About This Quiz
There are 32 states in the country of Mexico, and each one has its own capital city. Most of the cities in Mexico are far older than many people realize dating back well into the 1500s and sometimes even earlier. From early settlements started by indigenous people like the Maya and other tribes to cities that were established on those settlements or out of nothing by the Spanish settlers who took over the region, there's a ton of history all across the country from coast to coast.
Whether we're talking about Mexico City itself, which is the largest metropolitan area in the entire continent of North America, or smaller cities like La Paz and Colima that have populations well below one million residents, there are a lot of places to be familiar with that not all of us ever learned about in geography class, unfortunately. But if you do have a passion for Mexico and know it for more than just the resort towns like Playa del Carmen and Cancun, maybe you can hold your own in this quiz. With 32 cities to choose from, do you think you can name more than a dozen of them? Take the quiz and let’s see what you can do!
Aguascalientes City, under the C on the map, is the capital of Aguascalientes state and has a population of about 1 million people. The city is quite old, founded back on Oct. 22, 1575, by Juan de Montoro, and its original purpose was to be a postal stop.
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Mexicali is located way up in the northwest of Mexico near the US border at he A on our map, adjacent to its US sister city known as Calexico. See what they did there? The area in which Mexicali is located is one of the most fertile in all of Mexico and is known for its farmland.
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Just under 250,000 people live in La Paz, found at the D on the map. The city was founded way back in 1535, just two years after Europeans first discovered the region. The city has a rather dry and desert-like climate and tends to get very little rainfall.
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Campeche City, also known as San Francisco de Campeche, is marked with a C and was founded on a Maya city called Can Pech. That city dated all the way back to 1441, whereas Campeche itself was founded in 1540. The city still has fortifying walls meant to protect it from buccaneers.
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Tuxtla Gutiérrez, found at the B, is the capital of Chiapas and even though it has a major airport and bus terminal through which most tourists to the area travel, Chiapas itself doesn't get a ton of tourists sticking around.
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Most people in the United States and Canada don't realize that the most populous city in all of North America is Mexico City. The city itself has a population of 8.8 million while the metropolitan area has a population of nearly 22 million. That's it under the A on the map.
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The city of Chihuahua, found at the B on our map, is named for the state of Chihuahua which also lent its name to the popular tiny dog breed. There are toys dating back to the year 100 AD from the region that depict Chihuahua dogs.
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Located at the A, Saltillo is the capital of Coahuila and has a population of just over 800,000. The city was founded back in 1577 and within 100 years the population had only grown a tiny bit a result of hostilities with the native population.
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The city of Colima is located near a volcano of the same name and in the state that also has the same name. Though it doesn't have a lot of cultural sites to visit, the city is still remarkably old and was founded back in 1523. On the map here you can find it at C.
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Durango City, located at the D on the map, got the Victoria added to its name to honor Guadalupe Victoria, who was the first president of Mexico and was born in the state of Durango back in 1786. Durango City had existed since 1563, though.
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If you head to the city of Guanajuato, located at B on the map, you'll probably not want to do much driving as the narrow streets are often impassable for cars, giving it a very old-school European feel.
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The A on the map marks the location of Chilpancingo. There is a lot of history in the region as the Olmecs once lived in the area, and if you head through the nearby mountains you'll find the tunnel systems they carved as well as cave paintings.
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Found at the D on the map, Pachuca is the capital of Hidalgo. The area in which the city resides has some ancient roots with archaeological relics like paintings, arrowheads and mammoth remains indicating humans lived here as far back as 12,000 BC.
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You can find Guadalajara on the map at the C and it's actually the second-most populous city in Mexico with just under 1.5 million people in the city and over 5 million in the metropolitan area. If you like music, Guadalajara is also the birthplace of mariachi.
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Toluca is located at the D on the map and is the capital of the state of Mexico. While the city has a lot going on, one of the things it's most famous for historically is making chorizo and other smoked and cured meats.
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B is where you'll find Morelia, which until the early 1800s was known as Valladolid. Because the city center features numerous extremely old buildings from the founding of the city, it's been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
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B on the map marks the location of Cuernavaca. The city was once given the nickname "City of Eternal Spring" because the temperature only has a small variance across the entire year, making it very pleasant all year round.
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If you head to the C you'll find the city of Tepic, which is the capital of the state of Nayarit. Founded in 1531 the area is a vibrant agricultural region thanks to the volcanic soil provided by the nearby extinct volcano.
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The capital of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey is located on the map at the letter A. Unlike many of the Mexican capitals, there was no pre-Spanish settlement where Monterrey currently exists, though there is evidence of nomadic tribes in nearby areas.
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You can find Oaxaca located at the B on the map in the state of the same name. It's known for an abundance of colonial-era structures as well as the nearby settlements from Zapotec and Mixtec peoples.
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Look under the A to find the city of Puebla on our map here. While it's known mostly just as Puebla today, the city has gone through a few names in its day including Puebla de Zaragoza, Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza and Puebla de los Ángeles.
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Querétaro City is marked on the map with the letter D. While the city has a large and growing tech sector as a strong portion of its economy, it's also one of the most important wine regions in Mexico.
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The city of Chetumal is marked on the map with the letter D. Chetumal is a port city, and you can find it on Chetumal Bay at the Hondo River. When it was first established as a Mexican port, it was known by the name Payo Obispo.
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The letter D marks the location of San Luis Potosí City on our map here. The city gets its name from Louis IX of France, the patron saint of the city, while the Potosi part is in honor of some mines which were a major reason for the city's founding.
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A marks the spot for the city of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa. The origin of the name of the city has been a subject of some debate but one theory is that it comes from coahuacan, which means "palace of snakes."
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Hermosillo is located at the B on the map and has an extreme desert climate. It routinely gets above 100 degrees F in the summer and has had a record high temperature of 121.1 F back in 2014, meaning you really have to enjoy the heat to want to be here in the summer.
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Located in the state of Tabasco, Villahermosa is located under the A on the map. It was founded back in 1564 and the name comes from King Philip II when he decreed the city Villa Hermosa of San Juan Bautista back in 1598.
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Marked by the C on the map, Ciudad Victoria is the capital of Tamaulipas. The city is located between two mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Oriental to the west and the Sierra de Tamaulipas to the east.
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Check out the A on the map to find the city of Tlaxcala, or as it's officially known the city of Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl. It was founded back in 1525 but there was no pre-Hispanic settlement at the location.
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Xalapa is marked on the map with the letter D. This city is one of the oldest on the continent and can trace its roots all the way back to the year 1313 when four villages in the area merged together to form one.
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Mérida is the capital of Yucatan and you'll find it at the C on the map. The city has a very large indigenous population and, in fact, about 60% of the population of Merida is Maya, making it the largest percentage of any Mexican city.
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We've marked the city of Zacatecas, capital of the state of Zacatecas with an A on the map. Back in the day this city was a Spanish mining camp and was a source for much of the silver that caused the country to thrive in its early history.
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Tuxtla Gutiérrez is the capital of the state of Chiapas, which is the southernmost state in all of Mexico. If you're a fan of history, then Chiapas is a great place to visit with a number of ancient Mayan ruins like Palenque and Yaxchilan.
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Pachuca is in the state of Hidalgo, which is famous for tourists looking to enjoy nature. You can find numerous mountain ranges in Hidalgo as well as hot springs, coastal areas and a number of very fertile valleys used for farmland.
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Saltillo is the capital of Coahuila, which borders the state of Texas on its north side. The wildlife in this region is some of the most diverse in all of Mexico and ranges from black bears to cougars to golden eagles.
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Villahermosa is the capital of Tabasco, a state known for its rain forests and wetlands. If you're wondering, Tabasco sauce has very little to do with the state other than the fact the peppers may grow in this area.
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Toluca de Lerdo is the capital of the state of Mexico. The state of Mexico is sometimes called Edomex as a short form of "Estado de México" in order to differentiate it from the country of Mexico as a whole.
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Tepic is the capital of Nayarit, located on the Pacific Ocean. Because of its climate and proximity to the ocean, Nayarit has been growing steadily as a tourist destination and a number of resorts can be found in the state.
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Culiacán is the capital of the state of Sinaloa and it's a great place to visit if you're a sports fan. Sinaloa is the only place where you can still find people playing the Mesoamerican ballgame which was once a huge part of Maya, Aztec and other cultures.
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Chetumal is the capital of Quintana Roo, one of the most popular states in the country when it comes to tourism. Quintana Roo is where you'll find Cancún, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, Bacalar, Playa del Carmen and Akuma among other popular sites.
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