Tiburón Island

Tiburón

Native name: Spanish: Isla del Tiburón or Isla Tiburón; Seri: Tahejöc
Location of Tiburón Island
Tiburón
Geography
Location	Gulf of California
Coordinates	28°59′20″N 112°22′23″W / 28.98889°N 112.37306°W / 28.98889; -112.37306
Area	1,201 km2 (464 sq mi)
Administration
Mexico
State	Sonora
Demographics
Population	uninhabited

Coordinates: 28°59′20″N 112°22′23″W / 28.98889°N 112.37306°W / 28.98889; -112.37306

Tiburón Island (Spanish: Isla del Tiburón or Isla Tiburón) is the largest island in the Gulf of California and the largest island in Mexico, with an area of 464 square miles (1,200 square kilometres). It was made a nature reserve in 1963 by President Adolfo López Mateos.Tiburón is Spanish for shark. Although the Seri name was first recorded by Alphonse Pinart in 1879, its etymology is unknown.

Tiburón Island is part of the state of Sonora, as well as the municipality of Hermosillo, and is located at approximately the same latitude as the city of Hermosillo. It is located along the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, opposite Isla Ángel de la Guarda. It is part of the chain of islands known as the Midriff Islands or Islas Grandes.

Tiburón Island is part of the traditional homeland of some bands (or clans) of the Seri people, probably for many centuries if not millennia. During the 1960s and early 1970s, a small hunting and fishing camp on the northern end of the island was operated by Jesus Olivas, a resident of Hermosillo. He constructed several buildings, a dock and an airstrip near the historic Seri encampment at Tecomate. The camp was popular with American visitors to the area. The remains of the structures and airstrip are still in place (although the airstrip was rendered unusable by the Mexican military around 1995 in an attempt to keep it from being used by smugglers who were active in the area at the time). In 1975, the Mexican government, through a decree by President Echeverría, gave the Seris recognition and title of communal property ("reconocimiento y titulación de terrenos comunales") with respect to Tiburón Island.