Need help with a Balkanized Mexico Subdivisions

So in the timeline I am working on, the US establishes various Client States in Northern Mexico following the American Civil War [I find this to be vastly more realistic than the US annexing these regions, which is also done to death].

They establish two nations; the Republic of the Rio Grande [OTL Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas] and the Confederation of North Mexican States [OTL Durango, Chihuahua, Sonora and Sinaloa]. The latter of these eventually dividing into Durango, Chihuahua and Sonora [Sonora and Sinaloa]. While the divisions for the Rio Grande Nation are fairly easy to conceive [three states of their former Mexican states], the other three are a little difficult.

I understand that Mexico does have second level subdivisions, but I am unaware if they are important, or arbitrary [Like those of Alberta or Saskatchewan]. Are there any notable divisions that could be extrapolated from the states of Sonora/Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua?
 

PhilippeO

Banned
Why not use topographic and riverine map. ? Its would not be entirely accurate, but as 'rule of thumb' natural Settlement follow river and avoid mountains and deserts. Border would surrounded settlement.

Edit: sorry, should be settlement, not border.
 
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Deleted member 97083

You could look at the old Viceroyalty of New Spain divisions, which are slightly larger and more "country-sized".

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As seen in that map, the border between Nueva Navarra and Nueva Vizcaya, which is nowadays the border between Sonora/Sinaloa and Chihuahua/Durango, makes plenty of sense. That's the Sierra Madre Occidental, a quite large chain of mountains.

Here's an even better map to use in determining borders. It highlights the watersheds of North America, including Mexico. If you base their borders on the watershed, Sonora and Sinaloa's borders would somewhat spill over into Chihuahua and Durango. The watershed boundary follows the various peaks and their valleys and canyons (including the famous Copper Canyon) basically. One problem is that I'm not sure when the watershed boundary in that region was properly mapped, since it doesn't seem to be a particularly noteworthy feature like the Continental Divide is, the defining boundary is pretty much random peaks.

Why not use topographic and riverine map. ? Its would not be entirely accurate, but as 'rule of thumb' natural border follow river and avoid mountains and deserts.

What? Mountains can make perfectly natural borders, as seen in the above map, although there's plenty of room for interpretation as to which peaks to use when drawing borders.
 
Why not use topographic and riverine map. ? Its would not be entirely accurate, but as 'rule of thumb' natural border follow river and avoid mountains and deserts.

While not always really relevant for 19. century example, it is unusual for pre-modern societies (in the middle-ages and before) to have river borders. Rivers connect people, since they offer cheap transportation (compared to other ways of transportation before the invention of trains and railways).
 
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