Culiacán is a city in northwestern Mexico, the largest city in the state of Sinaloa as well as its capital and capital of the municipality of Culiacán. With around 605,300 inhabitants (Official Population Counting, 2005), and 793,700 in the metropolitan area, is one of the largest cities in the country.
The city is located in a valley where the Tamazula River and Humaya River rivers meet to form the Culiacán River, and is located 55 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.
Pre-Colonial PeriodMost people agree that the name Culiacan apparently comes from the word colhuacan, which can mean 'place where roads turn' or 'place of snakes', but traditionally the most accepted translation would be 'place of those who adore the god Coltzin'. Before the Spaniards arrived, this site had been a small Indian settlement since 628 when Amerindians had first founded it.
FoundationThe 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. Some of Mexico's largest agricultural conglomerates operate in the vast and fertile coastal plains. The agro-industrial economy continues to be the single largest contributor to the region's legal economy. While the vast majority of technical and skilled labor is educated locally, the once-seasonal field labor pool now experiences a yearly shortage of workers. International patterns of migration now draw laborers from deep within Mexico's south to the northern border states and into the United States.
Post War EraBeginning in the late 1950s, Culiacan became the birthplace of an incipient underground economy based on illicit drugs exported to the United States. The completion of the PanAmerican Highway and the regional airport in the 1960s accelerated the expansion of a workable distribution infrastructure for the enterprising few families that would later come to dominate the international drug cartels along Mexico's Pacific Northwest.
Illegal Drugs pathDuring the turbulent 1970s the well-entrenched 'gomeros' enjoyed the fruits of their criminal enterprises which linked opium farmers in the Sierra with local heroin (See Mexican tar heroin) refineries. This, coupled with the thriving demand for marihuana stuffed local banks and private coffers with enough local capital to expand the 'above the board' economies. During the presidency of Luis Echeverria, federal policy attempted to break the growing alliances that were forged between revolutionary student uprisings and the drug dealers. Frequent confrontations between government soldiers on one side and local drug dealers were commonplace in Culiacan's streets. Thus began the overt drug war financed by the United States whose government recognized the destabilizing influence and corruption that huge amounts of narco-dollars would have on a key Latin American ally. During the late 70s and early 80s reports of government 'death squads' and 'desaparecidos' surfaced and were documented by journalists and international human rights organizations. The response of the drug traffickers during the 1980s was to diversify into legitimate infrastructure investments in banking, agriculture, transportation, international money exchanges, United States real estate, and import brokerage businesses. Furthermore, the diversification included alliance-building efforts that resulted in the formation of powerful cartels based on the traditional clan and familial relationships of the founding families. This continued into collaborative relationships that linked the Culiacan-based drug trade with other networks in Latin America, Asia, and Europe. In part due to US-led successes against the Colombian distribution networks in the Caribbean and in South Florida, the 1980s also saw the rise in the fortunes of the Pacific Coast cartels as they filled the vacuum created in the cocaine trade. Later, in a concerted effort to escape scrutiny and consolidate regional markets, the Culiacan cartels relocated into Jalisco state and Baja California while maintaining a low profile presence in the hometown. More recently, the influence of the cartel networks along the US-Mexico border expanded through the 1990s and into the current decade. Diversification now also includes both legitimate US-registered enterprises and the usurpation of many regional markets of the illicit methamphetamine trade. Although sometimes referred to as the Guadalajara Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, and by other monikers, the key players continue to be Culiacan's native sons. The corrupting influence of the drug trade on government institutions is well documented on both sides of the border and continues to flourish despite efforts and infrequent successes of United States federal law enforcement agencies.
Economy Companies headquartered in CuliacanThe 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, Eastern-European and Sephardic Jews, Chinese and Japanese communities in Culiacán, largely due to the economic boom of the last 50 years.
Most people in Culiacan, like in the rest of Mexico, are Mestizo (blend of Caucasian and Amerindian) and Catholic. The special sort of blend generated in Culiacan has made their women, alongside those from other cities in Sinaloa and Sonora, famous nationwide for their beauty.
UniversitiesThough 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. 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 300,000 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 that now reaches Altata, in the Pacific Ocean coast. Culiacan is served by Aeropuerto Internacional de Culiacán and Central Internacional de Autobuses Millennium.
Entertainment TourismMalls: 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,Häagen-Dazs , Italianni's, Shooter's(Bar), Dairy Queen & TGI Fridays, El Pollo Loco.
Car's Concessionaires:Ford Company,Chrysler Company,Chevrolet Company,VW,Nissan,Volvo, Toyota,Honda,Mitsubishi,Lincon,Subaru,Jaguar,Seat,Cadillac,Saab,Hummer,Renault,Bmw,Mercedes Benz,Mazda and Audi.
El Conchal and other small villages with a population of 500 hundred or less are located 8 kilometers from El Dorado. There people live out of fishing and tourism. People charge 350 pesos to give people a tour.
SportsThe 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.
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