Veracruz

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Veracruz is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's largest city. This article is about the state. For the city, see Veracruz, Veracruz. For other uses, see Veracruz (disambiguation).

Veracruz

Location

Statistics
Capital	Xalapa
Largest City	Veracruz
Area	71,699 km² Ranked 11th
Population (2005 census)	7,110,214 Ranked 3rd
HDI (2004)	0.7457 - medium Ranked 28th
Governor (2004-2010)	Fidel Herrera Beltrán (PRI)
Federal Deputies	PRI: 6 PAN: 11 PRD: 2 Convergencia: 2
Federal Senators	PRD: 1 PAN: 1 Convergencia: 1
ISO 3166-2 Postal abbr.	MX-VER Ver.

The state of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave is one of the 31 states that comprise Mexico.

It is located in the east central part of the country, between 17°10' and 22°38' North and between 93°55' and 98°38' West. It has a mainland area of 72,815 km² and includes several islands in the Gulf of Mexico totalling another 58 km².

Veracruz borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north, Oaxaca and Chiapas to the south, Tabasco to the southeast, Puebla, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosi to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the east.

Its capital is Xalapa, located in the northern part of the state. With more than 7 million inhabitants, the state of Veracruz is the third most populous in the nation, after the Federal District and the state of México.

On the coastal plains and throughout most of the state, the climate is hot and humid. On the foothills of the mountains, the climate is cool and humid. The climate only becomes cold in the mountain regions, where it also rains copiously. Veracruz is occasionally affected by hurricanes from June to October.

Its formal name is Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave in honor of General Ignacio de la Llave, who died in 1863 after wounds received during the French invasion of Mexico. The official title of this Mexican state was Veracruz-Llave from 1863 to 2004.

In 1865, rather than surrendering to American forces, Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate States of America, Missouri's highest ranking military officer led his army to Mexico where he became leader of a colony of Confederate exiles at Carlota in the state of Veracruz.

On January 1, 2007, a combined band of high school children from Xalapa, Veracruz were given the honor of representing Mexico in the Rose Parade as one of the many marching bands. Banda Delfines played and sang the easily recognized La Bamba dressed in traditional white Guayabera, white Pants, red handkerchief, white sombrero and white boots that the song is performed to.^[1]