If you're from Baja California and like to browse on social media, especially on the famous Facebook network, you've surely come across, on more than one occasion, hundreds of memes or surveys about Tijuana and Mexicali, in which there has been a debate about which one is better. The debates range from which city is bigger, which has the best tacos or which one is hotter.

Mexicali is well known for being the capital of Baja California, although this has sparked more social media debates about why Mexicali is the capital if it is a city with less population than Tijuana and receives less tourism. If you are one of the people who came to see this debate or simply thought about it and didn't pay much attention in your history classes, we will tell you why.

For almost 80 years, Mexicali, the state capital, was not only the town with the largest number of inhabitants, but also the most productive, which is why it was declared the capital.

Generally the most important cities of each state, have taken the seat of the executive and legislative powers, however, there are special conditions that prevent this from happening in cities as important as Veracruz, Acapulco, Manzanillo , Tampico and Tijuana.

So... Why isn't Tijuana the capital of Baja California?

It is because of its geographical condition; there is an agreement that prevents ports and borders from being the seat of political powers. Such is the case of Veracruz, Acapulco and Tampico.

But where does this decision come from?

This is an anti-pirate decision, in Mexico it was given thanks to a Virreinal agreement of the 16th century called "Ordinances of the King", where it indicates that the English pirates or filibusters could take the ports of the coast, so the power branches would be located inland. Such would be the case in Baja California.

The ordinances of the virreinal ports are picked up again in the Report of the Ministry of War in September of 1821, explained members of the Seminary of the Mexican Culture.

It is presumed that when the Mexican Empire was constituted by Agustin de Iturbide it was made clear that no port would be the capital, and this was extended in cases such as Texas or California that do not have a port capital. His signature is on the First Constituent Congress of 1822.

Now you probably think that this should no longer be the case since it is an agreement from several centuries ago, plus now Tijuana is the city with the most inhabitants and most productive in Baja California, so in previous governments it was rumored that they were in 'talks' to make Tijuana the state capital.

Do you remember this being taught in school or were you taken by surprise?