Categoria: Chihuahua -> Chihuahua
General Information
The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 748,551. The predominant activity is light industry, in the form of maquiladoras.
It has been said that the name derives from the Tarahumara language, meaning "between two waters", other accepted definitions are "place of the holed-rock" or "dry and sandy place". The name itself is older than the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The city was founded on October 12, 1709, by Antonio Deza y Ulloa, a Spanish explorer, as El Real de Minas de San Francisco el Cuellar. The town was erected a Villa in 1718 with the name of San Felipe el Real de Chihuahua, and the name was shortened in 1823.
Demographics
As of the census of 2005, there were 748,551 people living in the city of Chihuahua, calculations tend to establish that in 2007 there are almost 800,000 people living in Chihuahua and more that one million in its metro area. The racial makeup of the city was 53% White/European, 40% Mestizo, 4% Amerindian, and 3% other.
The majority of the population practices Catholicism, but other religious faiths are represented, including Methodists, Baptists and other Christian groups, as well as a small Jewish community.
The literacy rate in the city is among the highest in the republic at 98%; more than 60% of the population is age 30 or below, and population increase runs about 1.49% per annum.
Colonias
Main article: Colonias of Chihuahua, Chihuahua
The City of Chihuahua is subdivided into Colonias (neighborhoods). The primary function of the colonias range in function between residential, commercial, industrial, and educational. There are many colonias in Chihuahua; among the better known are Centro (City Centre), Santa Rosa, San Felipe, Santo Niño, Lomas del Santuario and Rosario.
In recent years, new residential zones called "fraccionamientos", rather than colonias, have been erected, some examples of which are Los Huertos, Campobello, Puerta de Hierro and Las Fuentes. The fraccionamientos function in the same way as residential developments in the U.S., with some upscale ones being gated, with controlled access such as Club Campestre de Chihuahua, San Francisco Country Club, Rincon de las Lomas, Arcadas and Haciendas de Santa Fe among others. The growing construction industry is creating many new fraccionamientos in order to try to solve the overwhelming demand for new homes in the city, extending them at an ever-increasing rate every year.
The city's most important feature is its collection of industrial zones, in which foreign companies have manufacturing facilities, called maquiladoras, which employ thousands of people. This light industry also requires professionals, both for manufacturing and for management; this training is provided by Chihuahua's two state universities and her two state-run technical institutes. A number of private colleges also exist, among them the ITESM, which is preferred by the middle and upper classes, and considered among the best universities in Latin America.
The city's commercial sector has also been boosted by the growth of the middle-class. The wages paid by industries to management and high-level technical employees provide a cash flow unlike that of most Mexican cities.
The nightlife is very lively, especially in the city centre, where some of the large, pre-revolutionary estate houses have been turned into nightclubs and dance halls, many featuring the best of Chihuahua's live bands.
Most U.S. franchise restaurants and fast-food establishments will be found in Chihuahua, mostly on the Periferico de la Juventud, north of downtown on Universidad Avenue, or on Libertad Street Pedestrian Way in the city centre, and are patronised by the city's youth and young professionals.
Urban blight, a common problem in the past, has been attacked with gusto in the last ten years, with the demolition of abandoned buildings and the creation of green spaces, such as the Plaza Mayor and the Central Park "El Palomar"; once one of the city's worst slums, now a patch of green in the middle of Chihuahua. Going hand-in-hand with the urban renewal is the movement of those living in the shantytowns of the city into new housing being built by the government in the northern sector. These homes, ranging from 300 to 600 square feet in area, has been designed to help instill pride-of-ownership into those who never had a fixed abode. The jury is still out as to whether the experiment will work in the end, although city fathers remain optimistic.
Some of the more interesting sites in the city are listed below:
1. Temple of San Francisco-The original burial place of Fr Miguel Hidalgo
2. Federal Palace of Chihuahua, now a museum, and the jail cell of Fr Hidalgo
3. Central Park "El Palomar"-Once one of the worst slums in the city, now the largest city park.
4. Mansion Creel
5. Mansion Terrazas
6. Mansion 'Quinta Carolina' (Former summer estate of Don Luis Terrazas; see Creel-Terrazas Family.)-Now in semi-ruined condition, in process of restoration.
7. Torre Legislativa de Chihuahua (Legislative tower of Chihuahua-state legislators office building) -Fronts on the Plaza de Armas
8. The Government Palace (The State House)
9. City Hall
10. Dancing Fountains north of the Federal Palace
11. Mansion 'Quinta Gameros' (City Museum for the Decorative Arts)
12. Church of Santa Rita (1731). St Rita of Cascia is the patroness of the city. Ave. Zarco Residential Area (Some of the most impressive pre-revolutionary residences in the city are situated along this street)
The city of Chihuahua offers many places of interest for the tourist, especially the history buff, including the baroque Metropolitan Cathedral, seat of the Archdiocese (and the resting place of St Peter of Jesus Maldonado, a Cristero martyr of the 1930s), dating from the 18th century, the Government Palace from the early 19th century, and the City Hall from the turn of the 20th century, on the Plaza de Armas across from the Cathedral.
During the French invasion and the Second Empire, which ended with the execution of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian in 1867, the constitutional president, Benito Juárez García traveled the country, searching for support wherever he could. He found it in 1864 when he settled his cabinet and government-in-exile here in the city at the address now known as Ave. Juárez 321, and incidentally, making Chihuahua the only city, aside from Mexico City, to be the capitol of the Republic. The Casa Juárez, now known as the Museum of Republican Loyalty, has been faithfully restored to the appearance it had when President Juárez lived here from 1864 to 1867.
The city offers the service of a touristic "trolley el tarahumara" which is a special bus that goes around to all the main museums and monuments in the City Centre, including parks like the Central Park "El Palomar", a large park that has a collection of sculptures, including one depicting three doves (palomas, hence the park's name) and a monumental flagpole, flying one of the largest flags in the Republic, as well as a statue of one of Chihuahua's favourite sons, the late actor Anthony Quinn, in his famous role as 'Zorba the Greek', as well as many others. The city is renowned for its classical and modern sculpture, as seen on any main boulevard or avenue. Included are works by Espino, Baltazar, Ponzanelli and Sebastian, the latter being a native of Chihuahua.