Mexico's least populous state has a volcano, remote islands and a giant lime
Colima is a sliver of Mexico's Pacific coast, holding just 0.3 percent of the national territory and the smallest population of any state. Yet it squeezes in an active volcano, mountains over most of its land, one of the country's busiest ports, and a string of volcanic islands far offshore.
The state covers 5,455 square kilometres, fourth smallest in Mexico, bordered by Jalisco, Michoacan and the ocean. Three quarters of it is mountains and hills, an offshoot of the Sierra Madre Occidental. On the northern border stand two volcanoes: the dormant Nevado de Colima, at 4,271 metres the taller, and the active Volcan de Colima, or Volcan de Fuego, with its pyramid-shaped peak and major eruptions in 1998 and 1999. Out in the Pacific, the four volcanic Revillagigedo Islands, among them Socorro and Clarion, are federal territory yet count as part of Manzanillo municipality. The mainland coast is short, just 139 kilometres, and dotted with lagoons.
The north is cooler and higher, the south hot and humid, with coastal averages of 24 to 26 degrees Celsius. Forest covers about 35 percent of the land and cropland 27 percent. Wildlife ranges from crocodiles, protected by a nursery in Tecoman, to the rare Magdalena rat, barely known outside the state, although ocelots, pumas and deer are declining.
The capital, also called Colima, sits in a valley beneath the volcano. It began as a Spanish settlement founded further south in 1523 and moved to its current site in 1527. Next door, Villa de Alvarez stages one of the oldest combined bullfighting and charreada festivals in the region in La Petatera, a bullring rebuilt each year from logs and woven mats and counted among the world's largest crafts. Manzanillo is one of Mexico's key Pacific ports and drives much of the state's recent growth. Tecoman, the lime capital, marks its identity with a 30 metre abstract lime tree by the sculptor Sebastian.
Population grew fast, from 112,321 in 1950 to 650,555 in the 2010 census, and 89 percent now live in towns, well above the national figure. Most residents are mestizo and more than 95 percent Catholic, with Nahua and Otomi communities in a few villages. The state enjoys one of Mexico's highest living standards and lowest unemployment rates, with 98 percent of homes connected to electricity.
Source: Colima
