Baja California (State)

Baja California
Capital	Mexicali
surface	69,921 km² (rank 12 )
population	3,155,070 (Rank 14 )
Population density	45 inhabitants per km² (2010 census)
governor	Jaime Bonilla Valdez ( Morena ) (2019-2021)
Federal MPs	Morena = 5 PES = 2 PT = 1 (8 federal constituencies)
Senators	PAN = 1 Morena = 1 PT = 1
ISO 3166-2	MX-BCN
Postal abbreviation	BC
Website	www.bajacalifornia.gob.mx

The Mexican state of Baja California (  [ Baxa kalifoɾnja ] , Spanish for Lower California ), officially Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( Spanish Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California ) is the northernmost and westernmost of the 31 states of Mexico. The southern half of the peninsula Baja California was separated in 1974 and in the state of Baja California Sur converted. Its area to the north of the peninsula is bordered to the east by the Mexican state of Sonora and to the north by the US states of California and Arizona . To the west is the Pacific Ocean and to the east, off the peninsula, is the Gulf of California . Due to its western location and its economic proximity to the USA, this state is the only one in Mexico that is in the UTC-8 time zone .

Baja California covers an area of ​​69,921 km² and has an estimated population of approximately 3.2 million people (as of 2010). They live almost exclusively in the far north of the state on the border with the United States. Population centers are the capital of Mexicali state and the largest city of Baja California, Tijuana , both with significant border crossings with the United States. The actual peninsula is extremely sparsely populated.

The state is shaped by the Sierra San Pedro Mártir mountain range running from north to south, part of the Peninsular Ranges extending from southern California to the tip of the peninsula . The Picacho del Diablo ( 3096  m ), the highest peak in Baja California, belongs to the Sierra . The mountains take up almost the entire area of ​​the peninsula and are almost uninhabited, even small settlements are almost exclusively in the narrow coastal strip.

With a value of 0.803, Baja California reached 5th place among the 31 states of Mexico in the human development index in 2015 .

In 1996, a 100,000 m² area in Baja California was converted into what was then the largest film studio on the American west coast. Large parts of James Cameron's film " Titanic " were shot there.

For the history of the region up to the mid-19th century, see California (historical landscape) .

Vineyard south of Ensenada

population

Because of its proximity to the United States, the population is growing very rapidly. The population has almost doubled since 1990 and more than tenfold since 1950.

year	population
1950	226.965
1960	520.165
1970	870.421
1980	1,177,886
1990	1,660,855
1995	2,112,140
2000	2,487,367
2005	2,844,469
2010	3,155,070
2015	3,315,766

Cities and parishes

→ Main article : List of Municipios in Baja California

Municipios in Baja California

The state of Baja California is divided into five administrative districts (Spanish municipios ):

• Ensenada
• Mexicali
• Tecate
• Tijuana
• Playas de Rosarito

The administrative districts each bear the name of their administrative center (Cabecera Municipal) , which also corresponds to the five largest cities in the state. The administrative districts are divided into a total of 57 offices or districts (Spanish delegaciones ), which are composed of 6938 localities. This includes 61 cities and urban settlements, but above all villages and rural communities ( pueblos ) and farms ( ranchos , haciendas ).

Web links

Commons : Baja California (State)  - collection of images

• http://www.bajacalifornia.gob.mx
• States of Mexico

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab. Retrieved August 12, 2018 . 

Coordinates: 30 ° 27 ′  N , 115 ° 0 ′  W