Guadalajara is a large city in the Western-Pacific region of Mexico, located at 20.67° N, 103.35° W. Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco.

Guadalajara Cathedral and the Zócalo main square (1974)

It is the second most populous city in Mexico, with an estimated population of 3,500,000 people in 2004.

The Guadalajara metropolitan area also includes the municipalities of Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Tlajomulco, and Ixtlahuacan. The population of the metropolitan area was 3.7 million (2000 figure).

Guadalajara is known as La Perla de Occidente (Spanish for "Pearl of the West"), la Perla Tapatía ("tapatío" is an informal adjective of origin for people and things from Guadalajara) and, Ciudad de las Rosas. The name of the city originates from the Arabic Wad-al-hidjara, meaning "River Running Between Rocks".

Guadalajara is also home to the most popular soccer team in the Mexican League: "Las Chivas," as they are known (literally: "the Goats"), wear red and white striped shirts, blue shorts, and red socks. They are popular because they do not use foreign players in their team. They have won 10 championships in their history.

The Universidad de Guadalajara, the state's public university, has its headquarters here.

Guadalajara is served by Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport.

The city refers to itself as the Silicon Valley of Mexico. Such Silicon Valley companies as General Electric, IBM, Hitachi, and Hewlett Packard have facilities in the city or its suburbs.

American Capital of Culture

On 28 October 2004 it was announced that Guadalajara was to be the American Capital of Culture for 2005.

Disaster

Guadalajara is also famous for the great disaster of April 22, 1992. Numerous gas explosions in the sewer system during 4 hours destroyed kilometers of the streets.

The disaster was caused by a water pipeline of zinc that was occluding in a humid environment with a steel gasoline pipeline. Both corroded, and gasoline was leaking through the holes, right into the main sewer.

Inhabitants were complaining for several days of a gasoline smell, but despite the measurments and the imminent threat of explosion, the authorities refused to evacuate.

Officially 206 people were killed, nearly 500 injured and 15.000 were homeless.

Guadalajara is site of major seismological activity with a high-scale earthquake ocurring about every 80 years.

See also

• Panteón de Belén

External links

• H. Ayuntamiento de Guadalajara (http://www.guadalajara.gob.mx/)
• Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco Jalisco (http://www.jalisco.gob.mx/)
• Virtual Tours of Guadalajara Mexico (http://www.study-mexico.com/English/1/tours_guadalajara.cfm) – See Guadalajara with free online 360-degree tours.
• Photography of Guadalajara, 2003-2004 (http://www.pbase.com/shmiller/guadalajara)