Tucson, Arizona is a city in and is also the county seat of Pima County, AZ, United States. Tucson is home to the largely popular University of Arizona. Being the second largest city in Arizona, Tucson has a population of 520,116 according to the US Census Bureau in 2010. The estimated population in 2015 of the Tucson Metro area was a substantial increase to 980,263. The Tucson metro area forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area (CSA), with a combined total population of 1,010,025 as reported in 2010. As the second most-populated city in Arizona behind Phoenix, Tucson with the aid of Phoenix help anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city of Tucson is 108 miles southeast of Phoenix and only 60 miles north of the United States border with Mexico. Tucson is the country’s 33rd largest city and the US’s 58th largest metropolitan area according to census reports from 2014. Some of the larger incorporated suburbs of Tucson Arizona include Marana to the north and west of the city, Oro Valley, Sahuarita is located south of Tucson, and South Tucson is an area of it’s own south of the downtown area. Communities in nearby area of Tucson (perhaps with overlapping the city boundaries) include the following: Catalina Foothills Casas Adobes, Flowing Wells, Tanque Verde, Midvale Park, Vail and Tortolita. Some of the towns that are outside the Tucson metropolitan area include Oracle and Catalina to the north, Benson to the south and east, and Green Valley is located due south. Tucson gained its origins from a military fort commissioned by the Spanish Empire leader Hugo O’Conor.  The fort was called Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón and constructed back in 1775. This fort was part of the state of Sonora, after Mexico gained its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821. In 1853, the United States government acquired a 29,670 square mile region of what is currently southern AZ and southwestern NM from Mexico which was known as the Gadsden Purchase. Tucson, AZ served its time as the capital of the Arizona Territory during a ten year period between 1867 and 1877. Tucson had been Arizona’s most populated city during the territorial period and even into early statehood.  It wasn’t until 1920 that it’s population was surpassed by the city of Phoenix. The city’s population growth still remained strong throughout the late 20th century.  Tucson, Arizona was the first American city to acquire the designation of being a “City of Gastronomy” in 2017, by UNESCO.