The last is between the Salado and Naranjo or Coahuayana Rivers and contains small mountain chains such as the Piscila, Volcancillos, La Palmera, El Camichín and Copales.

From the west of Manzanillo and into the municipalities of Armería and Coquimatlán, there is rainforest of medium height with tree species such as copal (Bursera) and cuajilote (Parmentiera aculeatea), with some pines, oaks, and salt friendly mangrove forests and scrub.

It is also known for late evening meals called cenadurias that typically feature sopes, enchiladas, tostadas, pozole, atole, and tamales.

It was founded in the very early colonial period and still maintains its narrow streets and old houses with large main doors of wood and balconies with simple ironwork.

The town is marked by an abstract sculpture depicting a lime tree created by sculptor Sebastián, which measures thirty meters in height and weighs 110 tons.

[11] Most population and employment growth has been in the main urban areas of the state such as Colima, Villa de Alvarez, Manzanillo and Tecomán.

20.4% in commerce, restaurants and hotels, 15.9% in transportation, storage and communications, 11.1% in finance, insurance and real estate, 9.5% in electricity, gas and water services, 5.7% in manufacturing, 5.1% in construction, 4.9% in agriculture and livestock and 3.8% in mining.

Fish farming mostly concerns raising shrimp along lakes and lagoons, such as Cuyutlán, Chupadero, and Potrero Grande, with an annual production of about 5,000 tons.

Most facilities produce beverages, metal structures, canned foods, cereals, furniture, printed materials, building supplies and dairy products.

Other items include huarache sandals, boots, bird cages, cold cuts and costumes and masks for traditional dance.

The main distribution center is the city of Colima handing both basic commodities and industrial and other commercial merchandise for the rest of the state.

Only three percent of these enterprises are modern facilities with twenty-one traditional markets, forty-five major tianguis and numerous corner stores still dominating the state.

[27] For Holy Week 2011, one of Mexico's busiest vacation times, the state gained 175 million pesos and had a hotel occupancy of 94%, 7% higher than the previous year.

The most popular folk dances in the state include some that tell the story of the Spanish conquest—under various names, such as Conquista, Virgin of Guadalupe, capotes, and the fox.

[40] Villa de Álvarez celebrates its annual Fiestas Charro-Taurinas, originally the feast of the city's patron saint, Philip of Jesus.

[39] On November 1, the city of Colima has an agricultural, livestock, commerce, and industry fair that includes dances, parades with floats and a charreada.

[39] Comala celebrates the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe from the first to the December 12 with processions, bullfights, jaripeos, cockfights—and on the eighth with a dance to popular music, floats, and fireworks.

[41][42] Other noted artists from the state include Gabriel Portillo, Mercedes Zamora, Jorge Chávez Carrillo, Pancha Magaña and Juan Soriano.

Noted writers include Gregorio Torres Quintero, Fray Juan de Grijalva, Balbino Dávalos and Felipe Sevilla.

[49] Archeological evidence dates human occupation of the area as far back as 1500 BCE, with sites here contemporary with San Lorenzo on the Gulf Coast and Tlatilco in the Valley of Mexico.

During this time the elements that characterize the pre-Hispanic peoples of Colima appear, including shaft tombs and a distinctive ceramic style called rojo bruñido, or burnished red.

[22][51] Sandoval then established the first Spanish settlement in the Colima Valley called Caxitlán in 1523, making it the third oldest functioning city government in Mexico and the second municipality of western New Spain.

The state's first port at Tzalahua would be an important site for about 300 years of Spanish colonial rule as a line of defense and a commercial center.

With the creation of Nueva Galicia in 1531, it lost its territories north of the Cihuatlán or Marabasco River and the region south of Lake Chapala.

[22][49] In 1811, royalist troops defeated the insurgents under José Calixto Martinez at the Battle of Los Llanos de Santa Juana.

In 1919, President Venustiano Carranza created the Sociedad Cooperativa de Salineros in the city of Colima with the exclusive rights to extract salt from Cuyutlán Lake.

[22] Federal intervention from Mexico City continued into the 1920s, with a number of laws to reform schools, hospitals and other institutions, which before had been mostly operated by the Catholic Church.

In the 1940s, the Tecomán Valley began to be intensively cultivated, creating a new source income for the state, with limes as the principle crop, and leading to the development of agro-industry.

The Plan Colima was conceived and executed to improve the general infrastructure of the state during the 1980s by then Mexican president Miguel de la Madrid.

[54] The Instituto Tecnológico de Colima was founded in 1976 with three majors in engineering and business with the aim of providing an alternative education focusing on preparing students for industry and service markets.