Look at the borders of the state of Nuevo León: Google Maps
Now look at the borders of its neighbor Tamaulipas: Google Maps
That long, bizarre panhandle takes up practically all of the Rio Grande riverfront and only a tiny bit is left for Nuevo León. Now it’s Geography 101 that riverfront real estate is more valuable than an expanse of high desert/xeric scrubland. It sure looks like Tamaulipas hogged an unfair amount of river frontage that would have gone to Nuevo León if not for the crazy borders. What’s more, it becomes all the more valuable as an international border. Although on the other hand Wikipedia says Nuevo León is one of the most industrialized and prosperous states in all Mexico, so the border must not have hurt them too badly.
I’ve been reading Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre, which is set in the border region around Laredo, and it was following along in the geography of Nuevo Laredo that made me wonder. I looked up the history and geography of the two states, but found nothing about how or why that inequitable border was drawn, so I bring the question here.
Blame the Texas Revolution and admission to the US.
Before Texas seceded and was annexed by the US, Tamaulipas was the coastal half of what is now Deep South Texas and Northern Mexico. In 1835, the state of Coahuila y Tejas both split and seceded. Coahuila joined Nuevo León and Tamaulipas as the Republic of the Rio Grande(which lasted for about ten months), and Tejas seceded and became the Republic of Texas. The lands between the Rio Grande and the Nueces remained in dispute until Texas’ admission to the United States prompted the Mexican-American War.
Here is a map of Mexico when Texas was still a part of it. If you zoom in, you can see that long before the Rio Grande was the border, Nuevo Leon had attained a little projection accessing the Rio Grande. Those borders of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Santander (now Tamaulipas) have remained essentially the same since long before the Rio Grande became the northern border of Mexico.
OK. So it looks like Tamaulipas originally spread over both banks of the Rio Grande, so that its northwest looked like a big blob instead of a narrow panhandle? But then independent Texas (or was it U.S. state Texas?) trimmed off everything north of the Rio Grande, leaving that odd panhandle? I suspected that was the explanation. Thanks!
It seems that NL is building its own border crossing called Columbia, because why not get a pizza di action?
Yup, at least that’s what Wikipedia says. Really, I have zero actual knowledge, but I live between I-35 and the north-south rail lines, and there’s a lot of traffic that is obviously going to and from Mexico.
I get the impression that Laredo/Nuevo Laredo is an (or the) major bottleneck on the NAFTA Corridor, so a third commercial bridge would probably be welcome by most (either the third or the fifth commercial bridge, if you count Nuevo Laredo’s rail bridge and the proposed fifth bridge for the city.)
I found a book explaining that Nuevo Santander (Tamaulipas) was originally a Military Government that was Orgnised in 1748 which was meant to consist of the newly colonized areas and recently built towns, was extended to the settlements that existed previously, soon after, San Antonio de los Llanos and its dependencies on the Purificación lagoon were annexed , together with a certain number of ranches on the right bank of the Río Grande that belonged to Nuevo León. The Tamaulipas-Nuevo Leon border likely runs along Mesquite Posts, or old ones at least.
Source - Guadalajara y Sevilla: dos ciudades hermanadas en el reino de Nueva Galicia
Escandón founded 23 new settlements, including a line of towns along the Rio Grande that would later be dubbed the “villas del norte,” or northern towns (Laredo, Revilla [Guerrero], Mier, Camargo, and Reynosa) which were established as a key part of Escandón’s plan for the pacification and colonization of the province. These settlements, from Laredo to Reynosa, served as a defensive line for larger centers of population in the Mexican interior. Moreover, the villas functioned as a means to introduce Spanish “civilization” to the indigenous groups of the area
Source: José de Escandón — the Father of South Texas | by Texas General Land Office | Save Texas History | Medium