Nayarit

Nayarit is one of Mexico’s 31 states, officially called the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, and together with Mexico City it forms the country’s Federal Entities. The state has 20 municipalities, and its capital is Tepic. Its neighbors are Sinaloa to the northwest, Durango to the north, Zacatecas to the northeast, and Jalisco to the south. To the west, Nayarit has a long Pacific coastline, which includes the Marías and Marietas islands. The beaches of San Blas and the area known as the Riviera Nayarit draw tourists and snowbirds. The state’s economy relies mainly on farming and fishing. It is also one of only two states—along with Jalisco—where the tarantula species *Brachypelma klaasi* lives. The name Nayarit comes from the Cora people’s own name for themselves, Náayerite, and honors Nayar, a leader of their resistance.

The region was home to Uto-Aztecan peoples like the Huichol and Cora. Spanish conquistadores Hernán Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán entered the area in the 1500s. Spanish control was hard to establish because of indigenous uprisings and the rough terrain of the Sierra del Nayar. The last independent Cora communities were finally conquered in 1722.

Radiocarbon dating suggests that the Aztatlán culture settled the western Mexican coast—including parts of Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco—as early as 900 AD, with some evidence pointing to 520 AD. When Spanish invaders reached the western coast in 1500, they encountered cultures that had grown out of these original Aztatlán settlements and other Classic-stage groups that had merged with them. Hernán Cortés was the first European known to enter what is now Nayarit, claiming it for Spain as part of Nueva Galicia. Under Nuño de Guzmán, the Spanish took the region with great brutality, sparking a revolt among the indigenous people known as the Mixtón War. After nearly two centuries of resistance, the last independent Cora communities were forced into Spanish rule in 1722. Jesuit missionaries then worked intensely to convert the indigenous population. During the colonial period, the port of San Blas was a major trade hub on the American Pacific coast. Galleons carrying goods from Manila in the Philippines arrived there before Acapulco’s port rose to prominence. Today, the town still has colonial buildings from that era, including the customs office, accounting offices, and a fortress built to defend against pirates. The fight for Mexican independence in Nayarit was started by the priest José María Mercado, who captured Tepic and San Blas before being defeated and executed by Spanish royalists. In 1824, under Mexico’s first constitution, Nayarit was part of Jalisco. In the mid-1800s, Comanche Indians from Texas and Oklahoma attacked Tepic, causing widespread destruction. During the second half of the 19th century, Nayarit was one of Mexico’s most turbulent territories, with the population in open revolt demanding land. Nayarit was one of the last territories admitted as a state, which happened on May 1, 1917.

Nayarit covers 27,815 square kilometers (10,739 square miles), making it one of Mexico’s smaller states. It lies between latitudes 23°05' north and 20°36' south, and longitudes 103°43' east and 105°46' west. Its terrain is broken by the western ends of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. The highest peaks are San Juan, Sanguangüey, El Ceboruco, Cumbre de Pajaritos, and Picachos. The state has two volcanoes, Ceboruco and Sangangüey. In the northeast, broad tropical plains are watered by the Río Grande de Santiago, which continues from the Lerma River. The main rivers are the Río Grande de Santiago, San Pedro Mezquital, Acaponeta, Ameca, and Las Cañas. The Río Grande de Santiago is the largest river in Nayarit, and it and its tributaries are vital for agricultural irrigation. The Ameca and Las Cañas rivers form the borders with Jalisco and Sinaloa, respectively. Notable lagoons include Santa María del Oro, San Pedro Lagunillas, and Agua Brava.

Nayarit is divided into 20 municipalities, like all Mexican states. The state’s natural vegetation changes with elevation. Historically, coastal lowlands and river valleys were covered with tropical dry forest, full of native deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the dry season. The Sinaloan dry forests now cover the northern coastal lowlands and extend up the valleys of the San Pedro Mezquital River and the Río Grande de Santiago and its tributaries. The Jalisco dry forests ecoregion covers coastal Nayarit south of San Blas and the Islas Marías. The Marismas Nacionales–San Blas mangroves—a network of coastal Pacific lagoons and tidal mangrove forests—run along the northern coast and into neighboring Sinaloa. These mangroves support abundant wildlife, including migratory and resident waterbirds. The mountains are home to pine–oak forests, which vary in density with elevation. Oak forests and woodlands grow at lower elevations, mixed with smaller areas of humid cloud forest where rainfall is higher. At the highest elevations, forests of conifers, pines, and oak dominate. Nayarit also has hundreds of miles of rainforest in the Sierra. Its wildlife includes hundreds of bird species, both resident and migratory, such as the lilac-crowned amazon (*Amazona finschi*) and many hummingbirds like the Mexican woodnymph (*Thalurania ridgwayi*). There are also 119 registered mammal species, including the white-tailed deer.