Matamoros is a lovely city located north of Tamaulipas, on the shores of the Rio Grande (or "Rio Bravo" as it is known in Mexico), on the Gulf Coast and Bagdad Beach, with its soft amber sand, is one of its main attractions.
Because of its location on the Mexico-U.S. border, Matamoros has always been considered an important business destination with proper infrastructure to hold expositions and conventions, where you can be sure to receive bilingual assistance.
Description
Also known as the 'Great Door to Mexico', Matamoros maintains a constant cultural, economic and social exchange with the neighboring city of Brownsville, Texas. There are several border checkpoints with low crossing fees.
A constant flow of goods and raw materials that pass through these checkpoints gave rise to a strong manufacturing industry, now one of the main sources of income of Matamoros, together with trade. It is common to find many cross-cultural families on the border and people's constant comings and goings due to work, studies, or tourism, have slowly erased political and geographical boundaries between the two countries.
History
The origin of this city goes back to 1774, when a group of 13 families from Reynosa and Camargo settled on ranches in these territories. They named the area San Juan de los Esteros, (Saint John of the Estuaries), after the many swamps found in the region, due to flooding caused by frequent overflowing of the Rio Grande.
In 1826, the name of the city changed to Matamoros in honor to a hero of the independence, who fought alongside the famous Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon. By 1836, Matamoros was headquarters to the eventually unsuccessful movement to crush the independence of Texas from Mexico.
Matamoros: Invincible, Heroic and Loyal
In 1851, three years after the creation of the definite U.S.-Mexico boundary (as stated in the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty), Matamoros was subject to another rebellious attempt to separate the territories of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila from central Mexico to form the Rio Grande Republic.
However, the Mexican Army and many brave civilians from Matamoros drove them back preventing the occurrence of a similar incident to Texas. So important was the bravery of these people that it earned Matamoros the title of Invincible, Heroic, and Loyal, which is now the state's motto.
Nevertheless, Matamoros was engaged in other struggles afterwards, some even against nature, like the cyclone which devastated Port Bagdad (an important trade harbor during the Spanish-American War) in 1889. Port Bagdad was also where the Battle of Bagdad was fought, during the French invasion of Mexico.
After the Mexican Revolution, Matamoros was the first state to host the land allotment of 1913, having to render the enormous territory occupied by a single hacienda which was property of the nephew of the then president/dictator, Porfirio Diaz.
Modern-Day Matamoros
Since the 1970's and especially after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), there has been a constant increase of national as well as foreign investment in Matamoros, positioning the city as one of the major manufacturing and commercial regions of Mexico.