities

Sports

Other famous natives

References

External links

History

The city name derives from the native Mayo language meaning "Cactus House" ("Navo"= Cactus, "Jova"= House). The valley has been continuously inhabited since pre-Hispanic times by the Indian Mayo tribe.
In September 1536, Diego de Guzmán, was the first known European (Spaniard) to reach the valley and the first Jesuit missionaries started settling in the region in 1614. Today, several geoglyphs from the ancient Mayo tribe can be found along the Mayo River.
Due to the city's distant location from Mexico City, the difficult times of Mexico's independence in the early 1800s were largely absent from the region. However, the city played an important part in the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Navojoa is the birthplace of Mexican Revolutionary Álvaro Obregón. Álvaro Obregón became president of Mexico after the revolt and initiated an ''agricultural revolution'' in the Mayo/Yaqui Valley, introducing modern agricultural techniques and making this valley one of the most prosperous agricultural regions in Mexico.

Demographics

Navojoa is the third-largest city in Sonora (after state capital Hermosillo and nearby Ciudad Obregón) with a population of 144,598.

Economy

Navojoa is part of the vast economic center known as the Mayo Valley, which together with Ciudad Obregón and the Yaqui Valley, form one of the most productive agricultural regions in Mexico.
Although agriculture remains the main source of income, the Navojoa region is increasingly dependent on industrial foreign investment and aquaculture (especially shrimp farming).
There are two large pork producer companies [1] [2] that export mainly to USA, Germany and Japan, and one brewery of group FEMSA are among the main industries in Navojoa.
Geographically speaking, the city gains importance in its diversity with its coastal, desert, and southwest mountainous areas and its close proximity to the United States and the neighboring state of Sinaloa. Navojoa is 64 kilometers (40 miles) south of Ciudad Obregón connected primarily by a toll highway (Interstate 15) that crosses the state of Sonora until it reaches the Arizona border.

Transportation

Ciudad Obregón International Airport is the nearest commercial airport, 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Navojoa. It receives flights from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Durango, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, La Paz, Loreto, Los Mochis, Los Cabos, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Tijuana, and, internationally, from Los Angeles, Tucson, Phoenix and Houston in the United States.
Navojoa also has a local airport next to the industrial sector, which is suitable for lighter, private planes. It is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of the city center.

Education

The following institutions of higher education are based in Navojoa:

★ Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (ITSON)

★ Centro de Estudios Superiores del Estado de Sonora (CESUES)

★ Universidad de Sonora - Unidad Navojoa

★ Universidad de Navojoa - Affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church; also known as Colegio del Pacifico

★ Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) - Campus Obregón/Unidad Navojoa

★ Atelier Sonorense

Tourism

The city is only minutes away from the Gulf of California and offers a variety of mostly virgin sand beaches. The surrounding outdoors are also a popular spot for Americans looking to hunt duck, dove and deer. [3]
The Adolfo Ruiz Cortines dam serves as a usual fishing spot and it is also responsible for irrigating the valley via the Mayo River, which some people visit for kayaking, geoglyph-viewing and other leisure activities.
Navojoa also acts as a hub for anyone visiting the colonial town of Álamos, which is 48 kilometers (30 miles) inland toward the mountains of the Sierra Madre.

Information about the Municipality of Navojoa

The municipality has boundaries with Cajeme and Quiriego in the north, with Álamos in the east, with Huatabampo in the southwest and with Etchojoa in the west. Other towns, besides the municipal seat, are San Ignacio Cohuirimpo, Guadalupe, Guayparin, Tetanchopo, Santa María del Bauraje, Agiabampo, Masiaca, Bacabachi, and Pueblo Viejo.
The region lies in the valley of the Mayo River, which crosses it from the northeast to the southwest.
Communication in the municipality is carried out by highway, railway, and airplane. Highway Mex 15 crosses the region from the northeast to the southeast. There is also an extensive network of tarmacked roads, connecting the municipal seat with the agricultural communities in the Mayo valley.
The railway runs parallel to the national highway crossing the region. There is a regional airport in the municipal seat.
One quarter of the municipality (1,160 km²) is occupied by irrigated agricultural lands, growing wheat, corn, soybeans, and garden vegetables.
There is also large production of swine and poultry. Navojoa produces almost half of the state production in these areas. The cattle herd had over 30,000 head according to the 2000 census. [4]
Industry is modest, although there are two beer factories and a cardboard packing factory.

Sister cities

★ Santa Fe Springs, California, USA

Sports

The city of Navojoa has its own baseball team called ''Mayos de Navojoa'' which is a member of the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico.
Well-known native baseball players:

★ Gabriel "Gabe" Alvarez, player for the Detroit Tigers.

★ Luis Alfonso "Cochito" Cruz, San Diego Padres.

★ Francisco "Paquín" Estrada, former player for the New York Mets.

★ Alfonso "Houston" Jiménez, Cleveland Indians.

★ Isidro Márquez, Chicago White Sox.

★ Fernando Valenzuela, LA Dodgers.

Other famous natives

★ Rubén Aguilar Valenzuela, President Vicente Fox spokesman.

★ Javier Alatorre, journalist and anchor for ''Hechos'', a news show for TV Azteca.

★ Luis Ramón "Yori Boy" Campas, boxer, former IBF world Jr. Middleweight champion.

★ Beatriz Adriana, Folk music singer

★ Arturo Chacón Cruz, Tenor

★ Rafael Moreno, Catholic Singer

★ Rodolfo Coronel, Popular Folk music Singer

★ Juan Manuel González Flores, vice-president of the International University Sports Federation.

★ Álvaro Obregón, President of Mexico 1920-1924.

★ Valentín Elizalde, Folk singer recently murdered

References

★ Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática

★ Sonora Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

★ Ayuntamiento de Navojoa Official website

★ Portal de Navojoa Navoyork.com

★ Sonora Turismo Secretariat of Tourism of Sonora

★ Mayos de Navojoa baseball team, members of the Mexican Pacific League.

★ Satellite view on Google Maps