Facts About Tucson
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Tucson is the 33rd largest city and the 58th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
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Tucson is the second-largest city in Arizona, with a population of 542,629 in the 2020 United States Census
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Tucson was founded as a military fort by the Spanish when Hugo O’Conor authorized the construction of Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón in 1775.
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The Spanish name of the city, Tucsón, is derived from the O’odham Cuk Ṣon, meaning “at the base of the black hill”, a reference to a basalt-covered hill now known as Sentinel Peak. Tucson is sometimes referred to as “The Old Pueblo”.
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The Tucson area was probably first visited by Paleo-Indians, who were known to have been in southern Arizona about 12,000 years ago.
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Tucson was incorporated in 1877, making it the oldest incorporated city in Arizona.
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The Tucson Rodeo, held annually in February, is the largest non-motorized parade in the world.
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Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is home to the University of Arizona.
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According to the United States Census Bureau, as of 2010, the City of Tucson has a land area of 226.71 square miles.
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The city’s elevation is 2,643 ft above sea level.
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Tucson is on an alluvial plain in the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by five minor ranges of mountains: the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains to the north, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, the Rincon Mountains to the east, and the Tucson Mountains to the west.
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Tucson has been rated as having the third cleanest air of any city in the United States according to the American Lung Association.
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In 2017, Tucson was the first American city to be designated a “City of Gastronomy” by UNESCO.
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Tucson gets more sun than any other city in the US with 350 days each year.
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The city also has more than 120 parks, from small and local to larger parks with ballfields, natural areas, lakes, 5 public golf courses.
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Tuscon has been nicknamed “Optics Valley”. This is because it is home to more than 150 companies that deal with designing and manufacturing all kinds of optoelectronics systems and optics.
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The United States Handball Association Hall of Fame is located on North Tucson Boulevard.
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Tucson is twinned with nine sister cities: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Ciudad Obregón, Sonor; Liupanshui, Guizhou, China; Pécs, Hungary; Roscommon, Ireland; Segovia, Castile and León, Spain; Sulaymaniyah, Iraq; Trikala, Greece & Oldham, United Kingdom.
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Five years after peace was declared in the Mexican-American War, the U.S. bought the lower third of Arizona, which included Tucson, from Mexico. known as the Gadsden Purchase.
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The world’s largest collection of Southwest Indian pottery is in the Arizona State Museum on the University of Arizona Campus.