Montemorelos 6.56

Montemorelos is a city and surrounding municipality of 53,854 inhabitants located in the Northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, in the valley of the Pilon River. It was named after its founder.HistoryIn 1637, Governor Martín de Zavala promised a large tract of land in central Nuevo León to Captain Alonso de León on condition that, in less than a year, a colonial settlement is built and populated inside its borders. De León distributed the estate to his children and one of them, Alonso de León González ("The younger"), established his property in the northern banks of the Pilón River, organized an outpost and dedicated it to Our Lady of Regla, a black Madonna venerated by Catholics in Chipiona, Cádiz. The settlement grew rapidly and soon the residents requested the intervention of the Bishop of Guadalajara so that a church could be built and dedicated to St Matthew. The elevation of this parochial church in 1665 marks the foundation of modern-day Montemorelos.GeographyThe municipality of Montemorelos is located in the central region of Nuevo León, near the city of Monterrey. Coordinates for Montemorelos are 25°11' N and 99°50' W. The area of the municipality is 1,706.2 square km. The municipality is surrounded by the Madre Oriental and Los Nogales mountain ranges. Montemorelos has several rivers, none of them navigable. The most important rivers located in the municipality are: Ramos, Pilón, Blanquillo, and Potosí rivers.