|
On the Gold Coast of Baja California, Tijuana is the municipal seat, cultural, and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality. A dominant manufacture center of the North American continent, the city maintains facilities of numerous multinational conglomerate companies. The 2000's saw Tijuana become the medical device manufacture capital of North America. Also a growing cultural center, Tijuana has been recognized as one of most important new cultural meccas. The city is the most visited border city in the globe; sharing an approximate 24 km (14.9 mi) with its sister city San Diego over fifty million people cross the border between the cities alone. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone. Tijuana is the 42nd largest city in the Americas with a 2010 census population of 1,300,983 and is the westernmost city in Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,784,034. The international metropolitan region was estimated to be just over five million in 2009 and approximately 5,105,769 in 2010, making it the third largest metropolitan area in the Californias, 19th largest metropolitan area in the Americas and the largest bi-national conurbation that is shared between US and Mexico. Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 1500s mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American conquest of northern Mexico ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded in July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Often known by its "initials", T.J., and nicknamed Gateway to Mexico, the city has historically served as a tourist center dating back to the 1880s. |