Chihuahua (state) Facts for Kids

State flag

Chihuahua is a large state in Mexico. Its full name is the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Chihuahua). It is one of the 32 main parts, called Federal Entities, that make up Mexico, along with Mexico City. The capital city of Chihuahua is Chihuahua City.

Chihuahua is the biggest state in Mexico when you look at its size. It covers about 247,455 square kilometers (95,543 sq mi), which is a bit larger than the United Kingdom. Because it's so big, people often call it El Estado Grande, which means "The Big State".

Even though Chihuahua is famous for the Chihuahuan Desert, it actually has more forests than almost any other state in Mexico, except for Durango. The weather changes a lot across the state, so you can find many different kinds of plants and animals. The land in Chihuahua is mostly made up of tall, rugged mountains and wide river valleys. The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, which is like an extension of the Rocky Mountains, covers a lot of the state. This is where you'll find Chihuahua's most amazing place: Las Barrancas del Cobre, or Copper Canyon. This system of canyons is even bigger and deeper than the Grand Canyon!

On the sides of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, especially near places like Casas Grandes, Cuauhtémoc, and Parral, there are huge areas of short, yellow grass. This is where most of the state's farm products come from. Most people in Chihuahua live near the Rio Grande Valley and the Conchos River Valley.

Nature and Wildlife in Chihuahua

Cumbres de Majalca National Park has both humid and dry areas, where you can find trees like the Ponderosa pine.

The World Wide Fund for Nature says that the Chihuahuan Desert might have the most different types of plants and animals of any desert in the world. This means it has a lot of different species and many plants and animals that are found only there. However, over time, some parts of this region have been changed a lot by human activity. Many plants that naturally grew there have been replaced by creosote shrubs.

Images for kids

An old pot found at Casas Grandes.
Cliff dwellings at Las Jarillas Cave, part of the Cuarenta Casas archeological site.
Antonio de Deza y Ulloa, who founded Chihuahua City.
An old aqueduct from the 1700s in Chihuahua City.
El Templo de San Francisco church in Chihuahua.
Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was the 8th President of Mexico.
The Battle of the Sacramento River.
A painting in the Government Palace, honoring leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Benito Juárez, and Simón Bolívar.
A monument to Benito Juárez in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
The City Hall of Chihuahua, showing the architecture from the time of Porfirio Díaz.
The government palace, built in the early 1900s, is now a museum.
Quinta Carolina, a large estate once owned by the Terrazas family.
Pascual Orozco.
Generals Obregón, Villa, and Pershing meeting at Ft. Bliss, Texas.
A bronze statue of Villa in Chihuahua, Chihuahua.
A snowy view of Lake Arareco in the Tarahumara Mountains.
Cerro Mohinora is the highest point in Chihuahua.
A satellite view of Chihuahua, showing mountains, plains, and desert.
Basaseachic Falls in Copper Canyon.
Namúrachi is in a dry, semi-arid area.
The Mexican Plateau during the rainy season.
Chihuahua white pine trees covered in snow.
The Samalayuca Dune Fields, a protected area south of Ciudad Juárez.
A Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite girl in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua.
A wide view of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas.
Copachisa, a company based in Chihuahua City that designs and builds industrial projects.
Naica Mine is famous for its huge selenite crystals. It also produces lead, zinc, and silver.
The dairy industry is a big part of the state's farming economy.

Chihuahua (state) facts for kids

Nature and Wildlife in Chihuahua

Images for kids

See also