Mexicali (English pronunciation: /mkskli/; Spanish: [mexikali] ( listen))[1] is the capital city

of the Mexican state of Baja California and seat of the Municipality of Mexicali. The City of
Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of
the entire metropolitan area reaches 996,826; making the city and metropolitan area the
second most populous in Baja California.

The city maintains a highly educated and skilled population, as it has modernized and
become an important population center in the desert region.

Mexicali's economy has been historically based on agricultural products, and to this day it
remains a large sector of the economy. As time has progressed, however, its economy has
gradually gone from being agricultural to include industry, mainly maquiladoras. Companies
such as Honeywell, GKN Aerospace, Kellogg's, Gulfstream, UTC Aerospace
Systems, SunPower, Rockwell Collins, LG Electronics, National Oilwell
Varco, Mitsubishi, Autolite, Nestl, Coca-Cola, Robert Bosch, and Goodrich
Corporation have built maquiladora plants in the city.

Mexicali became the national center for the aerospace industry in Mexico when Rockwell
Collins (former Hughes Tool Company) established an operation there in 1966. Rockwell
Collins is the oldest company under the maquiladora program nationwide.

Founded on March 14, 1903, Mexicali is situated on the MexicoUnited States

border adjacent to its sister city Calexico, California, with which it forms a dual-state,
international population center, CalexicoMexicali.

Early history
The Spaniards arrived to the area after crossing the Sonoran Desert's "Camino del Diablo"
or Devil's Road. This led to the evangelization of the area by Catholic missionaries and also
to the reduction of native populations in the region. Nowadays, indigenous Cocopah people
still inhabit a small government-protected corner of the Colorado River delta near the
junction of the Hardy and the Colorado. The Cocopah mostly work on agricultural ejidos or
fishing.[2]
The early European presence in this area was limited to Anza's and subsequent Spanish
expeditions across the Colorado Desert and subsequent travelers on the Sonora
Road opened by them. Also the presence of the Jesuits who attempted to establish a
mission in what is now Fort Yuma. They left after a revolt by the Yuma in 1781. After this,
the Spanish had little to do with the northeastern corner of the Baja California Peninsula,
perceiving it as an untamable, flood-prone desert delta.[2] Later in the 1820s, the Mexican
authorities reopened the Sonoran Road and restored peaceful relations with the Yuma
People.[3]
The Sonoran Road provided a route for American fur trappers, and later American troops
of Kearny and Cooke passing through the area during the MexicanAmerican War. The
annexation of most of Alta California soon was followed by the California Gold Rush that
saw a flood of gold seekers from Mexico on the Sonora Road, especially from Sonora, and
from the United States via the Southern Emigrant Trail. Herds of cattle and sheep were
driven into California across this desert trail also.
This route became a U. S. Mail and stagecoach route in 1857 when the San Antonio-San
Diego Mail Line and in 1858 Butterfield Overland Mail route passed along the Alamo and
New Rivers and established stations there including its New River Station in the vicinity of a
Laguna along the New River in what is now Colonia Hidalgo, Mexicali in 1858. This mail
route remained in use until 1877 when the Southern Pacific Railroad came to Yuma making
it obsolete.