Navojoa | |
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City | |
Navojoa City Hall with a small replica of the Angel de la Independencia
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Nickname(s): La Perla del Mayo | |
Location in Mexico | |
Coordinates: 27°4′52.68″N 109°26′45.96″W / 27.0813000°N 109.4461000°WCoordinates: 27°4′52.68″N 109°26′45.96″W / 27.0813000°N 109.4461000°W | |
Country | Mexico |
State | Sonora |
Municipality | Navojoa Municipality |
Founded | 1907 |
Government | |
• Municipal president | Dr. Raul Silva Vela (PAN) |
Area | |
• City | 4,380.69 km2 (1,691.39 sq mi) |
Elevation | 50 m (160 ft) |
Population (2010) | |
• City | 157,729 |
• Urban | 113,836 |
• City | 103,312 |
• Demonym | Navojoense |
Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
Postal code | 85800 |
Area code(s) | 642 |
Navojoa is the fifth-largest city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and is situated in the southern part of the state. The city is the administrative seat of Navojoa Municipality, located in the Mayo River Valley.
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 Mayo people.
In September 1536, Diego de Guzmán, a Spaniard, became the first known European to reach the valley and the first Jesuit missionaries started settling in the region in 1614. Several geoglyphs from the 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 19th century were largely absent from the region. However, the city had some importance after the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The Mexican Revolutionary Álvaro Obregón was born in Hacienda Siquisiva, a small town near Navojoa. 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.
Navojoa is part of the large 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.