Baja California, (Spanish: “Lower California”) Peninsula, northwestern Mexico. Bounded by the U.S. to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Gulf of California to the east, it is about 760 mi (1,220 km) long and has an area of 55,366 sq mi (143,396 sq km). Politically, it is divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. It has more than 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of coastline, with sheltered harbours on both the western and gulf coasts. The area had been inhabited for some 9,000 years when the Spanish arrived in 1533. Jesuit missionaries established permanent settlements in the late 17th century, but the native Indians were practically exterminated in epidemics introduced by the Spanish. The area was separated from what is now the U.S. state of California by treaty in 1848 following the Mexican War.
Baja California Article
Baja California summary
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Mexico, country of southern North America and the third largest country in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Mexican society is characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty, with a limited middle class wedged between an elite cadre of landowners and investors on the one hand and masses
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North America, third largest of the world’s continents, lying for the most part between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer. It extends for more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) to within 500 miles (800 km) of both the North Pole and the Equator and has an east-west extent of 5,000 miles. It