Chihuahua is a state in northern Mexico with a mainland area of , slightly bigger than the United Kingdom. It is surrounded by the Mexican states of Sonora to the west, Sinaloa to the south-west, Durango to the south, and Coahuila to the east, and by the U.S. states of Texas to the north-east and New Mexico to the north. Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico by area, and therefore has the nickname El Estado Grande ("The Big State").

Although Chihuahua is primarily identified with its namesake, the Chihuahuan Desert, it has more forests than any other state. On the slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains (around the regions of Casas Grandes, Cuauhtémoc and Parral), there are vast prairies of short yellow grass, the source of the bulk of the state's agricultural production.

As of 2005, there were 3.2 million inhabitants of the state. The largest city is the U.S.-border city of Ciudad Juárez, which has 1,301,452 residents (2005 census). The capital, Chihuahua, has 748,518 inhabitants.

The state also has a large service sector: tourism, banking and high-tech enterprises.

One of the most notable features of Chihuahua is the Barranca del Cobre, or Copper Canyon, a spectacular canyon system larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon.

This state, holds the largest proportion of White population of Mexico, as is is the case in much of Northern Mexico. Caucasians make up the 55% of the populationneeded, most of them of Spaniard origin, but also of French, Basque, Italian, German, Dutch and Middle Eastern descent, while the rest of the population responds to Mestizo groups of predominant Spaniard descent needed. Indians form the 5% of the State habitants and remain isolated in the woods of the Southwestern portion of Chihuahua. The admixture with indians never existed in Nueva Vizcaya due to the scarcity of natives (most of them warrior and anti-european Conchos and Tarahumaras), and the size of the territory needed.

Chihuahua played a pivotal role in the Mexican Revolution and was a battleground between revolutionary forces led by Pancho Villa and federal forces.

Colonial Era

main: Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain

Nueva Vizcaya was the first province of northern New Spain to be explored and settled by the Spanish. Around 1528 a group of Spaniard explorers led by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca first stepped the actual territory of Chihuahua. The conquest of the territory lasted nearly one century and encountered a fiercy resistence of the barbarian Conchos Indians, but, the hopes of the Spanish Crown to transform the region into a bustling mining center brought the reinforcing of a strong strategy to control the zone.

In the second half of the 16th century, the Spaniards organized several expeditions into the North of Mexico to find the mythical Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, and in 1564, the conquistador lieutenant Rodrigo del Rio y Loza, found gold in the area when the Sierra ends and founded Santa Barbara the first Spanish city of the State that brought 400 european families. Later, in 1631, Juan Rangel de Biesma, discovered a rich vein of silver and created the villa of San Jose del Parral, that attracted the most prominent families of Spain and was the head of the Nueva Vizcaya province, converting itself into an important economic and cultural center for around 300 years.