Nuevo Casas Grandes

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Location of Nuevo Casas Grandes

Nuevo Casas Grandes, also known as Nueva Casas Grandes, is a city and its surrounding municipality in Mexico. It is located in the northwestern part of the state of Chihuahua, on the Casas Grandes or San Miguel river, situated in a wide, fertile valley on the 4,000-foot Mesa del Norte of the Plateau of Mexico. Nearby is the Sierra Madre Occidental.

The city of Nuevo Casas Grandes, which had a 2005 census population of 50,863, serves as municipal seat of the municipio, which had a population of 54,411. The city was founded in the 1870s. Nuevo Casas Grandes got its name from another town about a mile away called Casas Grandes. A train station was built in that area and soon people migrated near it. Many of the region's inhabitants were of Native American ethnic groups closely related to those of the American Southwest.

The area around Nuevo Casas Grandes is noted for its great historical and archaeological heritage. Five miles southwest of Nuevo Casas Grandes is the most important archaeological site in northern Mexico, including the Casas Grandes Archaeological Zone and the Paquimé Archaeological Zone highlighted by the new Paquimé (which, translated to Spanish, means "Big Houses" or Casas Grandes) Museum. Nuevo Casas Grandes is also world famous for the nearby "potter village" of Mata Ortiz an ejido and its revival of pottery in the ancient Paquimé tradition.

Living peaceably nearby are Mennonite and Mormon communities. Both groups are bilingual with Spanish as their second language. The Mennonites are Old Order Mennonites and speak their own dialect of German, while those in the Mormon community who are of North American descent speak English. As Nuevo Casas Grandes has grown in the last few decades, it now meets on the north side with the Mormon colony, Colonia Dublán. Many who reside near Nuevo Casas Grandes endeavor to maintain orchards which grow a variety fruits, including peaches, apples, pears, and pecans. There is also significant activity in wheat and cattle. There is an effort to expand the bed and breakfast sector.

Sister Cities of Nuevo Casas Grandes include Colorado Springs, Colorado (1996) and Silver City, New Mexico.

Nuevo Casas Grandes has an airport, Nuevo Casas Grandes, airport code NCG.

[edit] See also

Casas Grandes

[edit] References

'Nuevo Casas Grandes', Encyclopædia Britannica [1], retrieved 17 August 2005.
'Nueva Casas Grandes', World Airport Codes, [2], retrieved 17 August 2005.
Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática