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'Hermosillo' is the capital of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is centrally located within the state at 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 Tiburón Island.
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. The city is served by Ignacio L. Pesqueira International Airport (airport code HMO).

Contents

Climate

History

Demographics

Higher Education Institutions

Sport

Sister cities

References

External links

Climate

The city's climate is hot and arid, even compared to other Mexican desert cities, with temperatures frequently surpassing 40C (104F) during the hot season. According to the ''Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (Mexico's National Weather Service) in the period from 1971 to 2000 the coldest temperature recorded in Hermosillo was -4.0°C on December 27, 1987, whilst the warmest record is of 47.5°C on June 24, 1998. The record for the wettest day is of 148 mm on November 11, 1994; the wettest month during this period was October 2000 with 235.3 mm; however most precipitation normally occurs in July, August and September in the shape of a few but intense thunderstorms, with the possibility of flash floods.

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 Mexico 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 capturing and recapturing 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 revolutionary Francisco Villa, 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.

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.

Higher Education Institutions

★ Universidad de Sonora [2]

★ Universidad de Hermosillo [3]

★ Instituto Tecnologico de Hermosillo [4]

★ ITESM Campus Sonora Norte [5]

★ Universidad del Noroeste [6]

★ Universidad Kino [7]

Sport

The city's baseball team is the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. 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).

Sister cities

Hermosillo has two sister cities:^[1]

★ Phoenix, Arizona, USA

★ Irvine, California, USA

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

1. Sister Cities information obtained from the Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI)." Retrieved on June 10, 2006.

External links

★ Ayuntamiento de Hermosillo Official website

★ Hermosillo tourist information, Sonora State Government - Official site