Chihuahua , State, northern Mexico. Area: 94,571 sq mi (244,938 sq km). Population: (2020) 3,741,869. Capital: Chihuahua city. The country’s largest state, it borders the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas and consists largely of an elevated plain sloping northward toward the Rio Grande. Its western area is broken by the Sierra Madre Occidental; Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre) resembles the U.S. Grand Canyon in scale but is almost inaccessible. In Spanish colonial times it was ruled with Durango but was made a separate state in 1823. The state’s principal industry is mining; livestock raising is also important to the economy.
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