NUEVO LEON, a northern State of Mexico. Pop. (1930) 417,491; area 25,136 sq. miles. Nuevo Leon lies partly upon the great Mexican plateau and partly upon its eastern slopes, the Sierra Madre Oriental crossing the State north-west to south-east. A branch of the Sierra Madre extends northward from the vicin ity of Salinas, but its elevations are low. The average elevation of the Sierra Madre within the State is slightly under 5,500 feet. The general character of the surface is mountainous, though the western and south-western sections are level. In the north the general elevation is lower, the surface sandy and covered with cactus and mesquite growth. The eastern slopes are well clothed with vegetation, but the lower valleys are subtropical in character and are largely devoted to sugar production. The higher eleva tions have a dry, temperate, healthy climate. There are many rivers and streams, notably the Salado and Pesqueria.
Agriculture is the principal industry, the chief products being sugar, barley, Indian corn and wheat. Rum is a by-product of the sugar industry, and "mescal" is distilled from the agave. The
gathering and preparation of "ixtle" fibres from the agave and yucca forms another important industry, the fibre being sent to Tampico for export. Considerable progress has been made in manufacturing industries, and there are a large number of sugar mills, cotton factories, woollen mills, important smelting works and iron and steel works. The State is well served with railways. The Mexican National line crosses the northern half of the State and has constructed a branch from Monterrey to Matamoros, and a Belgian line (F. C. de Monterrey al Golfo Mexicano) runs from Tampico north-north-west to Monterrey, and thence westward to Coahuila. The other principal towns, with their population in 1931, are: Linares, or San Felipe (9,59o) 112 m. by rail S.E. of the capital in a rich agricultural region; Montemorelos (5,574); Naranjo (3,639), 96 m. by rail N.W. of the capital; Cadereyta, Jimenez, Garcia, Santiago and Doctor Arroyo.