Vito Alessio Robles in his Coahuila and Texas in colonial times explains this problem: The name could be the result of the nahuatl prefix  “coatl” meaning snake, making Coahuila “land of snakes”, but there is a more credible version: Coahuila in the old tribe’s dialect means “land of tall trees”. This seems more real if we think of those tall sabine and hickory trees that grow on the sides of our rivers and creeks.

Coahuila’s colonization and exploration took place between 1550 and 1580. The land was named New Extremadura (after a region of Spain). Colonization was hard and laborious, it is not difficult to know why: a vast desert, extreme weather, Indian tribes weary of war, a land short on water, among other problems. There were very few European settlements in northern Mexico and on top of that there were fewer indigenous tribes scattered in a huge desert, so the Spaniard brought with them  tlaxaltec tribes from south-central Mexico to settle and work the land. These tribes have left a very strong mark in Coahuila.

Colonial administration was problematic, there were far to many confrontations between political groups trying to decide which city had to be the State’s Capital, Saltillo or Monclova. Among these problems, various urban sites prospered like Parras, were the first wine in the American Continent was made, Monclova, Saltillo and Santa Rosa. Coahuila was synonymous with wealthy ranches, wine making, cloth manufacturing and commerce, activities which to the day are important part of our States life.

Coahuila was a central part in the war of independence and most importantly in the making of the 1824 Constitution, a document that was very influenced by the Coahuila born Miguel Ramos Arizpe, the greatest federalist in México.

 This new Constitution jointed Coahuila and Texas together till 1835 when Texas decided to flee the Union, giving place to the Mexican-American war, where Coahuila was to have an important role.

Once again Coahuila would play an important part in history, this time in the Mexican Revolution were two coahuileans Francisco Madero, born in Parras would become the first democratically elected president in Mexico and Venustiano Carranza, born in Cuatrociénegas would give birth to the Constitution of 1917, the same that still governs us.

After the Revolution, Coahuila became a great industrial center. Railways and trains would give Coahuila a new look. The city of Torreón was born and with it great agriculture activity. Saltillo became an industrious city, Monclova   would born again with its gigantic metallurgic industry, and the carboniferous region transformed itself to become Mexico’s only coal production center.

And so, Coahuila came well prepared to confront these new times, with historically vibrant and modern  cities at the same time, forged with time, labor and above all progress