• 28 features
  • Checked September 2026

Blank Physical Geography Map of Mexico

A blank map of Mexico, physical features only: ranges, deserts, rivers and seas to label by hand.

Blank Physical Geography Map of Mexico

Name Date

Blank map

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Write the name of each numbered feature.Answer key

  1. Sierra Madre Occidental
  2. Sierra Madre Oriental
  3. Mexican Plateau
  4. Sierra Madre del Sur
  5. Sierra Madre de Chiapas
  6. Baja California Peninsula
  7. Yucatán Peninsula
  8. Sonoran Desert
  9. Chihuahuan Desert
  10. Isthmus of Tehuantepec
  11. Pacific Ocean
  12. Gulf of Mexico
  13. Gulf of California
  14. Bay of Campeche
  15. Caribbean Sea
  16. Gulf of Tehuantepec
  17. Lake Chapala
  18. Rio Grande
  19. Conchos River
  20. Yaqui River
  21. Fuerte River
  22. Santiago River
  23. Lerma River
  24. Balsas River
  25. Pánuco River
  26. Papaloapan River
  27. Grijalva River
  28. Usumacinta River

Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2. Licence: public domain.

Each feature is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a feature is answered.

Next step Read every name on the labeled map of MexicoPut the borders back: the states of Mexico

All 28 features on the diagram

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Mountains and the high plateau 5

  1. Sierra Madre Occidental Western Mother Range: runs northwest to southeast beside the Gulf of California.
  2. Sierra Madre Oriental Runs about 1,000 km south from the Rio Grande to Puebla.
  3. Mexican Plateau Averages 1,825 m above sea level; Spanish name Altiplano Mexicano.
  4. Sierra Madre del Sur Highest point: Cerro Nube, 3,720 m, in southern Oaxaca.
  5. Sierra Madre de Chiapas Continues across Guatemala to El Salvador and Honduras.

Deserts, peninsulas and the isthmus 5

  1. Baja California Peninsula 1,247 km long, from Mexicali to Cabo San Lucas.
  2. Yucatán Peninsula Low limestone land parting Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
  3. Sonoran Desert Home of the saguaro cactus; reaches into Arizona and California.
  4. Chihuahuan Desert Mostly in Mexico; reaches into Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
  5. Isthmus of Tehuantepec Shortest land crossing, Gulf of Mexico to Pacific.

Gulfs, seas and Lake Chapala 7

  1. Pacific Ocean Faces Mexico's whole west and south coast.
  2. Gulf of Mexico About 1,500 km wide; bounded by Mexico, the United States and Cuba.
  3. Gulf of California Also called the Sea of Cortés; over 3,000 m deep in places.
  4. Bay of Campeche Named by Spanish explorers in 1517.
  5. Caribbean Sea Meets the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatán Channel.
  6. Gulf of Tehuantepec A gale wind called the Tehuano blows out over it.
  7. Lake Chapala Mexico's largest freshwater lake, 45 km southeast of Guadalajara.

Rivers 11

  1. Rio Grande Called the Río Bravo in Mexico; 3,051 km long.
  2. Conchos River The Rio Grande's largest tributary, in Chihuahua.
  3. Yaqui River Sonora's largest river system; it waters the Yaqui Valley farms.
  4. Fuerte River Its dam holds back Sinaloa's largest reservoir.
  5. Santiago River Leaves Lake Chapala and drops over 1,700 m to the Pacific.
  6. Lerma River Rises above 3,000 m and flows into Lake Chapala.
  7. Balsas River Carries more water than any other river on Mexico's Pacific side.
  8. Pánuco River Mexico's fourth-largest river by the water it carries.
  9. Papaloapan River Nahuatl for river of the butterflies.
  10. Grijalva River Rises in Guatemala and runs through Sumidero Canyon.
  11. Usumacinta River With the Grijalva, it carries the most water of any Mexican river.

How this list was compiled: Names and outlines: Natural Earth 5.1.2 physical layers (credited under the drawing). Every detail line was read in the English Wikipedia article linked from its item and checked 2026-09-24. Rivers and Lake Chapala were checked a second time against Mexico's national water agency, CONAGUA, Estadísticas del Agua en México 2019, tables 2.6 to 2.8 (river runoff, basin area and length) and section Principales lagos de México (Lake Chapala the largest inland lake), https://files.conagua.gob.mx/conagua/publicaciones/Publicaciones/EAM_2019.pdf, read 2026-09-24. The runoff ranks in the detail lines (Grijalva-Usumacinta first, Pánuco fourth, Balsas first on the Pacific side) are CONAGUA's; the Pánuco rank is also Wikipedia's. The range facts rest on Wikipedia and the Natural Earth outlines only. Lengths given are Wikipedia's; CONAGUA measures only the Mexican part of a river and gives other figures, so no CONAGUA length is printed. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_geography_regions_polys (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_geography_regions_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_geography_marine_polys (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_geography_marine_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_geography_marine_polys (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_geography_marine_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_rivers_lake_centerlines (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_rivers_lake_centerlines.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 23°N 102°W. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)

How it works

This blank physical geography map of Mexico prints the country with no names, no state lines and no borders. Twenty-eight physical features wait to be written in: ranges, deserts, peninsulas, rivers, gulfs and one lake.

Read the full guide

Blank physical features map of Mexico: a word bank

Ranges and plateau: Mexican Plateau, Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Sierra Madre del Sur, Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental. Deserts and coasts: Baja California Peninsula, Chihuahuan Desert, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Sonoran Desert, Yucatán Peninsula. Water: Bay of Campeche, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Tehuantepec, Lake Chapala, Pacific Ocean. Rivers: Balsas, Conchos, Fuerte, Grijalva, Lerma, Pánuco, Papaloapan, Rio Grande, Santiago, Usumacinta, Yaqui.

Reading the unlabeled map

Each closed outline is a landform; each line that wanders and stops is a river. Start with the two peninsulas: Baja California in the northwest, the Yucatán in the southeast. The Mexican Plateau lies between the two long ranges.

  • Down the Gulf of Mexico side, north to south: Rio Grande, Pánuco, Papaloapan, Grijalva, then the Usumacinta farthest east.
  • Down the Pacific side: the Yaqui and the Fuerte end in the Gulf of California; farther south, the Santiago and the Balsas reach the ocean.
  • The Conchos never reaches the sea: it joins the Rio Grande. The Lerma ends in Lake Chapala.

Questions and answers

Is the blank physical geography map of Mexico free?

Yes. This printable blank physical map of Mexico is free. Print it blank, or numbered with a line for each of the 28 names, and print the answer key to check.

Is the Gulf of California the same as the Sea of Cortés?

Yes. They are two names for the narrow sea between the Baja California Peninsula and the mainland. The answer key prints Gulf of California.

What is the narrowest part of Mexico?

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the south. It is the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, with the Bay of Campeche on its north side and the Gulf of Tehuantepec on its south.

What is the difference between a physical and a political map of Mexico?

A physical map shows the land and water: ranges, deserts, rivers and seas. A political map shows the states and their borders. This sheet draws no state lines; the blank map of Mexico has them.

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