Mazatlan History in English: Information covering pre-Hispanic times to the present including historical facts, photographs, video, artwork and information about the history of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
History of Mazatlan Pre-Hispanic|1500's|1600's and 1700's|1800's|1900's|Modern Mazatlan Mazatlan before The Spanish
The name Mazatlan means Place of the Deer in Nahuatl, language of the Aztecs.
Before the Spanish conquered Mexico, the area around Mazatlan was inhabited by a number of different indigenous peoples native to western coastal Mexico including the Acaxee, Cahita, Pacaxee, Tahue, Totorame and Xixime.
Historians believe that these tribes -- with the likely exception of the Cahita -- were peaceful, and sustained themselves through hunting, fishing and agriculture.
The Totorames are believed to have lived in fixed locations -- including the area occupied by Modern Mazatlan -- feeding themselves primarily through fishing and agriculture, as well as collecting and trading salt with inland peoples. Skilled craftsmen, the Totorames made decorative objects with pearls, shells and feathers, and were skilled potters.
History knows virtually nothing about Totorame spiritual practices, or political / societal organization.
Sadly -- and unlike their inland neighbors the Toltecs and Aztecs -- the Totorames left no pyramids, large scale earthworks or buildings. Totorame civilization largely vanished when the Spanish arrived with their brutality and, more importantly, their diseases, for which the indigenous people of Sinaloa had no immunity.
In small ways the history and spirit of Totorame culture survives.
Exquisite Totorame pottery adorned with elaborate designs indicative of an evolved and sophisticated pre-Hispanic American culture can be seen at Mazatlan's Museo Arqueologico, the archaeological history museum located in the Centro Historico.
These artistic expressions of the Totorame soul speak directly to contemporary viewers and are reminders that the history of Mazatlan did not begin with the arrival of the Spanish. 1500's Mazatlan History 16th Century Mazatlan
The Spanish invasion of the Americas -- though foretold by vaious cultural myths -- was a massive shock to pre-Columbian cultures throughout both north-central and South America.
This was no more so than in Mexico, which was the tip-of-the-spear of the Spanish attempted colonization of several parts of the Western Hemisphere.
After Cortez rapidly conquered the Aztecs at present-day Mexico City in 1521, his Conquistadors met little resistance as they began their outward expansion from south-central Mexico and began subjugating more of the indigenous peoples of present-day Mexico.
In 1531, just 10 years after the conquest of Mexico City, a renegade commander, Nuno Beltran de Guzman, marched through Sinaloa with a private army, destroying and pillaging indigenous communities in Pacific Mexico.
But history reveals that more destructive than the military behavior of Beltran de Guzman and his Conquistadors was the simple fact that they bore European diseases for which local populations had no immunity.
Indigenous Sinaloan communities were decimated by disease: it is estimated that over just two years -- 1535-1536 -- Totorame and Cahue populations fell by an astounding 90%. Sinaloa was left substantially depopulated -- a vacuum that Spanish warriors and later migrants were only to happy to try to fill. History records that as payment to his mercenary army Beltran de Guzman divided the conquered lands among his men, awarding land as payment for military service. These land grants are the basis of the founding of numerous cities we know today, such as Culiacan, Guadalajara, and Tepic, and are the beginning of Colonial Spanish History in Western Mexico.
Beltran de Guzman's marches through Pacific Mexico were followed by those of second-wave Spanish Conquistador Francisco Ibarra, who in 1565 -- instantly following the discovery of gold and silver in the Sierra Madre foothills surrounding Mazatlan -- founded the town of Copala, at the start little more than a support base for early mining operations in Sinaloa. 1600's - 1700's 17th & 18th Century Mazatlan "Mazatlan" was first mentioned in 1602 in military communications to the Spanish government.
But it wasn't present-day Mazatlan: the communication referenced a small village, San Juan Bautista de Mazatlan (now called Villa Union), 30 miles southeast of the present day location of The Pearl of The Pacific.
Our city in the early 1600's was suntil little more than a magnificent often-empty natural harbor which English and French pirates used intermittently as a hiding place from which to attack the treasure-laden galleons that sailed Mexico's western coast.
The modern history of Mazatlan really begins the early 1600's: in response to pirate activity the Spanish colonial government established a small garrison in present-day Mazatlan.
Thus began a multi-generational struggle between Spanish colonial naval forces and pirates that lasted through the 1600's -- and the 1700's as well.
But 1700s Mazatlan history wasn't just about pirates, it was about what they coveted: the ever-increasing tonnage of gold and silver shipments coming from nearby mines in the Sierra Madre mountains like at Concordia and Copala, and the deep-digging at flatter mining locations like El Rosario.
The massive tonnage of treasure produced by these and other Sinaloa Sierra Madre mining towns all flowed to Mazatlan, and through its' port.
This commerce fed local wealth, and the 1700's in Mazatlan saw other signs of advancement: The Pearl of The Pacific got its first church and first proper jail.
By the end of the 1700's the pirates were gone, but Mazatlan -- despite of over 200 years of foreign presence and its new church and jail -- was suntil little more than a far-flung colonial outpost and harbor suntil mostly inhabited by a remnant of indigenous peoples whose occupation was primarily subsistence fishing.
But eradicating the pirate threat allowed The Pearl of The Pacific to enter the new century strong, and begin to fulfill its' historical destiny as Mexico's premier west coast port -- and one of the finest natural deep water ports in the world. 1800's Mazatlan History 19th Century Mazatlan
With the pirate threat eliminated, the first decades of the 1800's in Mazatlan brought steadily increasing ship traffic and frequent arrival of passengers that hailed from very distant ports.
In 1829 a banker from the Philippines, Don Juan Nepomuceno Machado, arrived on just one of these ships.
He founded an import / export firm that traded with with vessels coming to our port from far-flung places such as The Phillipines and Asia; Chile and Peru in South America; Europe -- especially Germany -- and the United States. By 1836 Mazatlan had a population of between 4000 and 5000 non-indians, and thriving commercial relations with distant economies and peoples including, notably, Germany.
In 1837 Don Juan Machado -- investing both in the citys' and his own economic future -- caused the Plaza Machado (Plazuela Machado) to be built and historically it served -- and serves today -- as a icon of the Mazatlan's cultural wealth.
In the mid-1800s the trade connections between Mazatlan and Germany enabled a tide of German immigration to The Pearl of The Pacific, with large numbers of immigrants arriving from Germany with skills and capital that she was waiting for, and who would shape Mazatlan history to this day. These new citizens helped develop Mazatlan into a thriving commercial seaport and as a port-of-entry for men and equipment destined for the gold and silver mines of Sinaloa that were making nearby towns like Concordia, Copala, and Cosala some of the most prosperous communities not only in Sinaloa, but in all the Americas.
The industry of these German immigrants and their children is not just a footnote in history: it is suntil felt in many ways in The Pearl of The Pacific, from our delicious German-derived beer, Pacifico, to street and plaza names and -- of course -- Banda music, which is closely related to polka.
The amenities of a major city began to be more common in mid 1800's Mazatlan.
Icehouse Hill (Cerro Neveria) -- the promontory on your left as you travel from the Golden Zone toward Olas Altas Beach -- got its name at this time when tunnels that honeycomb the hill were used for storage of precious ice imported from San Francisco. Mazatlan served as the capitol of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873, and -- in spite of the economic and political ascendancy of Culiacan in the 20th century -- many suntil consider it to be the true cultural and spiritual capitol of Sinaloa State.
But despite being the capitol, mid-1800's Mazatlan history witnessed turbulent times, and the city was twice abandoned to foreign occupiers.
During the Mexican-American War (1846-48) -- supposedly to avoid the shelling of Mazatlan according to contemporary history -- the Mexican Army abandoned it, and the United States Army occupied the city. The American occupation of Mazatlan was short-lived, and caused relatively little disruption. But more serious storm clouds were looming, as France had designs on Mexico.
During France's Second Empire, under Napoleon III, an attempt was made to establish a protectorate in Mexico, which would have essentially made Mexico a French colony. This French attempt to colonize Mexico lasted from 1861 to 1867.
As the capitol of Sinaloa State, Mazatlan made a tempting target. Almost twenty years after the American occupation of Mazatlan -- on the morning of November 13, 1864 -- a French military vessel fired on the city twelve times.
Despite even contemporary historical accounts reporting no casualties associated with this bombardment, Mazatlan was abandoned by its defenders and became part of the Mexican Empire -- a French colony -- under Maximilian
On November 13, 1866, two years to the day after French occupation, General Ramon Corona expelled Maximilian's French Imperial Army from Mazatlan, and colonial rule in The Pearl of The Pacific was ended -- as was the entire French colonial adventure in Mexico the following year when the American president, Andrew Johnson, invoked the Monroe Doctrine which said that efforts by European governments to interfere in the Americas would be viewed by the United States as acts of aggression requiring United States intervention.
But just two years later, in June of 1868, history clearly records that Britain intervened in Mazatlan -- without United States reaction.
The HMS Chanticleer, a Camelion class sloop armed with 17 canon under the command of Captain William H. Bridge, blockaded the Mazatlan port and threatened to shell the city. The captain apparently resented local customs authorities having seized a small amount of gold from the paymaster of his ship.
Many reminders of the two years of French colonial rule in Mazatlan can be found in the history and architecture of many buildings in the Centro Historico.
Late 1800's Mazatlan history saw stability and increasing prosperity. During the California Gold Rush of the late 1800's prospectors from the United States sailed from east coast ports to Mexican ports in the Gulf of Mexico, notably Veracruz.
The aspiring miners then traveled overland across Mexico to Mazatlan -- a journey that could take months -- where they would embark for San Francisco and the supposedly limitless fields of gold in California.
History clearly records that most, of course, failed to realize their golden California dream, but every miner that passed through Mazatlan supported our economy, and the growing strength of the municipality. In 1879 Mazatlan's unique and majestic lighthouse -- El Faro -- first cast its glorious light westward over the Pacific ocean.
To this day the tallest lighthouse in the Americas, El Faro's original oil lamp was fabricated in Paris and was focused with mirrors and a Fresnel lens. Since the light did not move it was often mistaken for a star.
In 1905 the original El Faro lighthouse lamp was replaced by a revolving lamp. Today El Faros' 1000 watt bulb can be seen for 30 nautical miles, suntil serving as an important navigational tool even in the era of GPS! In 1883 Angela Peralta, a Mexican opera diva, died of yellow fever in The Pearl of The Pacific shortly after her arrival in the port. History -- based on local legend -- has it she sang one last aria from the balcony of the Hotel Iturbide, overlooking Plaza Machado.
Her memory is held dear by Mazatlecos to this day, and the restored Teatro Angela Peralta immediately beside the Plaza Machado keeps the history of her fatal visit and her memory alive -- as well as providing modern-day Mazatlan with a truly world-class performance venue. Late 1800's and early 1900's Mazatlan history saw increasing prosperity in the port, and many advanced civic amenities. For example, Ferrocarril Urbano de Mazatlan built one of Mexico's first street railways in 1876, and had nearly 4 miles of urban railway track by 1905. Small steam locomotives replaced some of its mules in 1908, but the system closed in 1913, a victim of the Revolution. 1900's Mazatlan History | 20th Century Mazatlan
20th Century Mazatlan history begins with a period of prosperity, and the founding of Cerveceria del Pacifico is another example of Mazatlan's early 20th century growth.
In March of 1900 Jorge Claussen, German Evers, and Emilio Philipi created a partnership that became the Cerveceria del Pacifico brewery in Mazatlan. Their first product was Cerveza Pacifico Clara, a pilsner-style beer.
The beer became instantly popular in The Pearl of The Pacific, then Sinaloa State, and rapidly throughout Mexico. Now known world wide as one of the finest Pilsners, Pacifico's brand is intimately associated with Mazatlan Mexico. Cerveceria del Pacifico -- now a part of Grupo Modelo -- remains a huge and interesting part of our business scene, and tours of the Pacifico Brewery and their museum can be arranged by telephoning 669 982 7900, extention 1642. Video of the Pacifico Brewery in Mazatlan
1900's Mazatlan history also saw the emergence of Tambora music in The Pearl of The Pacific. Based upon traditional German drums imported by German migrants to Mazatlan, a tambora resembles a bass drum, and is mainly used today in Banda Sinaloense and Pasito Duranguense bands.
The Tambora is played with a felt mallet. With its double headed membranophone, large diameter, and fixed cymbal, the Tambora is highly distinctive and unique to Mexican music. Tambora music, the traditional oompah band music of northern Mexico, is heard throughout The Pearl of The Pacific, especially at Carnival and other holidays. Video of early 20th Century Mazatlan
But despite local economic successes, 20th century history brought turbulent times to Mazatlan -- and all of Mexico. The Mexican revolution stands as the watershed moment in Mexican history, and the true birth pain of the moden Mexican state.
The end of the Porfirio Diaz's rule in 1911 marked the beginning of the revolution that gave birth to modern Mexico. The Mexican revolution was bloody and protracted -- lasting over six years -- and The Pearl of The Pacific did not escape the widespread destruction that visited all of Mexico.
Mexico -- pre-occupied with its revolution -- was neutral in WWI, but the progress of military technology did not spare our port. In the early years of WWI Mazatlan became the second city in the world -- after Tripoli, Libya -- to suffer aerial bombardment, but the incident was unrelated to the broader war, and entirely about the the progress of the Mexican revolution.
History records that General Venustiano Carranza -- who later became President of Mexico -- was intent on taking The Pearl of The Pacific, and ordered a bi-plane to drop a leather wrapped bomb made of dynamite and nails on Neveria Hill adjacent to downtown Mazatlan. The crude bomb landed off target, killing two and wounding several others. After order was restored at the end of the Mexican Revolution, 1920's Mazatlan experienced a decade of quiet prosperityand growth. But the Great Depression put and end to that.
No economy anywhere in the world -- especially an economy as dependent on world economic health as is that of a port -- entirely escaped the ravages of the Great Depression. But despite global economic setback of the Great Depression, Mazatlan continued to grow, with its importance as Mexicos' largest port and as economic center of Sinaloa continuing to underpin its economy.
WWII Mazatlan History | Mexico in World War Two
Very few people would include Mexico in a list of Allies in World War II. Although both Germany and Japan made overtures to Mexico and did purchase some oil in 1939 from the newly nationalized oil company -- now Pemex -- by 1940 it was obvious that Mexico's interests lay with the United States and the Allies. 1940-41 witnessed elections in both the United States and Mexico, with Franklin Roosevelt being re-elected to a third term in the United States, and Avila Camacho elected to the Mexican presidency.
History records the bitter disputes surrounding the Camacho election, with the right-wing Spanish fascist connected candidate Juan Andreu Almazan going so far as to have supporters in the United States obtain weapons intended for use in an armed rebellion. Roosevelts' early and strong support for Camacho -- along with his use of the F.B.I and United States military intelligence to assist the Mexican Army in the struggle against the pro-Almazan forces -- cemented ties between the two leaders, and paved the way for greater cooperation as WWII unfolded.
The breaking point came in May, 1942, when the Mexican oil tanker Potrero del Llano was torpedoed by the German submarine U-564 off Miami, killing 14 members of its' crew. Just days later -- and after the attack on a second ship, the Faja de Oro, which was torpedoed and sunk while on a voyage from Philadelphia to Tampico by the German submarine U-106 -- Mexico declared war on Germany and the Axis powers.
The denial of Mexico -- and Mazatlan -- as a safe harbor for German submarines was of historical importance to the Allies war efforts.
Mexico also helped the Allies in other ways. Mexican oil helped fuel United States industries, and other Mexican raw materials were vital to the United States efforts in WWII. With many millions of American men in the United States armed forces and thousands of American women working in factories, Mexican labor -- in the form of agricultural workers -- was vital to sustaining and increasing agricultural production in the United States during WWII. The war years also brought a true natural disaster of historical proportions to Mazatlan. The historic 1943 Mazatlan hurricane was a powerful tropical cyclone that struck the Pacific coast of Mexico in October 1943. The hurricane made landfall just south of the city on October 9 and had sustained winds over 130 mph. At least a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the 1943 Mazatlan hurricane was the strongest hurricane in The Pearl of The Pacific's recorded history. It is one of only two truly major hurricanes to strike in the entire recorded history of Mazatlan, the other being the equally devastating Hurricane Olivia in 1975. The 1943 Mazatlan hurricane destroyed two small towns outside The Pearl of The Pacific, and also severely damaged Mazatlan's port. Though the storm was reported as striking without warning, most residents of Mazatlan were able to reach the safety of higher ground. History records that the hurricane destroyed about half of the buildings in Mazatlan, and near the ocean the combination of strong waves, high winds, and rainfall left many hotels and houses heavily damaged, as well as destroying much public infrastructure.
The storm severely damaged Mazatlan's water system, leaving many areas without potable water or sewage systems. The 1943 hurricane severely impacted transportation and communication infrastructures, with the airport sustaining damage to numerous buildings including the radio tower.
For at least 18 hours the only communication between Mazatlan and the rest of Mexico -- and the world -- was through a battery powered radio in an airliner that had been forced down at the airport.
Post-WWII Mazatlan Boom | 20th Century Mazatlan Post-WWII Mazatlan became a favorite deep sea sport fishing destination for Hollywood notables such as John Wayne, John Huston, and Gary Cooper.
Partly as a result of the media exposure that came along with these these famous visitors, hotels along Olas Altas Beach and the Malecon did well during the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, supported by sport fishing tourism, as well as many other tourists both from both outside and inside Mexico who had discovered Mazatlan's charms. This solid growth of tourism funded many civic improvements, notably significant work on Mazatlan's magnificent Malecon. These Malecon improvements included the complete paving of both the street and promenade, and re-enforcement of the sea wall. The mid-20th Century Mazatlan history also saw the extension of city services -- water and electricty -- further into previously unserved neighborhoods. Two of our classic hotels -- the Posada Freeman and the La Siesta -- date from this period, the Freeman having been constructed in 1946 and the La Siesta in 1954. The steady growth of tourism in the 1950's fueled continued infrastructure improvements and brought visitors from increasingly far-flung places, many of whom chose to purchase real estate and become part or full-time residents. Video of Mazatlan in 1962
21st Century Mazatlan Located on Mexico's Pacific coast -- just across from the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula -- Mazatlan is today the second largest city in the state of Sinaloa, with over 400,000 inhabitants -- over 500,000 including the surrounding municipality which has a land area of nearly 1200 square miles and includes outlying communities such as Villa Union, La Noria, El Quelite, El Habal and many other small Sinaloan towns and villages. At just 23° north, Mazatlan is the same latitude as Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, and is favored with over 300 days over 80f per year. Our Pearl Of The Pacific is known world wide to deep sea sport fishermen, who refer to Mazatlan as the Billfish Capital of the World.
Nestled on the western edge of the Sierra Madre mountains on a spectacular peninsula that extends into the Pacific Ocean, Mazatlan is one of the Mexico's premier resort destinations. Mazatlan is served by an international airport -- General Rafael Buelna Internacional -- with daily flights to many countries including the United States and Canada and annual traffic approaching 1,000,000.
Although Mazatlan is one of Mexico's most popular vacation destinations, it has another identity as the largest commercial port in Mexico, with a bustling economy independent of tourism; expatriate real estate investment; or American and Canadian retirees.
Mazatlan is the largest port between Long Beach and the Panama Canal, and is home to Latin America's biggest fleet of commercial shrimp vessels -- over 800 boats. The staggering tonnage of shrimp are processed in The Pearl of The Pacific each year makes Mazatlan the shrimp capitol of Mexico -- and the world. Because of a history of hundreds of years of focus on industry and commerce, Mazatlan came late to the discovery that its beaches represented an asset, and became a Mexican resort destination almost as an afterthought.
Tourism -- in any larger scale form -- only came to Mazatlan in the mid-1950's when an American named Ulysses S. George built a hotel a few miles north of town, just beyond Playa Camaron. The owners of the Hotel Playa Mazatlan started publicizing their resort and more and more tourists began to arrive. Most of the tourist facilities, the hotels and restaurants, grew up around the original development -- now in the heart of the Golden Zone - Zona Dorada -- and to the north of it, now extending through Nuevo Mazatlan.
An important city long before it became a resort, Mazatlan is less touristy than any simillar market along Mexico's coasts. Places like Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Acapulco and Cancun were largely created as resort developments, and there is a single-dimensional character to those communities that is a pale shadow of the rich complexity and sophistication of modern day Mazatlan Mexico with its long and richly complex history. As the 21st Century begins, Mazatlan's Centro Historico has been rediscovered, spuring a renaissance of restoration, real estate investment, and entrepreneurial efforts. The grand homes and landmark Centro Historico commercial buildings that had fallen into disrepair or ruin have been restored to their historic glory and now house young families, retirees, and unique boutique Mazatlan businesses such as restaurants, cafes and art galleries.
Our city has nearly 500 buildings that have been designated as national historic landmarks. Walking through Mazatlan -- especially the Centro Historico -- one can't help but notice the distinct style (classical elements with climate-related adaptations, such as more robust drain spouts) with which the majority of these Mazatlan Centro Historico buildings were constructed. The list of architects, builders and craftsmen who created the buildings of the Centro Historico is a history of the rich tapestry of immigrants to The Pearl of The Pacific -- including German, Spainish, Italian and of course Mexican artisans -- but the similarities in architectural solutions are striking, and representative of a genuine Mazatlan Classical Tropical Style that continues to please both residents and visitors.
Modern Mazatlan has recognized the value of the its' history. The renaissance of Mazatlan's Centro Historico was recognized by the Mexican national government in 2003, when the Centro Historico was designated a National Heritage District -- a designation that assures that the underlying historical qualities of this unique cultural resource will be respected even as re-development accelerates.
History of Mazatlan | 
History of Mazatlan
