SONORA, so-nifiri., Mexico; except Chi huahua, the largest state of that republic; bounded on the north by Arizona and New Mexico (United States), on the east by Chi huahua, on the southeast by Sinaloa, on the southwest and west by the Gulf of California, and.on the northwest by the territory of Lower California. Area, 76,900 square miles. The mountains of the eastern part of the state are the Sierra Madre and a number of secondary chains. Principal rivers are the Altar (also called Asuncion or San Ignacio), Yaqui, Mayo, Sonora and Matope. The chief port is Guay mas. In the mountains the climate is cool and occasionally cold; the flat western districts and the low, arid coast are hot, the thermometer sometimes recording 119° F. at Guaymas. In (Mexico: a Geographical Sketch' (Bureau American Republics, 1900), grain falling from a cloudless and serene sky," is mentioned as a "peculiarity" of the Sonora coast. The produc tion of minerals in this state is especially note worthy, there being extensive annual exports of silver, lead, gold, copper, coal, antimony, iron, cinnabar and graphite. The soil is fertile, but in many sections requires, and at present lacks, irrigation. The chief products are cereals, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane and fruits. Imports are machinery and agricultural and mining im plements, material for clothing (cotton, linen, wool and silk), wines and liquors, hardware and arms and ammunition. Some of the pearls
found in the Gulf of California are sent to European markets; otherwise all the foreign trade is with the adjacent States and Terri tories of the American Union. The only rail way in the state runs from Guaymas to Nogales. The latter, being on the boundary-line between Sonora and the United States, is divided by a street into the two towns of Nogales, Mexico, and Nogales, Ariz. The capital of the state is Hermosillo (pop. 14,574), chief town of the rich mining district also called Hermosillo. Here are located the government palace, mint, cathedral and library. Pope Pius VI in 1779 81 created a bishopric including Sonora, Sinaloa and the two Californias. In 1842 Gandara, an ambitious provincial leader, made Sonora the theatre of a civil war. During the war with France (1862-67), interesting campaigns were conducted in the state. Hermosillo, captured 4 May 1866 by the republicans, was retaken by the imperialists; but the French forces were withdrawn from Guaymas in September of the same year. Less than a decade afterward oc curred the Yaqui War (1885-86). Total popu lation of the state, 275,107.