Culiacan
Encyclopedia : C : CU : CUL : Culiacan
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| Area: | 4,758.64 km²(municipality) | ||
| Population - Total (2001) - Cdn. CD - Density | 745,532 156.69/km² | ||
| Time zone | Mountain Standard Time Zone: UTC-7 | ||
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The city is located in a fertile valley where the Tamazula River and Humaya River rivers meet to form the Culiacán River, and is located 54 m above sea level. It is located in the center of the state with almost equal distance to the other urban centers of the state: Los Mochis to the north, and Mazatlán to the south.
This is the hometown to soccer player Jared Borgetti and famous boxer Julio César Chávez.
History
Experts do not agree on the meaning of the name, but it apparently comes from the word colhuacan, which can mean "place where roads turn", "place of snakes", but traditionally the most accepted translation would be "place of the those who adore the god Coltzin". Before the Spaniards arrived, this site had been a small Indian settlement since 628 when passing Aztecs had first founded it. The city existing today was founded in 1531 by the Spanish captain Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán and named San Miguel de Culiacán. In the same decade, it was the terminus of the long journey of Cabeza de Vaca and company among natives. Explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado set out from Culiacán to explore what is now the southwestern United States. Settlers from Europe came to Culiacán, and in the following centuries, Culiacán continued to be a quiet town. It was only after the federal government built dams in the adjacent areas in the 1950s that agriculture exploded and the city began to grow exponentially. It still has a yearly shortage of workers, who have to be brought from southern Mexico, especially the state of Oaxaca. Because of this, unemployment has been characteristically low, around 3.0% over the last 10 years.
Notable People
- Lupita, La Novia de Culiacan (The Bride of Culiacan)
- Julio Cesar Chavez
- Maquio, Manuel J. Cloutier
- Patricia Navidad
- Jared Borgetti
- Placido Vega
- José Limón
Demography
The total population of the city is 745,532 reaching almost a million adding the inhabitants of the satellite cities of Navolato (a municipality of its own),Costa Rica and Eldorado and those of the rural villages such as El Salado, Quila, Culiacancito, Imala and San Pedro. Immigration to Culiacán comes from all parts of the world, but especially from southern Mexico and Europe. There are Greek, German, French, Chinese and Japanese communities in Culiacán, largely because of the economic boom of the last 50 years.Tourism
The tourism industry in Culiacán has grown considerably in the last decade from a small number of hotels and a new international airport to a busy international fishing and hunting destination for thousands of tourists every year. Culiacán has a very active nightlife and social scene.Attractions in Culiacán include:
- Imala's hot springs, which are about a 30 minute ride from the city and close to several dams and reservoirs where you can fish large mouth bass all year round.
- Altata beach located 30 minutes from Culican where there has been extensive development over the last couple of years, with the goal of becoming a great travel destination in the next decade. It has a "sister" Beach called Nuevo Altata where this project of travel destination, has Begun with some Restaurants, and Private Areas.
- The Cathedral, a 19th century church which began construction in the 1830s.
- Plazuela Alvaro Obregón, which was the place for social gatherings in the 1800s.
- La Lomita or Templo de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is the tallest church in Culiacán,placed over a hill, and it has a view of the entire city.
- Dancing Fountains located on a peninsula formed by the junction of the Tamazula and Humaya rivers, this fountain system dances at the rhythm of local and international music displaying a colorful lighting show at 19:00 and 20:00.
- The Centro Cultural Genaro Estrada known by the locals as "Difocur" encompasses a theater, movie theater, a cafe and a group of museums specialized in local culture, is worth a visit (closed on Mondays).
- Regional History Museum in the "Parque Constitución", a big art museum downtown and a number of small art galleries owned by several of the local universities.
- Botanical Garden and Centro de Ciencias de Sinaloa, a science museum where you can admire the fifth largest meteorite on earth.
- For sports lovers, there is a big baseball stadium called "Estadio Angel Flores" home of Los Tomateros de Culiacán, a bigger football arena called "Estadio Banorte"(Former Estadio Carlos González ) home of Los Dorados de Sinaloa, Mexican Football Team , and several university stadiums.
- In Downtown the best preserved old street is the "calle Rosales", between Rosales square and the Cathedral.
El Conchal and other small villages with a population of 500 hundred or less are located 20 minutes from El Dorado. There people live out of fishing and tourism
Transportation
Though there are several high speed roads, most of the city’s streets are rather narrow and traffic jams are common at rush hours. The city has a total of nine bridges: six across the Tamazula river, two spanning the Humaya River and the longest one crossing the Culiacán river. Most of them show great architectural beauty. Efforts to solve traffic problems have been made but most of the city streets and bridges are now crowded and insufficient to handle regular and rush hours traffic; a forty km/h speed limit in most parts of the city worsens the situation. It was recently published that there are 530,000 cars in Culiacán making the per capita number of cars one of the highest in the country considering the 745,000 inhabitants.Culiacán is a rail junction and is located on the Panamerican Highway that runs north to the United States and South to Guadalajara and Mexico City and the Benito Juárez Highway or Maxipista, which is a toll road that runs parallel to the toll-free Federal highway. Culiacán is linked to the satellite city of Navolato by an excellent Freeway that is planned to be continued to Altata, in the Pacific Ocean coast. Culiacan is served by Aeropuerto Internacional de Culiacán and Central Internacional de Autobuses Millennium.
Sports
The city is home of two professional league sport teams: baseball with Tomateros de Culiacán from the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico and soccer with Los Dorados de Sinaloa from the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación who play at the Estadio Banorte (Estadio Carlos González). Duck, dove and goose hunting season goes from early November through March. Culiacán also holds a yearly international marathon.Universities
- Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa
- Universidad de San Miguel
- Instituto Tecnológico de Culiacán
- Universidad Casa Blanca
- Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) - Campus Sinaloa
- Universidad de Occidente - Campus Culiacán
- Universidad de Veracruz - Campus Culiacán
- Universidad Católica de Culiacán
- Universidad Valle del Bravo - Campus Culiacán
- Universidad Tecnológica de Sinaloa
- Universidad México Internacional
Attractions
Malls: Forum Culiacán Mall, Plaza Galerias Mall, Plaza Fiesta & Plaza La Campiña.
Movie theaters: Cinépolis, MM Cinemas, & Citi Cinemas.
Parks: Parque Revolución, Parque Constitución Civic Center and Ernesto Millán (previously knows as Culiacán '87)
International Restaurants: Burger King, McDonalds, Applebee's, Domino's Pizza, Subway, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, Italianni's, Shooter's(Bar), Dairy Queen & TGI Fridays.
Companies headquartered in Culiacan
- Bobcat de Sinaloa Chibupa Maquinaria
- Almacenes Zaragoza
- Casas GOM
- Casa Ley
- Centro Mexicano de Fertilidad
- Coppel
- Fripasa
- Homex
- Ingenieria Mecánica y Sistemas
- Instituto de Implantología Dental del Pacifico
- Productos Chata
- Sukarne
External links
- [Periodico Noroeste de Culiacán (spanish)]
- [Gobierno del Municipio de Culiacán (spanish)]
- [Guía turística de Culiacan (spanish)]
- [Artes de Culiacan (spanish)]
- [Dirección de Cultura del Estado (spanish)]
- [Hablemos de Música (spanish)]
- [Radio Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa (spanish)]
- [Mapa Interactivo (spanish)]
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