Matamoros, city and port, northeastern Mexico, in Tamaulipas State, on the Río Grande (near its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico), opposite Brownsville, Texas. A major port of entry, it has rail and road connections with Texas and the rest of Mexico and has a modern customs building (1963) and tourist facilities. The city is also a port and commercial center of the lower Río Grande Valley, which produces fruits, cattle, sugarcane, and cotton. Industries include cotton ginning, tanning, cottonseed and wool processing, and the manufacture of glass, hides, mescal, and vegetable oils. Founded in 1824, the city was occupied by the American general Zachary Taylor in 1846 during the Mexican War. Population (1995) 363,487.
