Culiacán

In ancient times, there was an indigenous population called Huey Colhuacan that dates back to Tecpatl, which corresponds to the year 628 of our era; the Aztecs built it during their pilgrimage. Its exact location is unknown, but it is assumed that it was close to the current town of Culiacancito. Here he was born in 1065 A.D. the cult of Huitzilopochtli, the warrior god of Aztec mythology.[3] The ancient settlers were called Culichis.

The city that we know today as Culiacán was co-founded in 1531 by Lázaro de Cebreros and Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán under the name of Villa de San Miguel. Upon their arrival in the 16th century, the Spanish found the existence of farmhouses organized in indigenous nations by the tribe of the Tahues, which brought together a group of people of the same origin and language who had a common tradition.

Other indigenous peoples that inhabited the original territory of Culiacán were the Tebacas, Pacaxes, Sabaibo and Achires.

After their war of conquest, Lázaro de Cebreros and Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (1531), organized the territories acquired in three provinces, one of them was Culiacán which was delimited, to the south, by the Elota river and in the north by the Mocorito River, depending on the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia. Organized in this way, it lasted until 1786, the year in which the administration system was implemented, with Sonora and Sinaloa forming the administration of Arizpe and the ancient province of Culiacán gave life to the party of the same name with equal jurisdiction.

On October 6, 1821, Independence was sworn in Culiacán. Culiacán is granted the category of city, on July 21, 1823, when the provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa separated by decree from Congress. In 1824, by Constitutive Act of the Mexican Federation, Sinaloa and Sonora meet again, forming the state of the West. In 1830, the provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa were definitively separated, by decree of October 13, 1830, the city of Culiacán being designated capital of the state of Sinaloa. Later, during the conservative government related to the French Intervention in 1861, prefectures were installed and the Municipalities Law was decreed that divided the Districts into City Councils. The Badiraguato District was suppressed and became part of the Culiacán District as a Municipality.

From 1859 to 1873 it ceased to be the capital of Sinaloa, which moved to Mazatlán. Already in the Restored Republic, Governor Eustaquio Buelna confronted the merchants of the port. He returned to Culiacán and the Local Congress gave him the status of capital of the state.

For 1878, Culiacán had three City Halls, whose headwaters were Culiacán, Quilá and Badiraguato, it remained that way until in 1880 Badiraguato returned to being a district with the limits that previously corresponded to it.

1912 was the year in which the Municipalities were established by law as a new form of internal government, but it was until 1915 that the Political Directories were suppressed, this law coming into force, causing the Districts to become free municipalities.

Culiacán was established as a Municipality by decree published on April 8, 1915, comprising within its limits the current Municipality of Navolato that was segregated in 1982, according to a decree of August 27 of that year, thus losing 2,285 km² of the valley agricultural.

Alfredo Campos and His Guerrilla, Entering Culiacán.

Some time later, the State Congress approved the extension of the name of the capital city, giving it its current official name, Culiacán de Rosales, in honor of the great Mexican military man, Antonio Rosales.

Beginning in the late 1950s, Culiacán became the birthplace of an incipient underground economy based on illicit drugs exported to the United States. The completion of the Pan-American 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.

For its internal regime, the municipality is subdivided into 17 receiverships, which in turn are divided into police stations, the 17 receiverships of the municipality are: El Salado, Higueras de Abuya, Baila, Aguaruto, Emiliano Zapata, Adolfo López Mateos (El Tamarindo), Jesús María, Las Tapias, Quilá, Sanalona, San Lorenzo, Tacuichamona, Tepuche, Imala, Costa Rica, Culiacancito and Eldorado.

It is located in the central region of the State of Sinaloa, forming part of the northwest of Mexico. The coordinates correspond to it: 24 ° 48'15 "N (north latitude) and 107 ° 25'52" W (west longitude), with an altitude of 54 meters above sea level.[5]

It is located 1,240 km from Mexico City, from Culiacán to Tepic, there are only 502 km; to Durango, 536 km; to Hermosillo, 688 km; to Guadalajara, 708 km; to Monterrey, 1,118 km; Chihuahua, 1,159 km; to Tijuana, 1,552 km; and to Matamoros, 1,434 km.[6]

The relief of the municipality is well defined by a mountainous part and the coastal plain; the physiographic region of the highlands is a relatively large portion that is part of the Pacific slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental, which has heights of 300 to 2,100 meters above sea level.[7] The municipality of Culiacán is crossed by four hydrological currents: the Humaya, Tamazula, Culiacán and San Lorenzo rivers; Humaya has its origin in the State of Durango, entering Sinaloa through the municipality of Badiraguato; its waters are controlled by the dam Licenciado Adolfo López Mateos. The Tamazula River rises in the Sierra Madre Occidental near the Topia Valley; its current is controlled by the Sanalona dam; the Humaya and Tamazula rivers unite in front of the city of Culiacán to form the Culiacán River, which finally empties into the Gulf of California; the San Lorenzo river is born in the Sierra Madre Occidental within the State of Durango, enters Sinaloa through the municipality of Cosalá and empties into the Gulf of California.

Sunset in Culiacán.

Culiacán has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), despite receiving an annual rainfall over 600 mm (24 in), due to its hot temperatures and high evaporation. Summers are very hot and humid, shade temperatures can reach 45 °C (113 °F) and high humidity can produce heat indices of 50 to 55 °C (122 to 131 °F), with the risk of heavy rainfall from decaying tropical cyclones also present. Winters are much milder with less humidity and an average high of 27 °C, with warm nights.

Letters of the city next to the Cathedral

The Municipality of Culiacán has a total population of 858,638 inhabitants, this according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).[12] It has a population density of 166.8 inhabitants / km2,[13] the Municipality concentrates 31% of the population in the State of Sinaloa, with 422,507 men and 436,131 women, with a ratio of 96.9 men for every 100 women.[12]

The city of Culiacán Rosales occupies only a part of the municipality of Culiacán and in 2010 had an urban area of 65 km2, being the largest in the state of Sinaloa and has a population of 675,773 inhabitants (of which 329,608 are men and 346,165 are women), according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census carried out by the (INEGI), resulting in a population density of 10,396.5 inhabitants / km2.[14] concentrating 78.7% of the total urban population of the Municipality. The ethnic groups most represented in the Municipality are the Mixtec and Nahuatl,[15] the total population of indigenous language speakers (HLI population) is 13,081 people.[16] On the other hand, in the urban area of Culiacán, there are only 3,536 indigenous people, representing a very low percentage with respect to the total; Furthermore, these indigenous groups are not native to the municipality or the entity, since they were exterminated, displaced or assimilated by the mestizo population.

The city ranks 20th in number of foreign population, which amounts to 6,693 inhabitants, which represent almost 1% of the total population; Among the main nationalities we find Americans, Canadians, Spanish, Italians, Greeks, Argentines, Cubans, Colombians, Brazilians, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Ukrainians, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Germans, among others.

It should be noted the presence of people of Greek origin that occurred in the 1940s and 1950s, which coincide with the incipient but flourishing emergence of agriculture, which attracted a lot of Hellenic labor for the tillage of the land, seeing that it was a profitable business, they communicated it to their family and friends, which attracted a greater number of people; today they have inherited a legacy to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that make up the few thousand people who continue to live in the city. It is believed that the Greek community is the largest in Mexico and the best organized, the president of said community is in charge of Basilio Karamanos Pérez.

The total number of dwellings that exist in the city are 221,144 of which only 176,799 dwellings are occupied with an average of 3.81 inhabitants per inhabited dwelling. In general, cement roofs, walls and floors are used for the construction of the house, although homes or buildings do not cease to exist, most of them have sheet roofs and earth floors, this occurs mainly in the area peripheral to the south of the city, where the humble settlements of new inhabitants who arrive with the hope of obtaining a better quality of life proliferate.

Hotel Lucerna.

Of the 176,799 occupied dwellings, 173,704 have electricity; 171,614 have piped water; 171,489 have drainage and 169,550 have the 3 services simultaneously.

The city has many buildings, among the most noteworthy are, Torre Tres Ríos, Torre Santa María, Torre Tres Afluencias, Mileto 4 Ríos, Estela Corporate Center, Ceiba, BioInnova Building, Tower 120 and Dafi, all located in one of the most important districts of the city, the Tres Ríos Urban Development.

The city is divided into different areas mainly:

Old building located in the historic center in front of the City Hall.

The Historical Center of Culiacán is the original area of the city, in which most of the buildings of the Spanish colonization between the 16th and 19th centuries are found, it comprises a territorial extension of approximately 247,123 ha (2,471 km²). From the '70s onwards, there was a process of depopulation of the area due to the high costs of rents, the bustle of the main streets and avenues and the priority of having more commercial spaces, but in recent years there has been a process of repopulation of the same with the construction of apartments in the periphery of the Center and a project of urban reorganization in which it is intended to have a higher population density.

Culiacán downtown in April 2010.

Las Colonias, which are the first settlements that were populating the perimeter around the original urban area by people from different social strata in order to have a largely wide space close to the Center; Among the best known and with the largest number of population we find: Infonavit Humaya, Tierra Blanca, January 6, Stase, Juntas de Humaya, Almada, Miguel Alemán, Centro Sinaloa, Morelos, Palmito, El Barrio, Aurora, etc.

The subdivisions for their part are places divided by different construction companies, in which there are in certain sections, the same style of housing, housing people of lower middle class, middle and upper middle class, among the best known are: La Conquista, Villas del Rio, Valle Alto, Los Pinos, Villa Verde, Villa Fontana, etc.

Guadalupe colony.

Residentials are considered to be areas strategically built for people with high purchasing power, with spacious houses, large green areas and in most cases, they are delimited as private, and we find: Tres Ríos, Chapultepec, Los Álamos, Guadalupe, Lomas de Guadalupe, Colinas de San Miguel, Montebello, La Campiña, Las Quintas, Isla Musalá, La Primavera, etc.

Independent of these areas, we find one that stands out for its extension and its level of influence at the state level: the Tres Ríos Urban Development, which was started in 1990 with the aim of creating a better commercial, residential and entertainment area. for the city, in addition to taking advantage of the lands adjacent to the Culiacán, Humaya and Tamazula rivers, in addition to embellishing the banks with vegetation and a new boardwalk.

Las Riberas Park in 2021

Las Riberas Park in mid-2010

Parque Las Riberas (in Spanish) is the area attached to the Tamazula and Humaya rivers. Different species of trees such as willows, poplars, guamúchiles, and eucalyptus, can be seen. The White Bimodal bridg,e which connects the park with the city center, facilitates access for pedestrians and at night it becomes a light show that contrasts with the Black Bridge in Culiacán.

"Encounter" Culiacán Botanical Garden.

Located to the east of the city, this area comprises 10 ha and is home to different ecosystems and hundreds of plant and tree species. The Culiacán Botanical Garden has a variety of more than 2,000 plants. It is known because here runners and cyclists choose to take the morning walk, the prohibition of dogs on the path of plants stands out. Many photographers flock to this garden to capture young quinceañeras and newlyweds.

Orabá Island, as its name indicates, is an island between the confluence of the Tamazula River and the Humaya River, where the Culiacán River is born. It is part of a series of parks and gardens that have been built on the banks of the three rivers. From very early on, many people come to exercise, walk, run, ride a bicycle or simply take a walk among the large trees.

Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds. It was built on December 14, 1950, as part of the Development Plan of the Sinaloa State Government, which contemplated the need to create a natural area that would contribute to promoting the education of flora and fauna existing in this region under the mandate of the State Governor. General Gabriel Leyva Velásquez, supported by Mr. Emilio Aguerreverre, Municipal President of Culiacán.

The Tres Ríos Water Park is a recreational space that was built at the confluence of the Humaya and Tamazula rivers, precisely where the Culiacán River is born.

This park is very close to Parque Las Riberas. It is the largest and most visited park in the northwest of the country.

This park is very visited thanks to its views of the Black Bridge and the Culiacán River.

The dancing or dancing fountains of Culiacán are a spectacle of hundreds of independent fountains programmed to "dance" to the sound of typical Sinaloan music. This show is presented every day in an area of the 3 Ríos Project where the flagpole is located, more specifically, at the mere confluence of the Humaya and Tamazula rivers.

The shows are always given twice at night and always at the same time, and they are a tourist attraction in Culiacán.

Located on Av. México 68, República Mexicana. The park has as attractions, slides, swimming pools, zip lines, the garden of peace.

Kiosk in the Álvaro Obregón square.

Located on Álvaro Obregón Avenue, you can enjoy a pleasant stay thanks to its lush trees that prevent you from feeling the overwhelming heat of the city. Also, you can find candy and food stalls in the surroundings of the area, as well as a small book stand. Besides, the square comes alive in the weekends afternoons, where there is live music and many people (mostly the elderly or seniors) dance to the rhythm of the songs.

Located next to the Rosalina house, which has diverse vegetation, it is a space with colonial architecture that offers pedestrians a rest from the busy rhythm of life in the city.

• Centro de Estudios Universitarios Superiores (CEUS)
• Escuela Libre de Derecho de Sinaloa
• Instituto Tecnológico de Culiacán
• Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) – Campus Sinaloa
• Universidad Asia-Pacifico
• Universidad Autónoma de Durango-Campus Culiacán
• Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa
• Universidad Casa Blanca
• Universidad Católica de Culiacán
• Universidad Golfo de México – Campus Culiacán
• Universidad México Internacional
• Universidad de Occidente – Campus Culiacán
• Universidad de San Miguel (USM)
• Universidad TecMilenio – Campus Culiacán
• Universidad Tecnológica de Sinaloa
• Universidad Valle del Bravo – Campus Culiacán
• Universidad de Veracruz – Campus Culiacán
• Universidad Tecnológica de Culiacán
• Instituto Chapultepec is known as the best school in the city, important people goes there, such as Maximiliano Mendez

At present, Culiacán has just over 68 urban transport routes, which serve about one million users. The Culiacán urban transport is operated by RedPlus.

The city has a train station, operated by Ferromex, and it is used only to transport freight. It is connected to south with Mazatlán and north with Guaymas.

Culiacán uses the Central Internacional de Autobuses "Millennium" ("Millennium" International Buses Station) to travel across all Mexico (north, central, and south) and to the United States (Arizona and California). This replaced the old bus terminal in the southern city.

Though several high-speed roads have been built, most of the city's streets are rather narrow and traffic jams are common at rush hours. Now, 300,000 cars are in Culiacan, making the per capita number of cars one of the highest in the country considering the 745,000 inhabitants.

Culiacán has several roads (avenues, boulevards, streets, etc.), but some of these are the main quick connection to other points of the city.

The city has a total of 13 bridges: six across the Tamazula River, two spanning the Humaya River, and the longest one with other four 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 40-km/h speed limit in most parts of the city worsens the situation.

• Musalá Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Musalá-Universitaria Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Benito Juárez Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Morelos Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Miguel Hidalgo Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Juan de Dios Bátiz-Tres Ríos Bridge (Tamazula River)
• Josefa Ortíz de Domínguez Bridge (Humaya River)
• Rafael Buelna Bridge (Humaya River)
• Jorge Almada Bridge (Culiacán River)
• Black Rail Bridge (Culiacán River)
• Rolando Arjona Amabilis-UDO (Culiacán River)
• USE-Valle Alto (Culiacán River)
• Libramiento Recursos (Rosales Channel)
• Eje Federalismo Bridges (Rosales Channel)
• Chavez Castro Bridge (Rosales Channel)
• Emiliano Zapata Pass Bridge (Rosales Channel)

Also, Culiacán has bridges in streets conforming to high transit systems in places where the rush hour is common.

• Zapata (Blvd. Emiliano Zapata)
• 280-Aeropuerto (Blvd. Aeropuerto)
• Eje Aeropuerto (Blvd. Aeropuerto-Emiliano Carranza street)
• Mexico 15 (Plan Mar de Cortes-Mexican Federal Highway 15)
• Primavera (Plan Mar de Cortes-La Primavera)
• Eje El Trébol (Plan Mar de Cortes-Blvd. Jesús Kumate)
• Eje Federalismo Tunnels (Gabriel Leyva Solano/Francisco I. Madero-Federalismo)
• UdO (Blvd. Rolando Arjona-Blvd. Lola Beltrán) under construction
• Gasolinera del Valle (Blvd. Jesús Kumate-Blvd. Emiliano Zapata) under construction
• Japac Country (Blvd. Pedro Infante-Blvd. Rolando Arjona) spring 2013

On February 17, 2014, investigators from Mexico and the United States learned that Joaquín Guzmán Loera, or El Chapo, was using underground sewage tunnels in Culiacán by constructing hatches connecting to the drainage network in the bathtubs of his city "stash houses".[18] On at least one occasion, authorities chased Guzman into the tunnels, but lost him. An AP reporter said some of the tunnels were well lit, had wood paneling, and were air-conditioned.[18]

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. It is connected to the north with Los Mochis and to the south with Mazatlán, Tepic, and Guadalajara with the Federal Highway 15.

• Mexican Federal Highway 15 (north: Los Mochis, south: Mazatlán)
• Sanalona Free Highway (southeast: Sanalona (exit)/Cosalá)

Culiacán is linked to the satellite city of Navolato by an excellent freeway that now reaches Altata, in the Pacific Ocean coast. Culiacán is also linked to Tamazula de Victoria in Durango state.

• Freeway 280-30 (west: Navolato-Altata)
• Freeway 3-225 (north: Melchor Ocampo-Guamuchil)
• Freeway 5-325 (south: Costa Rica-El Dorado)
• Tamazula Interstate Freeway (northeast: Sanalona-Tamazula de Victoria)

Culiacán is served by Federal de Bachigualato International Airport (IATA: CUL, ICAO: MMCL), the most important domestic gateway in the state of Sinaloa, and the second in international operations after Mazatlán International Airport. It is located south of downtown; it is also the 10th Mexican Air Force base.

Cathedral in Culiacán

Las Riveras Park on Old Waterfront

• Imala's hot springs are about a 30-minute ride from the city and close to several dams and reservoirs, where one can fish largemouth bass all year round.
• Altata beach, located 30 minutes from Culiacán, has had extensive development over the last few years. It has a "sister" beach called Isla Cortés or Nuevo Altata, where this project of travel destination, has begun with some restaurants and private areas.
• The Cathedral, a 19th-century church, began construction in the 1830s.
• Plazuela Alvaro Obregón was the place for social gatherings in the 1800s.
• La Lomita or Templo de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is the tallest church in Culiacán, situated on a hill with a view of the entire city.
• The Centro Cultural Genaro Estrada, known by the locals as "Difocur", encompasses a theater, movie theater, a café, and a group of museums specializing in local culture. DIFOCUR is also the home of the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes. The OSSLA performs a 42-week season (September to June) of symphony, pops, opera, ballet, and chamber music, and features musicians from more than 15 different countries, including Mexico, the United States, England, Scotland, Canada, Romania, Argentina, and others. Working under the auspices of the government of Sinaloa, the OSSLA also performs many outreach and educational programs around the state of Sinaloa, as well as throughout Mexico.
• The Regional History Museum in the "Parque Constitución", a large art museum downtown and a number of small art galleries, is owned by several of the local universities.
• The Botanical Garden and Centro de Ciencias de Sinaloa, a science museum, holds the fifth-largest meteorite on earth.
• A baseball stadium, the Estadio Angel Flores, is the home of Los Tomateros de Culiacan; a bigger football arena, called Estadio Banorte (formerly Estadio Carlos González), is the home of Los Dorados de Sinaloa, a Mexican football team. Several university stadiums are also available.
• In downtown, the best preserved old street is the called Rosales, between Rosales Square and the cathedral.

• FORUM Culiacán Mall is the largest mall in Culiacán. It offers Liverpool, Sears, Steve Madden, Pull and Bear, Zara, C&A, Lacoste, Nine West, Victoria's Secret, MacStore, Starbucks, Sanborns, and Tous stores, a Cinemex movie theater, MixUp, boutiques, kiosks, a food area, and an HSBC.
• Plaza Galerias San Miguel is the second-largest mall. It offers Sears, Citi Cinemas movie theater, and mainly shoe stores.
• Plaza Cinépolis is a modern plaza/little mall in the western part of the city, and it is the only place in Culiacán where one can find the Cinépolis movie theater.
• Plaza Fiesta is a plaza located in the city center. It offers Coppel, a Ley Plaza (supermarket), restaurants, little boutiques, and shoe stores.
• Plaza La Campiña is a plaza mall in the eastern section of the city, near the Culiacán River. It offers Pavi, Coppel, a Mega Plaza/Commercial Mexicana (Super Market), many boutiques, jewelers, and seasonally a go-kart track.
• Splash Club! is one of the largest water parks in the state of Sinaloa.
• Nearby towns and villages:
  • La Primavera is a small and private urbanized zone in the south of the city; it contains many houses, two schools, a little mall next to a channel, a sports club, and a group of channels connected to the biggest lake in Culiacán, where anyone can fish and go camping.
  • El Conchal and other small villages with a population of 500 or less are located 8 km from El Dorado. There, people live on fishing and tourism.

The city is home to three professional league sport teams: baseball with the Tomateros de Culiacán from the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico, two championships in Caribbean series in 1996 and 2002; and football with Dorados de Sinaloa, who play at the Estadio Banorte (Estadio Carlos González) and basketball with the Caballeros de Culiacan from the CIBACOPA. Duck, dove, and goose hunting season goes from early November through March. Culiacán also holds a yearly international marathon.

• Yolanda Andrade, TV host
• Ariel Camacho, singer
• Luis Campos, drummer (Collinz Room, Noelia)
• Cesar Millan, dog trainer
• Paul Rodriguez, Hollywood actor and talk show host
• Chalino Sánchez, Corridos
• Sheyla Tadeo, actress and comedian
• Rocio Lopez Ortiz, film producer and Academy member

• Irene Aldana (born 1988), mixed martial artist
• Julio César Chávez, boxer with six world championships in three weight divisions[19]
• Julio César Chávez, Jr., former Middleweight champion[20]
• Omar Chávez, welterweight contender prospect[21]
• Óliver Pérez, Major League Baseball player
• Alberto Medina, footballer
• Jared Borgetti, footballer
• Jorge Iván Estrada, footballer
• Héctor Moreno, footballer
• Julio Urías, Major League Baseball player, World Series champion

• Paulina Flores Arias, Miss Mexico 2000, supermodel
• Rosa María Ojeda, Miss Mexico 2006
• Laura Elena Zuniga Huizar, Miss Mexico 2008, Miss Latinoamericana 2008, supermodel
• Perla Judith Beltrán Acosta, Miss Mexico 2009, 2009 Miss World, Miss World top model