Acaponeta (Mexico)

Acaponeta is both a municipality and a town in the northern part of the Mexican state of Nayarit. The town is located at the geographical coordinates of 22°29′47″N 105°21′34″W. The population of the municipality was 34,665 in the 2005 census, living in a total area of 1,667.7 km2 (643.9 sq mi). The population of the municipal seat was 18,066, the fifth-largest community in the state (after Tepic, Xalisco, Ixtlán del Río, and Tuxpan). The Acaponeta River flows through the town. Acaponeta means, "Place near the river where the bean tangled in the reed-grows"; which is formed by joining the translation of the Tepehuano word Acaponeta (Caponeta) which means, "place near the river"; and the Nahuatl Acatl-pol-etl-tlan, which means, "place where the bean tangled in the reed grows". The municipality is crossed by the Nogales, Sonora-Mexico City railroad and there is a station in the municipal seat. Distances to some major cities are: Mazatlán 150.3 km.; Tepic 166.2 km.; Mexicali 1,707.4 km.; Mexico City 1,056.8 km.; Guadalajara 443.9 km.