Guerrero Negro

Infobox Settlement
name = Guerrero Negro
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pushpin_map_caption =Location in Mexico
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = flag|Mexico
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Baja California Sur
subdivision_type2 = Municipality
subdivision_name2 = Mulegé
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population_as_of =2005
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population_total = 11,984
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latd=27 |latm=59|lats= |latNS=N
longd=114|longm=04|longs=11|longEW=W
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Guerrero Negro is the largest town located in the municipality of Mulegé in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur (BCS). It had a population of 11,984 in the 2005 census. Guerrero Negro is served by Guerrero Negro Airport.

The town has a celebration each year to hail the annual arrival of the gray whale to calve in the lagoons of BCS. This festival occurs during the first half of February. Another town in BCS, the port of San Blas, BCS has a similar festival on February 24 and 25.cite journal |last= Quintanar Hinojosa |first=Beatriz |year=2008 |month= February |title=Breves |journal=Guía México Desconocido: Oaxaca |volume= 372 |pages=8 |url= www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx ]

The population of Guerrero Negro was born in 1957 when a U.S. American by the name of Daniel Ludwig--who also constructed the hotel Acapulco Princess in the port of Acapulco, Guerrero--decided to install a salt works there to supply the demand of salt in the western United States. The salt mine was established around the Ojo de Liebre coastal lagoon taking advantage of the heavy salinity of the place, without realizing that eventually this company, called Exportadora de Sal, S.A., of C.V. ("Salt Exporters, Inc."), would become the greatest salt mine in the world, with a production of seven million tons of salt per annum, exported to the main centers of consumption in the Pacific basin, especially Japan, Korea, the United States, Canada, Taiwan and New Zealand. In 1973 Daniel Ludwig sold the company to the Mexican government and the corporation Mitsubishi, 51% and 49% respectively, giving rise to a historic business success which continues to the present. The company is distinguished not only by its growth and its yield, but also by the progress which has reached more than a thousand employees, their community and its ecological surroundings: The salt works, located in a site of extraordinary beauty, within a reserve of the biosphere, has been pivotal in the development of the region, where each winter whales gather, many species of resident and migratory birds stay, visiting birds originating mainly in the United States and Europe.

Guerrero Negro is the Spanish translation of the name "Black Warrior", an U.S. American whaling ship from Duxbury near Boston that grounded near the coast in the 1850s. It was during this era that Captain Charles Scammon discovered a prolific grey whale breeding lagoon which became a choice hunting ground for Yankee and European whalers. Although locally known as Laguna "Ojo de Liebre" (eye of the jackrabbit), this lagoon is better known to boaters from around the world as Scammon's. Now, instead of whaling, a whale-watching industry has developed around the whales in the lagoon. The whales in the lagoon are particularly known for their willingness to approach the whale-watching boats and sometimes (especially the newborns) allow themselves to be petted.

The town is on Federal Highway 1.

References

* [http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/sistemas/conteo2005/localidad/iter/ Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005] INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografia e Informática