| Official Name: | Cosalá |
| Pushpin Map: | Mexico Sinaloa#Mexico |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Mexico |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Sinaloa |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Cosalá |
| Leader Title: | Municipal president |
| Leader Name: | Mario Padilla (PRI) |
| Established Title: | Founded in |
| Established Title2: | Founded by |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Population As Of: | 2010 |
| Population Note: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 6,577 |
| Timezone: | Mountain Standard Time |
| Utc Offset: | -7 |
| Coordinates: | 24.4125°N -106.6917°W |
| Elevation M: | 380 |
| Postal Code: | 80700 to |
| Website: | Cosalá Government page |
Cosalá (pronounced as /es/) is a small city and the seat of its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It stands at .The city reported 6,577 inhabitants in the 2010 census.[2]
The Royal of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, shortened its name to the Royal Mines of Cosalá is the municipal seat.
Francisco Iriarte y Conde, governor of Occidente State declared Cosalá the capital of the western state in 1826. This was due to the growing threat of attack on the former capital El Fuerte, Sinaloa by the forces of Juan Banderas, leader of the Yaqui at that point in the Yaqui Wars.[3]
Iriarte introduced printing in Sonora and Sinaloa and it was in Cosalá that the first newspaper of Sinaloa, "The Impartial Spectator" was published.
In its surroundings are attractions such as the Vado Hondo waterfall and town reservoirs "Comedero" and "El Salto" a few miles from town. Both these lakes are stocked with largemouth bass. The Museum of Mineralogy mainly displays photographs and documents on the history of mining in Sinaloa.
Cosalá was the dominant region in the social and political life of the State of Sinaloa until it became its capital in the early independent Mexico.
Cosalá is located 155 km. from state capital Culiacán.
Cosalá is classified as having a Köppen Tropical Wet and Dry climate (Aw) despite being situated about 1 degree above the Tropic of Cancer. Most municipalities to the north of Cosalá, such as Culiacán, have semi-arid to arid climates, as one moves towards the Sonoran–Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest, and into the Sonoran Desert.
Cosalá experiences much greater diurnal temperature variations than most Tropical Wet and Dry climates, especially during the winter months, where temperatures regularly drop as low as 10C in January and February (compare this to Mazatlán, located about 1 degree south, inside the Tropic of Cancer, where nighttime temperatures in January and February are about 15C on average). Daytime temperatures also tend to be hotter than most locations further south (highs approaching 37C in May/Jun, compared to 30C-33C for Mazatlán), and as such, Cosala's climate behaves more similarly to a semi-arid climate, in this regard, than a truly tropical climate. The record low temperature of 1C, is also substantially colder than Mazatlan's 7.5C.
Cosalá, Sinaloa, was named a "Pueblo Mágico" in 2005 for its natural environment, cultural riches, and historical relevance.