Caborca

Caborca is both a municipality and a municipal seat in the Mexican state of Sonora. The area of the municipality is 10,721.84 km², which is 5.78 percent of the state total. The municipal population was 70,213 (2005) of whom 49,917 lived in the municipal seat (2000). [http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora] [http://www.inegi.gob.mx/inegi/default.aspx] The official name of the city is Heroica Caborca.

Location

The municipal seat lies at an elevation of 289 meters. Municipal boundaries are with the United States of America in the north, Altar in the east, Pitiquito in the southeast, Puerto Peñasco in the northwest, and the Gulf of California in the southwest. The municipal seat, Heroica Caborca, lies on Federal Highway 2, which connects Mexico City with Tijuana.

Caborca is nestled among hills in high Sonoran desert scenery. With moderate winter and spring temperatures, the temperatures climb above 38 °C in May and stay there until October or November. Because it has a very dry climate, strong winds can bring localized dust storms as well as "dust devils", localized plumes of swirling dust that resemble tornadoes, often reaching over 100 feet (30 m) into the air. They're harmless, but provide an interesting sight when driving in the area.

Although rain is rare, when it happens it can bring a sudden deluge that causes brief localized flooding. Like the U.S. state of Arizona to the north, the area also has a monsoon season in late summer that brings higher humidity and frequent dust storms or rain showers. [http://www.vivacaborca.com/about/description.html]

Health and educational infrastructure

There is a hospital in the main town and several clinics spread out in surrounding communities. The educational infrastructure consists of over 150 schools, of which seven are secondary schools. There is one school of post-secondary education, a site of the University of Sonora and a campus of Conalep, a post-secondarytechnical institute. [http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora] [http://www.vivacaborca.com/about/description.html]

Economic activity

Agriculture is the most important economic activity with more than 1,000 km² of planted area. The main crops are grapes, cotton, and wheat. Despite the arid climate wells are used for irrigated crops.

The cattle herd is modest, concentrating on exporting calves to the United States.

Industry is growing with a scattering of maquiladoras.

There is some fishing on the 130 km long coastline, mainly of shrimp, while oysters are produced in the estuaries.

Tourism

There is modest tourist potential with the beaches on the Gulf of California as well as the white mission churches, especially Nuestra Señora de la Concepción de Caborca in the municipal seat. The beach at El Desemboque is sought after by North American tourists desiring a less commercialized atmosphere.

One of Caborca's more popular and interesting attractions is the petroglyphs that were etched in stone by ancient inhabitants thousands of years ago.

History

The Mogollon peoples inhabited the area from approximately 600 B.C. to 1400 A.D. Other native inhabitants included the Azasazi (100 B.C. to 1450 A.D.) and the Hohokam (300 B.C. to 1400 A.D.). [http://www.vivacaborca.com/activities/petroglyphs.html]

The municipal seat was formed in the year 1688 as a mission town, by the Jesuit missionary Francisco Eusebio Kino on the point called Caborca Viejo (Old Caborca). In 1790, it was established on the site that it currently occupies, on the right (east) bank of the Asunción River. The place was inhabited by Upper Pimas.

Father Kino was still the head when the mission town was completed in December 1692. The old site of the municipal seat is now known as Pueblo Viejo (Old Town).

In 1790, the seat was established at the place it now occupies. It was inhabited by Upper Pimas. The name of the municipality comes from "Cabota", which means "little open mouth". Of the historical events, that of 6 April 1857, is especially important, when Caborca was the scene of a defense against foreign invasion. A force of American filibusters, captained by Henry Crabb, was defeated by Tohono O'odham (Papagos) with the help of neighboring communities. In memory of this defense, the seat changed its name to Heróica Caborca in April 1948.

At the start of Mexican independence, it was the seat of a parish, under the area of Guadalupe de Altar for its civil administration. It obtained the status of Municipality at the end of the 19th century, assigned to the District of Altar (until districts were abolished by the Mexican constitution of 1917).

References

* [http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora/ Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico]
* [http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora/ INEGI] Mexican census

External links

* [http://www.vivacaborca.com/ Viva Caborca] Website devoted to the promotion of Caborca (English)
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/Caborca.html Mission of Caborca]
* [http://www.sonoraturismo.gob.mx/caborca-sonora.htm Sonora Turismo article on Caborca] Spanish