Tijuana Mexico

Tijuana Mexico

Tijuana is the largest city in the state of Baja California, Mexico. Tijuana is also the most northerly city in Latin America. It is known as the corner of Mexico and consequently of Latin America. The city is bordered to the north by San Diego County, California, United States; to the south, by the municipalities of Playas de Rosarito and Ensenada; with the municipality of Tecate to the east; and to the west, by the Pacific Ocean. The municipality of Tijuana has an extension of 1,727 square kilometers and includes part of the Coronado Islands located off the coast of the municipality in the Pacific Ocean.

Population

According to the INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática Eng: National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Data Processing) the municipality of Tijuana in 2000 included 1,210,820 inhabitants. More than 20 universities and centers for higher education give it a dynamic student sector. The city ranks fifth in population in Mexico, after Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Puebla.

Geography

This border city just south of San Diego, California, USA, is sometimes considered a mix of Mexico's good and bad: known for its economic prosperity, popular discos, and shopping areas, Tijuana is also considered to be Mexico's biggest illicit drug and prostitution center. Many of the prostitutes are women from Central America who hope to enter the United States.

History

Traffic traveling into Mexico through San Ysidro tends to be less congested than traveling vice versa. The border entering Mexico is also less guarded.The area in which the city of Tijuana is situated in a region once inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians, a tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans first arrived in 1542, when the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Viscaíno. In 1769, Father Juan Crespí documented more detailed information about the area that would one day be called the Valley of Tijuana and Father Junípero Serra founded the first mission of Alta California in San Diego.

More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María Echendía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello in 1829. This large cattle ranch, Rancho Tía Juana ("Aunt Jane Ranch"), covered 100 square kilometres.

In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American war with the United States, Mexico lost all of Alta California. Tijuana acquired a new and distinct character and purpose on the international border. The city began to shed its cattle ranching origins and began to play in a new role, forming a socio-economic structure for the city.

The year 1889 marked the beginning of the urban settlement, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and Agustín Olvera entered an agreement to begin development of the city of Tijuana. The agreement was dated July 11 of that year. Decades later, during the second Symposium of History held in 1975, this date was recognized as the date the city was founded.

Tijuana saw its future in tourism from its inception. From the end of the 19th century to the first decades of the 20th, the city attracted large numbers of Californians crossing over the border, coming to Mexico for trade and entertainment.

During the Mexican Revolution, Tijuana was also a small stage for revolutionaries loyal to Ricardo Flores Magón, who took over the city in 1911. Shortly, thereafter, federal troops arrived and routed the rebels. Being so close to the action, San Diegans could watch the battle from the safety of the international border.

In 1916, the Feria San Diego, California Panamá brought a great number of visitors to the neighboring American city to the north. Tijuana took the opportunity to attract these tourists to the other side of the border with Feria Típica Mexicana. The fair included curio shops, regional foods, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing matches. With this event, the city became universally known as a tourist destination.

The 1920s changed Tijuana forever when the enactment of prohibition in the U.S. sent droves of Americans across the border to partake in legal drinking and gambling. Large and impressive casinos opened, like Agua Caliente in Tijuana. The Caesar Salad was invented there during this period.