Tijuana
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| Image:Escudo de Tijuana.png Coat of Arms of the municipality of Tijuana | |
| Motto: Aquí empieza la patria, "The Homeland Starts Here". The government translates the phrase as "Gateway to Mexico". | |
| Date Founded | July 11, 1889 |
| Demonym | Tijuanense in Spanish |
| Population | 1, 210,820. (2000) |
| Density of population | 2 212 hab/km² (2000) |
| Altitude | 20 metres |
| Latitude | 32° 31' 30" N |
| Longitude | 117° 02' W |
| Time Zones (UTC) | Pacific Standard Time – 8 hours (GMT) |
| Telephone area code | 664 |
| Sources: INEGI, Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México | |
Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California and the seat of the municipality of the same name; the city's current mayor is Jorge Hank Rhon of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Tijuana is the westernmost city in Latin America as well as one of the northernmost (neighboring Mexicali is slightly farther north). For this reason Tijuana is referred to as the corner of Mexico and/or Latin America. The city stands on the U.S.-Mexico border, adjacent to San Diego County, California, United States to the north.
The city's motto is "Aquí empieza la patria". The Mexican government actually translates it as "Gateway to Mexico", but the literal translation is "The homeland starts here". It is also sometimes known as the "Most visited city in the world", owing to its proximity to the world's busiest border crossing.
Contents |
History
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 Portuguese/Spanish explorer João Rodrigues Cabrilho 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 sq km.
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 US 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 during this period in the city in a hotel named Cesar on the now reknowned Avenida Revolucion.
The international events of the following years had profound repercussions on the city. Tourism increased significantly as innumerable Americans came to Tijuana to enjoy the nightlife. In addition, the large number of Mexican citizens from all over the country began to relocate to Tijuana, tripling the population. Between 1940 and 1950 the city grew from 21,971 to 65,364 inhabitants.
In the 1950s, when nightlife and tourism began to decline, the city started to restructure its tourist industry, by promoting a more family oriented scene. Tijuana began to develop a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.
In 1994 PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Colonia Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who his paymaster might have been. Every year, the city's inhabitants commerate the anniversary of his assassination with a memorial.
Today, the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing is the most crossed international land border in the world. Although tourism constitutes a large part of this movement, Tijuana and its surrounding area has become a major player in NAFTA with new maquiladoras and industrial plants.
Origin of name
Image:Bienvenidos a Tijuana – Welcome to Tijuana Mexico - archway.JPG Historians have investigated the origins of the name of the city of Tijuana. One legend says that it was the name of a ranch in the area, property of "Tía Juana" – Aunt Jane, although it is now shown that name comes from the Yuman Indian language from the early inhabitants. In other documents there are mentions of "La Tia Juana", "Tiguana", "Tiuana", "Teguana", "Tiwana", "Tijuan", "Ticuan", "Tijuana". Based on the Yuman language, historians have come to recognize Tijuana originating from "Tiwan", meaning close to the sea.
Nonetheless, most English-speaking Americans pronounce the name of the city Tia wanna, though it is commonly called "TJ" in Southern California. The city's residents refer to the city as Tijuas in Spanish.
Geography
Tijuana is at Template:Coor dm. This US-Mexico border city just south of San Diego, California, 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.
Demographics
According to the INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática, "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 sixth in population in Mexico, after Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla and Ciudad Juarez. See also Metropolitan Areas of Mexico.
Culture and entertainment
Culture
Image:CECUT Tijuana day.jpg The city has various schools of superior studies, conservatory music, dance schools, plastic arts, science and culinary arts. Also, there is a professional and university theater, an opera, many movie theaters, two bullrings, and diverse festivals along the year.
The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is comprised of a theatre, lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, exhibition hall, museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater, and a restaurant. Since 1992, the CECUT has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California (OBC), it headquarters the Center of Scenic Arts of the Northwest (CAEN) and the Hispanic-American Center for Guitar (CHG). Since 2001, the CECUT receives an about a million visitors per year, making it Baja California's most important cultural center. Another important culture center is La Casa de la Cultura, comprising a school, theater, and public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and language are taught there. The city also has Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo Museum). Image:CECUT Tijuana night.jpg
Tijuana also has a very active and independent artist community whose internationally recognized work has earned Tijuana the title of "one of the most important new cultural meccas", according to Newsweek. An anthology of Tijuana's art scene, as part of the Strange New World exhibition, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and will travel extensively across the USA in 2006. Art Colectives like bulbo explores the use of media like television "bulbo TV" and print "bulbo PRESS", to show diferent realities of Tijuana out of México. The music of The Nortec Collective and other electronic music artists, such as Murcof, have placed Tijuana in the international eye of specialized magazines and forums in recent years.
Education
Universities of the region include the College of the Northern Border (COLEF), the most important research institution in Tijuana; Baja California's Autonomous University (UABC), with Baja California's best medical and dentistry school and the second best Business Administration and International Business programs in the Republic of Mexico (and on par with most similar programs in the US); Tijuana Institute of Technology (ITT), the strongest in engineering majors in the state; Universidad Iberoamericana - Tijuana, the most prestigious private school in Baja California; and Center of Technical and Superior Teaching (CETYS), the best university in the state.
The demand for technical jobs is high in this region. For that reason, other technically-oriented universities such as Colegio Nacional de Educacion Professional Tecnica (CONALEP), Centro de Ensenanza Tecnica e Industrial (CECATI), Universidad de Tijuana (CUT) and Univer have been founded.
Entertainment
Image:Avenida Revolución in Tijuana Mexico.JPG Tijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Club Campestre de Tijuana, but the Hipodromo (Racetrack) would be the most notable that is open to the general public. It comprises a horse and dog race track, and a small zoo.
Parque Morelos has a small zoo and big open spaces perfect for recreational activities and weekend barbeque; El Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a small park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns.
The most popular tourist attraction is Avenida Revolución. Many foreigners travel there to drink, buy prescription drugs, bootleg brand-name clothing and accessories, and Mexican curiosities. However, there are plenty of nice night clubs that do not have the touristic hassle over at Plaza Fiesta, across from the Plaza Rio Mall. Here is where the locals go to drink and party without the sleaziness found on the Revolución strip.
Avenida Revolución is also famous for its nearby red-light district "La Coahuila" (also known casually as Zona Norte) which boasts a large number of street prostitutes, being tolerated in this portion of the city, as well as a great selection of strip clubs. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, in which the dancers will allow patrons to fondle their parts. The dancers also solicit their services which typically tend to be more pricey than those of the street prostitutes.
About 1,200 prostitutes from all over Mexico work in La Coahuila, making it a sex tourist destination that ranks in popularity with Amsterdam and Bangkok, said Melissa Farley, a researcher with Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization.
Tijuana possesses a diversity of shopping malls, the most visited being Plaza Rio, located just a few minutes away from the US border. The mall hosts a variety of shops, which sell a wide array of things, ranging from cheap Mexican curiosities to expensive imports. The Plaza Rio also represents a common place for the people to socialize.
But all in all, if you look around the city enough, you can find just about everything you could find in the US; roller skating rinks, pool halls, bowling alleys, traditional cantinas, car clubs, and most things imaginable.
Sports
<tr bgcolor="#ADADAD"><td width="300px">Club <td width="120px" align="left">Sport <td width="75px" align="left">Founded <td width="270px" align="left">League <td width="180px" align="left">Venue <td width="50px" align="left">Logo <tr bgcolor="#ffffff'> <td width="250px">Tijuana Dragons <td width="120px" align="left">Basketball <td width="75px" align="left">2003 <td width="270px" align="left">American Basketball Association <td width="180px" align="left">Auditorio Municipal <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Dragones.jpg <tr bgcolor="#ffffff'> <td width="250px">Tijuana Potros <td width="120px" align="left">Baseball <td width="75px" align="left">? <td width="270px" align="left">Mexican League <td width="180px" align="left">Calimax Stadium <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Potros.gif <tr bgcolor="#ffffff'> <td width="250px">Dorados Tijuana <td width="120px" align="left">Soccer <td width="75px" align="left">? <td width="270px" align="left">Primera División A <td width="180px" align="left">? <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Dorados.JPG </table> There are also two professional basketball teams. The Dragones de Tijuana play in the American Basketball Association against teams from the US. The team is comprised mostly of American players. Their season is during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Greyhounds) de Tijuana play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional) during the summer months. The team is comprised mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Auditorio Municipal.
Economics
The US dollar is accepted in many Tijuana businesses. Tijuana is particularly famous among US youth, who cross the border in order to drink alcohol prior to their 21st birthday (Mexico's legal drinking age is 18).
Due to Tijuana's proximity to the US and its cheap labor, it is an attractive city for companies to establish extensive industrial parks comprised of maquiladoras, factories situated near the border to produce for export. Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding and ill-paid by first-world standards. This makes Tijuana a popular city for poor migrant workers from other parts of Mexico, as well as other countries to the south. Not withstanding, there are some high-tech firms and telemarketing companies that pay better than average making their way into the city, and many skilled people with technical trades and college degrees are making their way to the city to find work in the growing but less established economic sectors. This makes Tijuana one of Mexico's greatest cities in cultural and ethnic diversity terms.
Trivia
The famous battle between the Tijuana Cartel and the sexy rival Chihuahua-based Juárez Cartel was portrayed in the 2000 Hollywood movie Traffic.
Tijuana's International Airport (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport) is known for the tight approaches airplanes have to carry out, flying just over a fence before landing.
Caesar Salad was invented in Tijuana in 1924 by an Italian chef named Caesar Cardini.
About 300,000 people cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day.
Despite general perceptions about the economy, there are various products that are more expensive in Tijuana than in the United States. Among these are: designer clothing and perfumes, prepackaged snack foods, burnable CDs, and other random common products. As you might guess, on the weekends, scores of Mexicans cross over to the US with their laser visas to buy those products that may be cheaper in the US.
See also
- Juan Soldado, a local folk saint and Tijuana's first urban legend
External links
de:Tijuana es:Tijuana fr:Tijuana ko:티후아나 id:Tijuana, Baja California nl:Tijuana ja:ティフアナ pl:Tijuana pt:Tijuana ru:Тихуана simple:Tijuana fi:Tijuana sv:Tijuana uk:Тіхуана