Hermosillo

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Hermosillo is the capital of the state of Sonora, México. It is centrally located within the state at 29°5′N, 110°57′W and is within several hundred miles of several other major Mexican cities, such as Tijuana and Mexicali, and U.S. cities such as Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. The city's official 2005 census population was 641,791. It is the municipal seat of the surrounding Hermosillo municipality, with a population of 701,838, and a much larger area, the largest in the state and ninth-largest in Mexico at 14,880.2 km² (5,745.3 sq mi) and including the large offshore Tiburón Island. The city's climate is hot and arid, even compared to other Mexican cities with temperatures frequently surpassing 40C (104F) during the hot season. Flash floods can occur in summer. The city is served by Ignacio L. Pesqueira International Airport (airport code HMO).

Industry is an important part of the city's economy. 114 companies have plants in the city, employing thousands of workers. Ford Motor Company has a plant there, assembling the Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, and the Mercury Milan. Expansion of this plant is rumored, since it can now only build a maximum of about 300,000 of these cars per year, and some predict that demand will exceed that. This plant had formerly built the Ford Escort, Mercury Tracer, Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique, and other models. It has consistently been rated as one of Ford's highest quality plants. Continuing this tradition, the Ford Fusion was recently named top of its class in quality and has been described as "the best built Ford sedan ever".

Catedral de Hermosillo

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Higher Education Institutions
4 Sport
5 Sister cities
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Centered on the Plaza Zaragoza, Hermosillo's origin traces back to 1700, when several villages were founded on lands previously inhabited by Native Americans. The official foundation of the city comes in 1741 by orders of the Viceroy of New Spain to create "El presidio de Pitic" In 1783 it came to be named the Villa de Pitic, but on September 5, 1828, it was renamed Hermosillo in honor of general José María González de Hermosillo who in 1810 fought for the independence of México in the state of Sinaloa. On April 26, 1879, the city was named the capital of Sonora, and that declaration was confirmed in article 28 of the state constitution, written on September 15, 1917.

The latter half of the 1800s were turbulent years for the city – on October 14, 1852, Gastón Rousset Boulbón led anti-government fighters to victory against the national army, but soon left the city. On May 4, 1866, republican troops under Ángel Martínez took the city from imperial forces under Jose María Tranquilino Almada. Just a few hours later, however, the imperialists retook the city. Later that year, a similar taking and retaking of the city occurred. Even during this time, the city continued developing – on November 4, 1881, a rail line between Hermosillo and the city of Guaymas went into operation, and by the end of the 19th Century, the city had a population of 14,000 and thriving commerce and agriculture.

During the Mexican revolution, Hermosillo was the capital of Mexico for five months, as it was the location of the meeting of Venustiano Carranza's war cabinet. Later, on November 18, 1915, the city was attacked by Francisco Villa, another Mexican revolutionary, but he was defeated.

Hermosillo is the setting for the western novel "Catlow", by Louis L'Amour, about the theft of a gold-laden mule train.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census of 2005 there were 641,791 people living in the city of Hermosillo and 701,838 people living in the municipality of Hermosillo.

The racial makeup of the city was 70% White/European, 28% Mestizo and Amerindian, 1% Chinese. There are also many Americans, Canadians, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese and Pacific Islanders.

[edit] Higher Education Institutions

Universidad de Sonora [1]
Universidad de Hermosillo [2]
Instituto Tecnologico de Hermosillo [3]
ITESM Campus Sonora Norte [4]
Universidad del Noroeste [5]
Universidad Kino [6]

[edit] Sport

The city's baseball team is the Naranjeros. The city had an American Basketball Association team, the Hermosillo Seris. On January 26, 2007 the Naranjeros won their 14th title in history, the team with the most titles in the Mexican Pacific League (LMP).

[edit] Sister cities

Hermosillo has two sister cities:^[1]

[edit] References

Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Sonora Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México