The Baja California Peninsula is an arm of the country with an area of 143,600 square kilometers, without including the islands that border the approximately 3,000 kilometer stretch of coast bathed by the Sea of Cortez Pacific Ocean waters.

Baja California was an area governed by the centralized governments from1823 to 1952. In this year the state was named sovereign and free.

Its population is the fastest growing in the country going from a verydesolate and unpopulated area to having 2,700,000 people in 2002.

Its fasts growth is due to the fact that many people arrive there fromGuanajuato, Zacatecas, Michoacan, State of Mexico, Durango, Chihuahua, Guerrero,Distrito Federal, Nuevo Leon and Jalisco.

Many of the migrants arrive in Baja California with the intention of stayingthere temporarily and then crossing the border into the United States. When they find that they are unable to cross, the majority decide to stayand live there permanently. One out of every two people now livingin Baja California has been born in another state or country

Visit the Poder Ejecutivode Baja California web site. This site will be very helpfulif you are planning to go into Baja California.