Sonora y Sinaloa was a province in the Provincias Internas and under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara

Real Audiencia of Guadalajara

The Real Audiencia of Guadalajara was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in what is today northern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was created by royal decree on February 13, 1548, and was originally located in Compostela and permanently seated...

  (Royal Audiencia of Guadalajara) of Viceroyalty of New Spain. After Independence

Mexican War of Independence

The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...

 Sonora y Sinaloa became one of the constituent states of the Mexican Republic

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 covers much of the state.

Sonora y Sinaloa state

Under its Constitution of 1824

1824 Constitution of Mexico

The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new constitution, the republic took the name of United Mexican States, and was defined as a representative federal republic, with...

 Sonora y Sinaloa was a state of the Mexican Republic. The federal constitution used the name "Sonora y Sinaloa". However the state constitution, adopted on 31 October 1825, used the name Estado de Occidente ("State of the West"). The Sonora y Sinaloa state capital was located at El Fuerte, Sinaloa. The first Governor of Sonora y Sinaloa

Governor of Sonora

List of governors of Sonora since 1917:*2009–2015 Guillermo Padrés Elías*2003–2009 Eduardo Bours Castelo*1997–2003 Armando López Nogales*1991–1997 Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera*1991–1991 Mario Morúa Johnson...

 was the Sonoran Juan Miguel Riesgo.

Sonora -and- Sinaloa states

On 30 September 1830, due to constant internal disputes, the state was divided into two – the states of Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

and Sinaloa

Sinaloa

Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

. While the territory of Sinaloa corresponds to that of the modern-day state of the same name.

Mexican-American War and territory

Sonora of the 1820s extended north beyond the present day United States–Mexico border

United States–Mexico border

The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...

. Settlements only existed in the extreme south of the current State of Arizona

Spanish period of Arizona

In the late 18th century, colonists began steadily entering the region of northern New Spain that is the modern-day U.S. state of Arizona. They were attracted by reports of the discovery of deposits of silver around the Arizonac mining camp...

 and the northern frontier was not defined. Maps from the period will show the northern border abover today's international border or as far as either the Gila River

Gila River

The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...

 or the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

 in the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

. The Mexican-American War, 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

, and especially the Gadsden Purchase

Gadsden Purchase

The Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S...

 established the present border.

See also

• Territorial evolution of Mexico
  Territorial evolution of Mexico
  Mexico has experienced many changes in territorial organization during its history as an independent state, especially as the territorial boundaries of Mexico were affected by presidential and imperial decrees...
  
  
• Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
  Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
  The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of Jesuit Catholic religious outposts established by the Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders for religious conversions of the Pima and Tohono O'odham indigenous peoples residing in the Sonoran Desert...
  
  
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
  Spanish colonization of the Americas
  Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...