Mazatlan may be considered newer than other places in Mexico, but they do not consider the ancient origins of the city by the natives who were there before the Spanish conquerors came into Mexico. Even one of the Catholic churches is built on the foundations of an ancient Indian church structure that predated the Catholic Church by thousands of years.
In pre-Hispanic times Mazatlán (which means 'place of deer' in Náhuatl) was populated by Totorames, who lived by hunting, gathering, fishing and agriculture. A group of 25 Spaniards led by Nuño de Guzmán officially founded a settlement here on Easter Sunday in 1531. Itinerant Sailors called the place the Islands of Mazatlan because of the many hills, lagoons and estuaries in the vicinity of the natural harbor there. Spanish galleons departed the harbor laden with gold taken from the inland mines in the region. And there are the legends of pirate treasure buried up and down the coast in coves during much of this earlier period of time.
Scientists have found petroglyphs on the off shore islands that they believe date back as far as 10,000 years. Though human settlement dates back before the Spanish, many historical records were destroyed by the zealots who considered any other civilization inferior to theirs. Slavery, slaughter, and disease took its toll on the local Indians which occupied this and other regions of Mexico. The reason that Mazatlan is a fairly young city is that the city itself did not become anything permanent until the 1820's. Mazatlán's architecture is a portrait of the substantial German, Spanish and French merchant influx after Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821. The name Mazatlán was first mentioned about 1602, but it did not refer to the Mazatlán of today. It referred to a small village of San Juan Bautista de Mazatlán which is actually 30 miles south of the current city of Mazatlán. That village today carries the name of Villa Union.
Mazatlán itself was not developed by the Spanish nor the Indians but by a group of very enterprising German immigrants who developed the port facilities in order to import agricultural equipment. Once they got started, heavy international trade followed quickly.
Mazatlán doesn't follow the traditional Spanish city layout, dominated by a central Plaza Mayor with a church and city hall. Mazatlán had its first church built as late as 1842.
Mazatlán served as the Capitol of the state of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873 when it had a population of only a few thousand people.
Over the years, Mazatlán has suffered the plagues of cholera and yellow fever along with the repeated occupations by foreigners. The Port of Mazatlán was occupied by American troops in 1847 during the Mexican American war, in 1864 by the French, during the American Civil War when a group of Confederate soldiers took the city over trying to perpetuate the ideas of the Confederacy South of the border, and by the British Navy in 1871. These incursions by outsiders gave rise to the tradition of bars on the windows and iron fences with menacing spikes which have come to be quite ornamental (as well as a standard security system) in many of Mazatlán's nicer neighborhoods.
Tourists started coming in the 1930s, mainly for fishing and hunting, and some hotels appeared along Playa Olas Altas, Mazatlán's first tourist beach, in the 1950s. From the 1970s onward, a long strip of modern hotels and tourist facilities has spread north along the coast.
Centuries ago, Mazatlán was a fishing village located on the north bank of a natural lagoon’s inlet to the Sea of Cortez. On the south side of the inlet is a long peninsula everyone refers to as Stone Island. Today, what lays in-between is the largest commercial fishing, cargo and cruise ship port on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Mazatlán now is known as “The Pacific Pearl” because it is one of the prettiest and most important ports on the pacific coast. It is also known as the shrimp capital of the world. It is located in the southern part of the state of Sinaloa, 132 miles southeast from its capital, Cauliacán. Mazatlán has great warm weather, with an average temperature of 77˚ Fahrenheit year-around.
The Historic District is a unique part of the down town and is a must see because of it’s European architecture, museums, Plaza Machado’s side walk cafes and the Angela Peralta Theater and Cultural Arts Center.
As the city grew it moved northward along a seaside avenue referred to in Spanish as the “Malecón”. This is a fantastic place to relax with a romantic stroll at sunset or a vigorous power walk right next to the ocean spray. The resulting growth northward is referred to as the “Golden Zone”.
Many retirees have chosen this as their home. If you love to play golf, fish, and just enjoy what this beautiful place has to offer, you will never be bored.
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