It is bordered by the states of Sinaloa to the northwest, Durango to the north, Zacatecas to the northeast and Jalisco to the south. To the west, Nayarit has a significant share of coastline on the Pacific Ocean, including the islands of Marías and Marietas. The beaches of San Blas and the so-called "Riviera Nayarit" are popular with tourists and snowbirds.
Besides tourism, the economy of the state is based mainly on agriculture and fishing. It is also one of two states where the tarantula species Brachypelma klaasi is found, the other being Jalisco.
Home to Uto-Aztecan indigenous peoples such as the Huichol and Cora, the region was exposed to the conquistadoresHernán Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán in the 16th century. Spanish governance was made difficult by indigenous rebellions and by the inhospitable terrain of the Sierra del Nayar. The last independent Cora communities were subjugated in 1722.
The state's name recalls the Cora people's label for themselves: Náayerite, commemorating Nayar, a resistance leader.[8]
Radiocarbon dating estimate Aztatlán colonization of the western Mexican coast – including parts of Sinaloa, Nayarit and Jalisco – as occurring as early as 900 AD, with some evidence suggesting it might have been as early as 520 AD. Encountered on the western coast by the Spanish invaders in 1500, the cultures were descended from these original Aztatlán settlements and other Classic-stage cultures who had merged with them.[9][10]
Hernán Cortés was the first known European to enter into the area now known as Nayarit, which he claimed for Spain as part of Nueva Galicia. Under Nuño de Guzmán, Spaniards took the region with considerable brutality, causing the indigenous inhabitants to revolt, in what was later referred to as the Mixtón War.[11][12] After almost two centuries of resistance, the last independent Cora communities were incorporated into Spanish administration by force in 1722. Then followed intense missionary efforts by Jesuits to convert the indigenous.[13]
In the colonial period, the port of San Blas was one of the most important trade ports on the American Pacific coast. Galleons transporting goods from Manila, the Philippines arrived here before the rise of the port of Acapulco.[citation needed] Today, the town still boasts colonial architecture from its heyday, such as the aduana (customs office), the contaduría (accounting offices) and the fortress that protected the port against pirates.[citation needed]
In Nayarit, the struggle for independence from Spain was initiated by the priest José María Mercado, who conquered Tepic and San Blas before being defeated and executed by Spanish royalists. In 1824, in the first constitution of the Mexican Republic, Nayarit was a part of Jalisco. [citation needed] 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 the most turbulent territories in Mexico. The population was in open revolt, demanding access to land.[14]
Nayarit was one of the last territories admitted as a state of the Mexican federation, which occurred on May 1, 1917.[15]
Nayarit's natural vegetation varies with altitude; coastal lowlands and river valleys were, historically, covered with tropical dry forest, containing many native deciduous trees that lost their leaves during the dry seasons. 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.[21] The Jalisco dry forests ecoregion covers coastal Nayarit south of San Blas and the Islas Marías.[22]
The Marismas Nacionales–San Blas mangroves, a network of coastal Pacific lagoons and tidal mangrove forests, extend along the state's northern coast and into adjacent Sinaloa state. The mangroves are home to abundant wildlife, including migratory and resident waterbirds.[23]
The mountains are home to pine–oak forests, which vary in density with elevation. Oak forests and woodlands tend to grow at lower elevations, interspersed with smaller areas of humid cloud forest in areas of higher rainfall. The highest elevations contain forests of conifers, pines and oak.[24]
Nayarit also contains hundreds of miles of rainforest in the Sierra. Its wildlife includes hundreds of bird species, both resident and breeding/migratory populations, including parrots, like the lilac-crowned amazon (Amazona finschi) and numerous hummingbirds, such as the Mexican woodnymph (Thalurania ridgwayi). There are also 119 registered species of mammals, including white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu), brocket deer (Mazama americana), several types of armadillo, coyote, wild felines such as puma (Felis concolor), jaguarundi (Puma yagouarundi), bobcat or lince rojo, ocelot (Felis pardalis) and many more species. Historically, the Mexican wolf, Mexican grizzly bear and jaguar would have been present in the region, as well, though the bears are now extinct; the Mexican wolf and jaguar survive today only in a few fragmented locations, due to decades of hunting and human encroachment on their habitats.[25] Most of the rain forest has been exploited, especially around the region of Santa María del Oro. The conservation and protection of the rain forest and wildlife of Nayarit is an issue of crucial importance.[26]
Nayarit is Mexico's twenty-ninth most populous state. According to the census of 2020, the state had a population of 1,235,456 and its population density was 39/km2.
Indigenous groups
Nayarit is the home to four indigenous groups: the Wixaritari (Huichol), the Naayeri (Cora), the Odam (Tepehuan) and the Nahuatl-speaking Mexicaneros. The indigenous groups mostly inhabit the Nayar highlands, but are also frequently encountered in Tepic and on the Pacific coast, where they have also established colonies. They are known for their crafts and artwork which they sell. About five percent of the state population speaks an indigenous language.[29]
Economy
Punta Mita is a major tourist destination on the Riviera NayaritShrimp fisherman on the coast of Nayarit
Nayarit is predominantly an agricultural state, and produces a large variety of crops such as beans, sorghum, sugar cane, maize, tobacco, rice, chiles, peanuts, melons, tomatoes, coffee, mangoes, bananas, and avocados. In addition to these crops, livestock and fishing are also central to the local economy. Approximately six percent of the land in Nayarit is pasture land, with the most common livestock being cattle, horses, pigs, goats, and sheep. Nayarit has 289 kilometers of coastline, which provides an abundance of fish and shellfish, including bass, snapper, sharks, and oysters. There are over 75 cooperatives related to the fishing industry alone in Nayarit. Much of the food produced in Nayarit is exported to the larger urban areas surrounding Mexico City and Guadalajara, and much of the agricultural labor is performed by migrant laborers. Although mining exists in Nayarit, it is mostly of non-metallic substances such as limestone or kaolin.[30]
Beginning in the late 90's, Nayarit has become known as a producer of specialtyArabica coffee, regarded for its fine taste and high density beans grown in the volcanic soils of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Nayarit coffee is exported all over the world, including to the UK and Australia via the Grupo Terruño Nayarita farmers cooperative.[31]
Newspapers of Nayarit include: El Periódico en que Nayarit Opina Día a Día, El Semanario que refleja qué hay en Nayarit, Matutino Gráfico, Meridiano de Nayarit, and Realidades.[33][34]
^"El Nayar". Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
^Mountjoy, Joseph B. (2013). "Aztatlan Complex". In Evans, Susan T.; Webster, David L. (eds.). Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 59. ISBN9781136801853.
^For a map showing important archaeological sites in Nayarit, refer to: Gorenstein, Shirley (2000). "Western and Northwestern Mexico". In Trigger, Bruce G.; et al. (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Cambridge University Press. p. 320. ISBN9780521351652.
^Pasztor, Suzanne B. (2004). "Nayarit (state)". In Coerver, Don M.; et al. (eds.). Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History. ABC-CLIO. p. 323. ISBN9781576071328.
^"Nayarit"Archived 17 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine in The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2012, Columbia University Press
^Pasztor, Suzanne B. (2012). "Nayarit". In Saragoza, Alex; et al. (eds.). Mexico Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 459. ISBN9780313349485.
^Pulido Pérez, R. (1995). Diagnostico de la fauna silvestre en el estado de Nayarit/."Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ abStandish, Peter (2009). "Nayarit". The States of Mexico: A Reference Guide to History and Culture. Greenwood Publishing. pp. 251–252. ISBN9780313342233.
.jpeg)
.svg)
