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Mexico Vacation Reservations & Travel Information For
Mazatlan |
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Overview |
Mazatlán [masatlan] is a
city in the Mexican state of
Sinaloa; the surrounding
municipio (municipality) for
which the city serves as the
municipal seat, is also
called Mazatlán. It is
located at 23°12′N 106°25′W,
on the Pacific coast, just
across from the southernmost
tip of the Baja California
peninsula.
Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word
meaning "place of the deer".
The city was founded in the
1820s. By the mid-1800s, a
large group of immigrants
had arrived from Germany.
These new citizens developed
Mazatlán into a thriving
commercial seaport,
importing equipment for the
nearby gold and silver
mines. It served as the
capital of Sinaloa from 1859
to 1873. They also
influenced in the music,
Banda, which is an
alteration of Bavarian folk
music.
Mazatlán, with a population
of 340,000 as of 2000, is
the second-largest city in
the state and Mexico's
largest commercial port. It
is also a popular tourist
destination, its beaches
lined with resort hotels. A
car ferry plies its trade
across the Gulf of
California from Mazatlán to
La Paz, Baja California Sur.
In 2005, Mazatlán hosted and
won the "Serie del Caribe",
which is an annual baseball
tournament with teams from
México, Puerto Rico,
Venezuela, and the Dominican
Republic.
Every year, Carnival is
celebrated during the week
before Ash Wednesday. There
are a lot of festivities,
including the election of a
Queen, parades, and balls.
This is the third largest
Mardi Gras in the world,
behind the celebrations held
in Rio de Janeiro and New
Orleans.
Mazatlan is served by Gral.
Rafael Buelna International
Airport |
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General Facts & Information |
By the late 18th and
early 19th centuries,
Mazatlan was a collection of
huts inhabited by Indians
whose major occupation was
fishing. According to Abel
Aubert du Petit-Thouars, the
French explorer, by 1829 a
Spanish banker named Machado
had arrived. He established
commercial relations with
vessels coming to Mazatlan
from far off places such as
Chile, Peru, the U.S.,
Europe and China. By 1836,
the city had a population of
between 4000 to 5000.
During the Mexican War, the
US Army took the city; in
order to avoid the shelling
of the city, the Mexican
army had abandoned it. On
the morning of November 13,
1864, a French man-of-war
fired on the city twelve
times but there were no
casualties; Mazatlan then
became part of the Mexican
Empire under Maximilian. On
November 13, 1866, the
Mexican general Ramon Corona
expelled the imperialists
from Mazatlan. On June, 18,
1868 William H. Bridge,
captain of HMS Chanticleer,
blockaded the port and
threatened to shell the
city, June 22, after Custom
Authorities seized 23 gold
ounces to the paymaster of
this ship.
During the Gold Rush,
Americans living on the East
Coast of the US used to sail
from New York or any other
Atlantic port to Mexican
ports in the Gulf of Mexico.
From these ports the future
gold diggers rode horseback
for weeks to Mazatlan. Here
they had to take another
ship, which, after four to
five weeks, would arrive in
San Francisco.
Mazatlan's lighthouse began
to shine by mid-1879. The
lamp had been handcrafted in
Paris, France, and it
contained a big oil lamp
with mirrors to enhance the
light. Since the light was
static, in the distance it
was often mistaken as a
star. By 1905 this lamp was
converted to a revolving
lamp. Today, near the
lighthouse shore, the famous
"divers" perform daring
jumps int |
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