Zacatecas (sakaˈtekas), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas (Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas), is one of the 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas.
It is located in north-central Mexico and is bordered by the states of Durango to the northwest, Coahuila to the north, Nayarit to the west, San Luis Potosí and Nuevo León to the east, and Jalisco, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes to the south. The state is best known for its rich deposits of silver and other minerals, its colonial architecture and its importance during the Mexican Revolution. Its main economic activities are mining, agriculture and tourism.
Zacatecas is located in the center-north of Mexico, and covers an area of 75,284 km2, the tenth-largest state in the country. It borders the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila and Durango and is divided into 58 municipalities and 4,882 towns, cities and other communities.
The state has an average altitude of 2230 meters above sea level, with the capital at 2,496 masl. The state has three main geographical regions, the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west, the Mexican Plateau and the Sierra Madre Oriental. Most of it is in the Sierra Madre Occidental with highly rugged peaks of over 2,500 meters above sea level. The mountains of the southeast and northeast are lower but there are large valleys such as the Juchipila and Tlaltenango. Most of the territory has only small mesas and other areas of flat land. In the center of the state there is a small mountain chain called the Sierra de Fresnillo, from which much of the state's mineral wealth comes. In the extreme northwest there is another important mountain chain called the Sierra de Sombrerete, marked by a mountain called Sombreretillo, which is an important source of mineral wealth. Near this chain is another called the Sierra de Órganos.
No major rivers run through the state and most of the waterways run only during the rainy season. The state is part of two water basins.