Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west.

The Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs.

In the mid-19th century, the Sánchez Navarro family owned a ranch of 6,700,000 ha (16,500,000 acres) mostly in Coahuila.

On February 19, 1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868.

The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the eastern portion of the State, and extends across the Rio Grande into southern Texas.

The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, and is part of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the (Comarca Lagunera), which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango.

Coahuila is largely arid or semi-arid, but the rivers of the State support extensive irrigated agriculture, particularly cotton.

[14] The rest of the demographic particulars in the state are very similar to national averages, such as a high life expectancy (reaching 75 years of age) and a Catholic majority.

It also has Lala, a dairy products company, which produces 40% of Mexico's milk consumption and distribution.

[16] Coahuila's economy has a strong focus on export oriented manufacturing (i.e. maquiladora / INMEX).

[citation needed] On the other hand, Coahuila is the Mexican state with the highest level of public debt in the nation.