💡 Durango Fun Facts

• The crown atop Durango’s coat of arms signifies that the state was once ruled by the Spanish crown. In the central framed area, two wolves can be seen jumping in front of a tree, a scene common to the folklore of Biscay Province, Spain, the home of many Spanish settlers in the area. On the original Spanish crest, the wolves refer to the aristocratic Lope family (whose name in Latin means wolf) and the tree symbolizes the oak where the Durango, Spain, town council met.
• Because Durango is well-known for its venomous scorpions (alacranes), many organizations use the arthropod as part of their name, including a soccer team, Alacranes de Durango, and a Norteño music band called Los Alacranes de Durango.
• The state, which encompasses huge evergreen forests as well as a large section of the Chihuahuan Desert, is the country’s third largest producer of silver.
• The Durango Performing Arts area is located on the north side of the capital city. Footprints of famous Hollywood stars who have made films in Mexico—such as Clark Gable, Charlton Heston, Nick Nolte, Ringo Starr and Erik del Castillo—are preserved there.
• The border between Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila is known as Zona del Silencio (the Silence Zone) due to the area’s natural magnetic fields that prevent radio waves from passing through.
• Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico’s first president, was born in Tamazula, Durango.

SOURCES: HISTORY.COM | BRITANNICA.COM