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97-508: The Tijuana River ( Spanish : Río Tijuana ) is an intermittent river , 120 mi (195 km) long, near the Pacific coast of northern Baja California state in northwestern Mexico and Southern California in the western United States . The river is heavily polluted with raw sewage from the city of Tijuana, Mexico . The Tijuana River drains an area along the U.S.–Mexico border , flowing through Mexico for most its course then crossing
194-586: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Mesa de Otay Otay Centenario
291-588: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
388-415: A day of sewage. During the 1970s, up to ten million gallons of sewage entered the river each day from Tijuana. In 1980, Brian Bilbray , as Mayor of Imperial Beach, dammed the river with a skip loader to block the flow of sewage crossing the border. Partial progress was made in the 1980s with a Clean Water Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve wastewater treatment , by creating
485-607: A day. However, its discharge doesn't meet Mexican water standards, sometimes causing closure of beaches as far north as Coronado. Since 1993, the City of San Diego has renewed a state of emergency for the Tijuana River Valley due to ongoing issues with the Tijuana River. According to a 1993 report by the city of San Diego, the city had collected an average of 13 million gallons (50 million liters) per day of raw sewage , that then
582-640: A dissipator flood control plan under the direction of the San Diego City Council , supported by ecologists , which preserved the estuary, which was then designated a wildlife sanctuary. The majority of its watershed is within Mexico, between Mesa de Otay to the east, and hills to the west. Flooding in the Tijuana River had been a concern for both the United States and Mexico because it would lead to sewage runoff and would ultimately cause property damage to
679-517: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
776-476: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
873-415: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
970-498: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
1067-599: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
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#17328514230671164-518: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
1261-577: A sewage main in Tijuana. In early 2019, following seasonal storms sewage from the Tijuana River flowed out of the Tijuana River Estuary, leading to beach closures in South Bay, San Diego. In February 2019, testing revealed significant pollutants flowing northward from Tijuana including DDT , hexavalent chromium , pathogens, and carcinogens. In March 2019, the continuing sewage issue was highlighted by
1358-623: A story appearing in Vice News , where it was referred to as an "environmental disaster". In mid 2019, it was proposed that all water flowing northward on the Tijuana River be diverted and processed at the San Diego-Tijuana Wastewater Treatment Plant. By late June, over 430,000,000 US gallons (1,600,000 kL) of sewage had spilled into the Tijuana River in 2019. In early September 2019, an additional 116,000,000 US gallons (440,000 kL) of contaminated water flowed into
1455-755: A study that a University of California San Diego professor did. An estimated 13 billion gallons of polluted water from the Tijuana River have entered the oceans since Dec. 28, 2022, according to a UCSD statement. For years, public health officials say they have sampled beach waters of south San Diego County for fecal microbes, getting counts as an indicator for pathogens such as enterococcus , E. Coli , salmonella and MRSA . Exposure to such germs and viruses may lead to diarrhea, vomiting, fever, headaches, respiratory illness, infections, rashes and meningitis. From 2018 to 2024, more than 100,000,000,000 US gallons (380,000,000 kL) of wastewater have flowed from Mexico into
1552-599: A threat by the San Diego County's health officer, Mexico began to treat its sewage with chlorine. Usage of the outfall ended in 1962 due to the completion of a pumping plant, which discharged untreated sewage into the Pacific Ocean; the pumping plant broke down in 1975. In the 1960s an emergency link from Tijuana into the San Diego Water System was created, by the mid-1980s it was taking in about 15 million gallons
1649-627: A wastewater conduit since at least the early 20th century. As such, the issue of sewage in the Tijuana River predates other news stories about the Mexico–United States border within the San Diego–Tijuana region by several decades. Raw-sewage overflows on the Mexican side, from canyons along the river, are a recurring problem despite cross-border efforts to clean it up. In fact, they are the main source of pollution. In addition to sewage, trash
1746-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
1843-640: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of
1940-631: Is a borough of the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California , Mexico . It is the result of a merger between the former boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario which took place on January 1, 2014. The borough is located east of the Centro borough and the Zona Río ; south of the U.S. border and San Diego's Otay Mesa neighborhood; and north of La Mesa . Tijuana International Airport , and many maquiladoras are located here. Main shopping centers are
2037-545: Is a rich habitat for wildlife, including over 370 species of birds; one of these species is the Ridgway's rail . It is Southern California 's largest coastal wetland. It is naturally prone to flooding during heavy rains. The Tijuana River enters the Pacific 10 mi (15 km) south of downtown San Diego at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach . The river is an intermittent river, flowing naturally only during rains. The river
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#17328514230672134-573: Is also within the Estuarine Research Reserve. The Tijuana Slough Refuge protects one of southern California's largest remaining salt marshes without a road or railroad trestle running through it. Designated as a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy , over 370 species of birds have been sighted on the refuge. Salmon have been recorded in the past in the river during runs . The river has been used as
2231-474: Is carried downstream causing damage to vegetation and contributing to flooding. The first attempt to deal with sewage flowing into the Tijuana River was the creation of the International Outfall, a marine outfall , which was completed in 1939, but was proven to be inadequate as early as the late 1940s. By the 1950s, there were over 4 million gallons of sewage flowing into the river each day. Following
2328-444: Is closed for 233 days. In February 2017, over 143 million gallons of sewage entered the river, larger than the usual few million gallons of sewage that is routine. Later, the amount of was revised upwards to over 200 million gallons. However, a Mexican water official claimed the spill was only 30 million gallons. The spill is the largest to occur in over ten years. The sewage spill was not initially reported by Mexican officials, but
2425-449: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
2522-740: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
2619-470: Is impounded in Mexico southeast of Tijuana by the Abelardo L. Rodríguez Dam for drinking water and irrigation . Former Baja California Governor Milton Castellanos Everardo constructed concrete barriers along the riverbank to prevent flooding during his tenure. The United States was supposed to build a complementary system of barriers to ensure flooding waters didn't flow back into Mexico, but instead adopted
2716-721: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2813-806: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
2910-804: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
3007-653: The Clean Water Act could proceed, but that lawsuits based on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act would be dismissed. In January 2019, the City of San Diego joined the lawsuit against the International Boundary Water Commission. Over 30 federal, local, state, private and other interested groups want to develop binational long-term goals to address wastewater treatment and debris-related improvements. One major initiative introduced in
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3104-613: The San Diego-Tijuana Wastewater Treatment Plant to protect estuary waters. In 1988, the river was found to be the most populated river on the Mexico–United States border. In April 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found lead and mercury in the waters of the Tijuana River watershed that exceeded multiple times U.S. standards, prompting fears of outbreaks of malaria and encephalitis . That same year in 1990, Mexico agreed to pay $ 41 million of
3201-589: The Sierra de Juárez of northern Baja California, approximately 45 mi (70 km) ENE of Ensenada . It flows WNW through Tijuana , crossing the border approximately 5 mi (8 km) from the Pacific. It flows west, just skirting the international border south of the San Ysidro section of San Diego. The lower 2 mi (3 km) of the river form the broad mud flat estuary , and the Tijuana River Estuary
3298-557: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
3395-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
3492-679: The Tijuana River Estuary . It was established as part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve system in the United States. The reserve is managed in part as a Biological Field Station by the San Diego State University (SDSU) College of Sciences , which also protects part of the estuary near the ocean within the United States. The Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge is part of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex , and
3589-534: The United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which
3686-774: The "gold standard" in Southern California; with surfers using it as a training ground for surf found in Hawaii. Surfing at the Tijuana Sloughs is written to be similar to surfing at Saunder's Reef . Surfing at the sloughs has impacted the evolution of surfing culture , as well as regional culture. Lifeguards have watched over the area since 1939. Sewage from the river impacts water quality, which can lead to surfers becoming ill; one source describes that area as "virtually unsurfable due to pollution." Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano )
3783-622: The $ 192 million to construct the plant. The plant was completed in 1997. Water from the plant is discharged more than three miles offshore, but does not meet levels required by the Clean Water Act due to the lack of secondary treatment. Finished in January 2011, the plant received a $ 93 million upgrade. Other sewage that would have flowed into the Tijuana river is treated at the Punta Banderas treatment plant; it handles 30 million gallons of sewage
3880-475: The 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout
3977-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
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4074-574: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
4171-506: The Arroyo de las Palmas, that forms the headwaters of the Tijuana River within the city. The Arroyo de las Palmas, the main tributary of the Tijuana River, flows out of the mountains to the east into the reservoir behind the Abelardo L. Rodríguez Dam. Downstream from the Rodríguez Dam, water flows through Tijuana in a concrete channel to the international border; there it continues west through
4268-536: The Border 2020 Tijuana River Watershed Task Force and the Tijuana River Valley Recovery Team. These discussions continue the national environmental resolutions agreement under the 1983 La Paz Agreement that acknowledges the environmental and social responsibility of each country near its border regions. Under this treaty each country is under agreement to conserve, protect, and improve border regions for
4365-643: The Centro Comercial Otay and Plaza Americana Otay, which is located in front of Centro Comercial Otay. The area is noted as the second gastronomic hub of the city, with many restaurants. The former Centenario borough has the largest number of factories and maquiladoras in the city. Its largest neighborhood ( colonia ) is Ciudad Industrial ("Industrial City"). Three of the city's most important streets, Boulevard Bellas Artes, Boulevard Industrial and Mexican Federal Highway 2 , are located here. Parque de la Amistad (not to be confused with Friendship Park at
4462-639: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
4559-691: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
4656-473: The Mexican national average of 50%, Roberto Espinosa of CILA is quoted as saying "Tijuana is a complex city, and it has a sanitary system that has never kept pace with the increase in population,". Due to the sewage in the river, it has been called "one of the most polluted waterways in the country". This has led to a multitude of beach closures in Imperial Beach. Each year the beach at Border Field State Park
4753-435: The Mexico–United States border. The construction of the Mexico–United States barrier in the area around and crossing the Tijuana River, began with construction of a fence made of Marston Mat in 1989, followed by construction of a secondary fence beginning in 1996. Due to the fences, the amount of illegal entry into the United States along the border south of the Tijuana River has been significantly reduced. Areas of
4850-529: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
4947-465: The Punta Banderas treatment plant, officially known as San Antonio de los Buenos plant, treated 15 million gallons of sewage a day to standards below U.S. secondary-level standards, pumping the water out into the Pacific Ocean at La Playa . Yet, in 2017, it was found by Proyecto Fronterizo de Educacion Ambiental that the release from the plant exceeded Mexico's minimum federal standards on bacterial levels. While Tijuana's sewage capture rate of 90% exceeds
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#17328514230675044-580: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
5141-425: The Tijuana River Valley for a distance of about nine miles to the estuary and then to the Pacific Ocean. Its lower reaches provide the last undeveloped coast wetlands in San Diego County amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach . The river has been the subject of great concern regarding pollution , flood control , and U.S. border protection. The Tijuana River rises in
5238-449: The Tijuana River Valley; this included taking water and soil samples to assess the contamination levels which exist in waters and areas around the Tijuana River watershed. In March 2018, a bi-partisan delegation of San Diego County's members of the United States House of Representatives wrote a letter to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State , to investigate cross-border sewage spills. In April 2018, an earthen berm
5335-432: The Tijuana River canal are home to individuals described as "ñongo". In March 2015, a homeless encampment was removed from the Tijuana River canal, some of whom had previously been deported from the United States ; a year later, some of those who had been removed from the Tijuana River canal had returned and began to live in tunnels which drain into the canal. Tijuana is a major resettling location for Mexicans deported from
5432-481: The Tijuana River from Smuggler's Gulch , and Goat and Yogurt Canyons . In all of 2017, beaches near the Tijuana River were closed for 167 days. In February 2018, following the shutting off of a CILA pump station, a 15 million gallon sewage spill entered the Tijuana River. In March 2018, Customs and Border Protection began to search for solutions to the sewage issue, after more than six dozen Border Patrol agents were negatively impacted by their contact with sewage in
5529-422: The Tijuana River, leading to continued beach closures. In early February 2020, over 100,000,000 US gallons (380,000 kL) of sewage flowed into the Tijuana River. For decades citizens from both San Diego and Tijuana have fallen sick due to the sewage flowing into local beaches. The most recent data showed that over 34,000 people in 2017 got sickened by the pollution and sewage in Imperial Beach according to
5626-461: The Tijuana River, which if it fails could release 4 million gallons of sewage a day into the river. In May 2018, California and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board also created a lawsuit against the International Boundary Water Commission for sewage in the Tijuana River. In July 2018, Surfrider Foundation made an additional lawsuit regarding sewage in the Tijuana River. In August 2018, Judge Jeffrey T. Miller ruled that lawsuits based on
5723-444: The Tijuana River. The Tijuana River Valley Regional Park is located in the Tijuana River Valley district of San Diego. It protects over 1,800 acres (730 ha), including dense riparian forests along the Tijuana River. It has an extensive system of trails for walking and equestrian access. In early 2019, construction of a campground within the regional park was approved at an expected cost of $ 8.3 million. As of April 2021,
5820-400: The U.S. include grants like the Community-based Marine Debris Removal Grant that brings organizations together in conjunction with community-based cleanups to remove trash and debris from the Tijuana River Valley. The debris removal grant began in 2014 and successfully removed over 400 tons of debris by 2016. A binational discussion on July 28, 2016, established upcoming proposed projects between
5917-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
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#17328514230676014-405: The United States as Cottonwood Creek . It runs from its source in the Laguna Mountains southwestward where it is impounded by two dams, Barrett and Morena , to supply water to the city of San Diego. Cottonwood Creek is joined by the Tecate Creek before it enters Mexico where it is known as the Arroyo de Alamar from the point where it enters Mexico to its confluence with the larger tributary,
6111-456: The United States on March 16, 2015, was Resolution R902015-0035, a Five-Year Action Plan that aimed to implement restorative projects over the span of five-years. The resolution was initially introduced by the Tijuana River Valley Recovery Team (TRVRT) whose ultimate goal is to progress and implement strategies originally introduced in January 2012, under the Tijuana River Valley Recovery Strategy regulatory measures. Other restorative measures across
6208-442: The United States via the Tijuana River according to the International Boundary and Water Commission. In March 2018, due to sewage in the Tijuana River, Chula Vista , Imperial Beach , and the Port of San Diego sued the International Boundary Water Commission. In response to the lawsuits, Mexico pledged $ 4.3 million towards Tijuana River cleanup; part of these funds will be used to replace deteriorating pipe in Tijuana that parallels
6305-439: The United States, with some living on the Tijuana River canal. A 2016 study found that the Tijuana River Canal was a known site for where people inject drugs . In 2018, more than 20 bodies were found in or near the Tijuana River, on the Mexico side. The Tijuana River has not been off limits to the impact of the Mexican Drug War ; in one instance in June 2006 the severed heads of three Rosarito Beach police officers were found in
6402-399: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
6499-441: The border into Southern California for its lower 5 mi (8 km) to empty into the ocean at the Tijuana River Estuary on the southern edge of San Diego . The region straddles the Mediterranean climate and semi-arid climate zones, so the Tijuana River and its tributaries often go dry in times of drought. The Tijuana River has two main tributaries . One, the Arroyo de Alamar or Rio Alamar , runs in its upper reaches in
6596-428: The campground is active and offers sites for tent campers, RVers, and yurts. The mouth of the Tijuana River is the location of the Tijuana Sloughs big-wave surfing break, which is a mile off shore. Winter waves can be as high as 12 feet or greater; 20 foot high waves are not unknown to occur. Surfing has been occurring at the slough since at least 1937, when Allen Holder began to surf there. It has been described as
6693-566: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
6790-446: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
6887-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
6984-661: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
7081-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
7178-584: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
7275-527: The language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in
7372-535: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
7469-686: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
7566-514: The month. Repairs of the sewer pipe were completed in late February 2017, but the exact dates when the sewage began and stopped entering the river were unknown as of March 2017, leading to calls for an investigation. By mid-March 2017, the California Department of Environmental Health found the water quality had returned to within health standards, opening beaches up to Coronado. In mid 2017, Border Patrol agents reported sewage flowing into
7663-711: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
7760-636: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
7857-676: The overall well-being of the coinciding countries. In 2020, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement was ratified providing $ 300,000,000 for abating water pollution in the Tijuana River. A significant amount of the money will be spent on improving the International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant. In addition, funding was increased to the North American Development Bank , to funding environmental projects elsewhere on
7954-529: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
8051-480: The river closed for 204 days in 2013. In 2015, the amount of sewage treated on a dry day remained the same, at 13 million gallons. However, when it rains, the amount of sewage can increase to 27 million gallons per day, and the pump which funnels water to the treatment plant is shut off so it isn't overcome. Even when the flow is low, toxins, metals, solvents, pathogens, and sewage, end up becoming dust that can be breathed in and cause medical problems. In January 2017,
8148-499: The river. Mexico had completely complied by 1976 while the U.S. implementation stalled due to opposition at the local level. Despite preventive measures, flooding in 1980 caused 11 deaths and property damage in bordering cities. Flooding due to high rainfall and sewage blockage continues to be a concern that endangers surrounding areas because of the wastewater pollution found in the river. The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve protects 2,293 acres (928 ha) and studies
8245-750: The surrounding area. In 1944, the United States-Mexico Water Treaty was signed, this dealt with "utilization of waters in the Colorado and Tijuana rivers and of the Rio Grande." This treaty appointed the International Boundary and Water Commission to handle several issues such as border sanitation. The IBWC went on to create the Tijuana River Flood Control Project in 1966 in order to create a flood control channels along
8342-528: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
8439-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
8536-623: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
8633-581: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
8730-633: The world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
8827-451: Was constructed at the border across the Tijuana River, to stop sewage from flowing into the United States. In July 2018, environmental groups from Mexico and the United States made a criminal complaint regarding dumping of sewage into the Tijuana River against the state of Baja California. For a week in December 2018, 6-7 million gallons of sewage flowed into the Tijuana River due to a failure of
8924-630: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
9021-604: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
9118-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
9215-535: Was noticed by residents on the South Bay coast. The impact of the spill affected waters as far north as Coronado , and was described by Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina as "a tsunami of sewage", and "deliberate". According to the International Boundary Water Commission , the sewage discharge was due to a repair of a sewer pipe near Rio Alamar . The sewage was first noticed in the middle of
9312-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
9409-511: Was treated by the Point Loma wastewater treatment plant; this is down from 20 million gallons per day in 1997 being treated by the city of San Diego, which it had received from Tijuana. Since 1998 the U.S. EPA has funded $ 42 million on sewage projects in Tijuana. In 2014, the San Diego Reader described the river as one of the most polluted parts of San Diego, with the beaches near the mouth of
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