Hermosillo  Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in "Santísima Trinidad del Pitic" and "Presidio del Pitic"), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and largest city as well as the main economic center for the state and the region. As of 2015, the city has a population of 812,229, making it the 16th largest city in Mexico. The recent city population increase is due to its recent strong industrialization, especially in the automotive industry. Hermosillo was ranked as one of the five best cities to live in in Mexico, as published in the study "The Most Livable Cities of Mexico 2013" by the Strategic Communications Cabinet of the Federal Government. Hermosillo also ranked as the seventh most competitive city in the country according to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) based on factors such as its economic diversification, geographical location, access to education, government, innovation and international relations, according to the urban combativity analysis released by that institution in 2016. Since the 1980s, the major manufacturing sector is automobiles. Hermosillo has a subtropical hot desert climate ("BWh"). Temperatures can reach in the summer months, making it one of the hottest cities in the country. Evidence from a site called the San Dieguito Complex, located in the El Pinacate Zone, suggests the area has been inhabited for about 3,000 years. Evidence of agriculture dates back 2,500 years. In the pre-Hispanic era, this area was inhabited by the Seri, Tepoca, and Pima peoples. The first encounter between the Spanish and the indigenous peoples of the area occurred in the middle of the 16th century, when European explorers were sent in search of nonexistent gold. The first missionaries arrived in the state of Sonora around 1614, and Eusebio Francisco Kino arrived in 1687, founding a mission in nearby Cucurpe. What are now the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, was loosely organized as the provinces of Sonora, Ostimura and Sinaloa. In 1700, three small Spanish villages were founded in what is now the outskirts of Hermosillo: Nuestra Señora del Pópulo, Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles and la Santísima Trinidad del Pitic. The native peoples here soon became hostile to the colonists and managed to drive them out several times in the early 18th century.