Sinaloa
state of Mexico

Sinaloa (Spanish pronunciation: [sinaˈloa] ), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa (English: Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 20 municipalities, and its capital and largest city is Culiacán Rosales. Other large cities include Mazatlán, Los Mochis, Guamúchil, and Guasave.
Sinaloa is located in northwest Mexico and is bordered by the states of Sonora to the northwest, Chihuahua to the north, Durango to the east, and Nayarit to the southeast. To the west, Sinaloa faces Baja California Sur, across the Gulf of California. Its natural geography is divided by the Sierra Madre Occidental, fertile river valleys, and a broad coastal plain along the Gulf of California. The state covers an area of 58,328 square kilometers (22,521 sq mi) and includes the islands of Palmito Verde, Palmito de la Virgen, Altamura, Santa María, Saliaca, Macapule, and San Ignacio.
Its economy is based on agriculture, fisheries, livestock breeding, tourism, mining, and food processing. Culturally, Sinaloa has a strong musical tradition, particularly in the banda and norteño genres, its cuisine, and the heritage of indigenous peoples such as the Yaqui and the Yoreme.
Etymology
Sinaloa combines two words from the Cahita language: sina ('pitahaya plant'), and lobola ('rounded'); sinalobola was shortened to sinaloa.
The public source identifies “Sinaloa” as state of Mexico. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sinaloa, state and Mexico.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sinaloa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.