The city of San José del Cabo is located in Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...

 Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and is the seat of the municipality

Municipalities of Mexico

Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...

 of Los Cabos at the south end of the Baja California peninsula

Baja California Peninsula

The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...

. In the 2010 census it had a population of 69,788. Together with neighboring Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas , commonly called Cabo, is a city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the municipality of Los Cabos in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,463 people...

 it forms a major tourist destination for travelers, particularly from the United States of America. The two cities are served by Los Cabos International Airport

Los Cabos International Airport

Los Cabos International Airport is the seventh busiest airport in Mexico, located at San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The airport serves Los Cabos area: San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. This airport has three terminals with 4 concourses...

.

The mission San José del Cabo was founded in 1730; the nearby Río San José was useful to the Spanish as a source of fresh water for galleon

Galleon

A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...

s traveling to and from the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

.

San José del Cabo is one of two places where the rare and possibly extinct rice rat

Oryzomyini

Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera, distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands...

 Oryzomys peninsulae

Oryzomys peninsulae

Oryzomys peninsulae, also known as the Lower California Rice Rat, is a species of rodent from western Mexico. Restricted to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, it is a member of the genus Oryzomys of family Cricetidae...

has been found.