Ures

History

Ures is one of the oldest settlements in Sonora. Accounts of the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca, who crossed the region in the 1530s, mention a village here that he called Corazones, and the Coronado expedition stopped at it in 1540. In the first half of the 17th century Jesuit missionaries, among them Francisco París, founded a mission that came to be known as San Miguel de los Ures.

The town became politically important in the 19th century. It was granted the rank of city at the end of 1838 and served as capital of Sonora from 1838 to 1842 and again from 1847 to 1879; afterward it was a district seat until districts were abolished in 1917. In 1866, during the fall of the Second Mexican Empire, republican forces fought the imperialists at Guadalupe and in Ures itself. In memory of that defense the state congress gave it the title of Heroic City in 1998.

Farming and cattle ranching have long supported the area, along with sugarcane and the sweets made from it. Ures was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2023.