San José del Cabo

People and history

The 2020 census found that, at the time, 136,285 people lived in the city.

The indigenous Pericu name for San Jose del Cabo was Añiñi. The Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití was founded in 1730 on the west bank of the nearby Río San José, which flows into the largest body of freshwater in Baja California Sur, an estuary, after flowing largely subterraneanly for 39.1 km from its origin in the Sierra de la Laguna (Laguna Mountains). For centuries, the river has provided a source of freshwater for the locals and animals of this coastal desert known today as San José del Cabo; it was once used as a source of freshwater for Spanish galleons traveling back from the Philippines. The river once flowed above-ground until the beginning of the 20th century, due to anthropogenic causes. A one-kilometer long sandbar separates the estuary from what early Spanish explorers, including Sebastián Vizcaíno, called the Bahía de San Bernabé (Bay of Saint Burnaby), now known as Bahía de San José del Cabo.

San José del Cabo is one of two places where the critically endangered rice rat Oryzomys peninsulae has survived.

Geography

Climate

San José del Cabo, like almost all of the Baja California peninsula, has a tropical desert climate (Köppen BWh). The area, however, does receive slightly more rainfall than most areas further north, mainly due to tropical cyclones occasionally approaching from the south. These storms can bring very heavy precipitation events, such as the roughly 340 mm on 1 September 1998, or the 316 mm on 3 November 1993. Overall, rainfall events here are some of the most spontaneous anywhere in the world due to the cyclone influence, and many years can pass without significant rain, at all.

The sea experiences lows of 72 – in winter, and highs of 77 – during the summer months.

|Jan record high C = 37.0 |Feb record high C = 38.0 |Mar record high C = 39.0 |Apr record high C = 39.0 |May record high C = 40.0 |Jun record high C = 38.0 |Jul record high C = 39.0 |Aug record high C = 42.0 |Sep record high C = 42.0 |Oct record high C = 41.0 |Nov record high C = 40.0 |Dec record high C = 39.0 |year record high C = 42.0 |Jan record low C = 1.5 |Feb record low C = 2.0 |Mar record low C = 5.0 |Apr record low C = 6.0 |May record low C = 9.0 |Jun record low C = 11.0 |Jul record low C = 11.5 |Aug record low C = 11.0 |Sep record low C = 11.0 |Oct record low C = 11.0 |Nov record low C = 9.2 |Dec record low C = 3.0 |year record low C = 1.5 | access-date = 15 February 2025}}{{cite web |access-date = January 17, 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224148/http://smn.cna.gob.mx/climatologia/Normales5110/NORMAL03056.TXT |archive-date = March 3, 2016

Demographics

|1990 | 13,302 |1995 | 21,737 |2000 | 31,102 |2010 | 69,788 |2015 | 93,069 |2020 | 136,285

Many people from around the world live here, mostly from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China, Korea, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other Latin American countries, among others. Some 80% of the population, however, are originally from other parts of Latin America (Mexico, Central and South America) thus enabling one to hear and experience several dialects of Spanish being spoken.

References

References

1. (2010). "Los Cabos". INAFED.
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3. "San Jose del Cabo". INEGI.
4. 2020 Census of Mexico.
6. "CENSO Los Cabos 2020".
7. (2011). "Ranking of World Tourism". Consejo de Promoción Turística de México.
8. (2015-04-02). "Baja California Sur".
9. Encyclopædia Britannica, Second edition, 1778, Edinburgh, page 1580. Scan of page can be found at http://www.hyzercreek.com/britannica.htm
10. (September 1997). "Floristic Composition of the San José del Cabo Oasis, Baja California Sur, México". SIDA, Contributions to Botany.
11. "Peter Masten Dunne". University of California Press.
12. Carleton, M.D. and Arroyo-Cabrales, J. 2009. [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/6035/4/331-03-carleton.pdf Review of the ''Oryzomys couesi'' complex (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) in Western Mexico]. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331:94–127.
13. "December Climate History for San Jose Del Cabo | Local | Mexico". Myweather2.com.
14. "Tabulados básicos - descarga".