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Fronteras is the seat of Fronteras Municipality in the northeastern part of the Mexican state of Sonora. Frontera translates as Border. The elevation is 1,120 meters and neighboring municipalities are Agua Prieta, Nacozari and Bacoachi. The area is 2839.62 km2, which represents 1.53% of the state total.
Fronteras was founded by the Jesuits as a mission in 1645.
Fronteras is located in a mountainous area on the west side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The average annual temperature is 16.9 °C. The rainy season is from July to August and the average annual rainfall is 427.5 millimeters.[1]
The municipal population was 7,081 (2.34 /km2) in 2000, although in a second counting in 2005 this had increased to 7,470. The most important settlement and the municipal seat had 874 inhabitants in 2000.[2][1]
Industry is the most important economic activity together with agriculture and cattle raising. There was one maquiladora in 2000. The main agricultural crops were wheat, beans, corn and grasses for cattle fodder. The cattle herd was substantial with over 30,000 head counted in 2000. Almost all were for meat production.
The Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza (1735-1788) led the first Spanish overland expedition to the Las Californias Province of New Spain in 1769, previously only sighted and claimed for the Crown from the sea. He established the first Spanish settlement in present-day California, the Presidio of San Diego, and was the second European (after Francis Drake) to see the San Francisco Bay.
Fronteras was originally founded as Santa Rosa de Corodeguachi, a Spanish presidio.[3]
訪問者は、 1645年にイエズス会宣教師マルコス・デル・リオによって設立されたサン・イグナシオ・デ・クキアラチ伝道所を訪れることができます。ここはソノラ砂漠にあるスペインの伝道所のひとつです。オホ・デ・アグア村の近くには、古代アメリカ大陸のピマ族の居住地跡である2つの考古学的遺跡があります。その他の見どころとしては、ハシント・ロペス貯水池とプレシディオ・デ・フロンテラスの洞窟があります。
20世紀初頭、フロンテラスは、近代メキシコの礎を築き、同国第40代大統領を務めたプルタルコ・エリアス・カジェスの故郷として名声を博した。エリアス・カジェスはソノラ州の沿岸都市グアイマスで生まれたが、フロンテラスの製粉所を経営して成功を収め、フロンテラスで政治的な人脈を築いた。
2010年、フロンテラスは恐竜の化石が大量に発見されたことで再び注目を集めた。古生物学者たちは、これらの化石はこれまで科学的に知られていなかった固有種であると主張している。