Spanish-English Translation Dictionary by Ultralingua. $19.99
° Manzanillo° Mazatlan ° Monterrey
° Puerto de Morelos° Veracruz ° Zihuatanejo
Distance between San Francisco and:
• Acapulco: 1,185 Nautical Miles
• Guaymas: 1,530
• Magdalena Bay: 1,154 Nautical Miles
• Mazanillo: 1,390 Nautical Miles
• Mazatlan: 1,390 Nautical Miles
• San Blas: 1,632 Nautical Miles
Acapulco
Acapulco has been inhabited since 3000 B.C. Nahua artifacts have been discovered that date back 2,000 years. (The Nahua was the tribe that preceded the Aztecs.)
Following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521, Hernán Cortés sent his men to locate sites for trading ports.
They found Acapulco and it in 1579, King Philip II declared it the official port for trade between Asia and the Americas.
Shiploads of slaves and luxury goods like silks, porcelain, jade, ivory, incense and spices were brought to the port.
Royal Warrants legitimized the mercantile monopoly of Spain with its recently conquered colonies. For this reason, Casas de Contratación (a Government Institution in charge of shipping lines and tax collection from the import and export of goods) were installed in New Spain and institutions created as of 1503 that controlled and supervised trade and shipping between Spain and The Indies.
In 1551, the construction of the first harbor was begun in Veracruz and trade with the Orient was initiated when the mercantile route between Acapulco and Manila was established. (The Philippine Islands were also part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain at that time.) In 1593, the Royal Warrant of Felipe II ordered a restriction on the volume of commercial cargo so as to place a limit on the entrance of non-Philippine merchandise, the so called "Products of China," in the hope of reducing the damage caused to Spanish trade.
Because the Port of Manila did not enforce shipping controls at the time, Customs checks were carried out in Acapulco.
In the Viceroyalty of New Spain the so called right of "almojarifazgo" (Import tax) was established. The relevance of this tax was of such magnitude that the Spanish Crown pronounced numerous Royal Warrants, decrees and by-laws on this material between 1532 and 1817, which regulated the entrance and exit of merchandise.
In the 1600s
Due to constant attacks by English and French pirate ships on the ports of Veracruz, Acapulco and Campeche, in 1597, a ruling was announced that the officials in charge of the Contract House be transferred to the Banda de Buitrón. In 1647, an enclosed Customs area in which all products entering the port could be received was designated.
In 1702 the first regulation regarding commercial trade between The Philippines and New Spain was elaborated: none of the merchandise that entered the Port of Veracruz could touch soil without the consent of the Justice Official or the Alderman. The penalty for non-compliance was the confiscation of all the goods in question.
(Click on map image for additional views and details.)
Engraved by Balthasar Ruyter, the above map is an extremely rare and highly unusual 1747 map of Mexico, the Caribbean, the West Indies and Florida. Covers from roughly Michoacán Mexico, west to Surinam, north as far as modern day Virginia and south as far as modern day Ecuador. The cartography exhibited here almost certainly references the important 1698 map of North America attributed to Friar Hennepin. The mouth and course of the Mississippi River are displaced far to the west of their actual location and are shown roughly where Galveston Harbor and Sabine Lake are now. Roughly where the actual mouth of the Mississippi is located, this map suggests a large bay which it calls “Baye de Spirito Sancto”. Florida is misshapen with no trace of the Keys. Further south, the West Indies are fairly well mapped suggesting a relative accurate picture of the islands. Following the lead of Bleau and Hondius, the mainland of Mexico and Central America is wildly exaggerated along the horizontal.
The establishment of the Royal Customs Agency of the Port of Acapulco took around 1776 and in 1795, the Consulate of Merchants of Veracruz was established; its members contributed to the improvements made to both the Port and the City.
The first legal document of independent Mexico was the Arancel General Interno (General Domestic Internal Customs Duty) for the Governors of the Maritime Customs Agencies regarding Free Trade within the Empire, published on December 15, 1821. In this document they designated the ports which were authorized to handle commercial activity, they outlined the work to be undertaken by Customs administrators, the Customs controllers and the Customs officers; moreover, they outlined the basis for all the tax operations, establishing that the types of merchandise, the merchandise which was prohibited from being imported and those free of tax should be decided by the customs administrators.
In 1821, the Customs Department was under the control of the Secretary of State and the Treasury Office.
In 1831, Mexico's Treaty of Armistice with the United States of America was one of the first agreements regarding international commerce.
On March 1, 1887, a new Ordenanza General de Aduanas Marítimas y Fronterizas (General Ordinance By-law of the Maritime and Border Customs) was issued with two annexes: in the first, the general tariff appeared in separate form, while the second contained the rules for the application of the tariff.
Eventually, the Spanish limited traffic to one arrival a year, which led to the establishment of the Acapulco Fair of the Americas. Traders and merchants from all over New Spain, a vast territory that included modern-day Mexico and parts of the American Southwest, gathered to buy goods.
Like much of Mexico's coastline, the port's thriving economy attracted pirates. The notorious Sir Francis Drake was the first to arrive, only to be followed by a dozen other British pirates, including Thomas Cavendish, William Dampier and Henry Morgan.
In order to defend the city, the Spaniards built Acapulco's first fort, the Castillo de San Diego, in 1616. However, it failed to repel an attack by Dutch pirates in 1624.
Acapulco was burned to the ground in 1814 during the War of Independence. The City was all but forgotten until the outbreak of the California gold rush in the 1850s.
At that time, ships began to make regular stops there on their way to Panama. On their return to San Francisco they were loaded up with Mexican textiles.
Mazatlan
For thousands of years prior to the first Spanish arrival in 1531, Native Americans migrated through the region following game herds. Its name translates to "land of deer" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.
By the 1700s gold and silver shipments from the nearby mines at Rosario and Copala poured through Mazatlan's harbor making it one of Mexico's most important ports.
The port was frequented by pirates, which hampered early development. The pirates allegedly buried their loot in the coves along the coast near Mazatlán. The town remained sparsely populated and was not incorporated until 1806. A municipal government was not established there until 1837.
By the 1840's hoards of American settlers were flowing through Mazatlan on their way to the gold fields of California.
The port began to slowly grow, attracting the attention attacking troops: The U.S. Navy in 1847, and the French in 1864. The small pueblo of Mazatlan was able to thwart the attacks.
It is believed that a group of enterprising Germans is responsible for the majority of Mazatlán's growth. They developed the port in order to import agricultur1al equipment, and by the end of the century, the town supported a lucrative business of international trade.
Following the American civil war, a group of southerners tried unsuccessfully to convert the area into a slave state.
Mazatlan served as the capital of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873. Late in the 19th century, railroads reached Mazatlan, increasing the shipping importance of the town. This led to a steady growth until the Mexican Revolution.
Daily Alta California
After passing cape Saint Lucas yesterday morning, we pursued a north by east course directly across the Gulf of California for this port. No sooner, however, had we ventured out to sea than the ship gave evident signs of an unquiet disposition, and the passengers equally strong indications of disappointed stomachs. Hitherto, with the exception of the rollers on the bar at San Francisco, our progress had been over waters equal in placidity to those of the noble Hudson itself, but now a stiff breeze was blowing down the Gulf, and the ship was so often "half seas over" that her larboard wheel was frequently entirely out of water. Of course, I was among the unfortunates who did not care to "sink or swim," and were it not highly probably that most, if not all, your readers are acquainted by actual experience with the horrors of sea-sickness I should be induced to give you a history of my "symptoms."
We arrived off this port before daylight, but were unable to come to anchor in consequence of the fog, until 8 A.M. The appearance of Mazatlan from the sea, with its white walls, its picturesque and pleasant and the main features of the scenery are quite romantic and beautiful. The harbor is formed by two rows of detached rocky islets, which stretch from the main land or neck on which the town is built out into the sea. These islands flank the harbor on either side, forming a safe and tolerably capacious anchorage during three-fourths of the year. The months of July, August and September, are unsafe by reason of the prevalence of terrific gales from the south east. Large vessels are forced to lay some two miles from the town, in consequence of a bar which shuts in the inner harbor, and over which vessels drawing more than nine feet of water can scarcely ever pass.
The cactus growing upon the hillsides, and the cocoa nut and banana trees to be seen in the direction of the town, gave assurances that we might expect to find plenty of fruits which would be especially grateful to our keen California appetites. When, therefore, it became known that the steamer would lay here until 4 P.M. there was a general manifestation of delight and a scramble for boats by the passengers. Arrived on shore, I devoted a few hours to strolling about the town. The streets of the business portion of it are narrow and irregular, but they are well paved and kept clean and free from obstructions. The houses are mostly constructed of brick, plastered on the outside and painted white or white-washed. They are generally two stories in height, having flat roofs, with courts in the centre and corridors around the whole interior. These courts have wells in the centre and are often beautified and cooled by fruit trees, shrubs and flowers. There are several large mercantile establishments here conducted by foreigners. They are principally engaged in exchanging the products of other countries for those of Mexico, but it is not uncommon that large amounts of the previous metal are shipped hence. I have heard it asserted that a large contraband or smuggling trade is carried on here, sub rosa, and from facts which have come to my knowledge I am disposed to believe the assertion true. The mercantile establishments are fitted up with a neatness and taste I never saw equalled in any city, and the attendants are peculiarly bland and amiable in manner.
The whole appearance of the town and its inhabitants is prepossessing. The inhabitants are apparently industrious, some of the mechanic arts appear to flourish, the citizens are well dressed and polite, and altogether, the town wears an aspect of thrift, energy and enterprise, which was the more agreeable as I was not prepared to meet it.
Although a mole was constructed at the principal point of debarkation by the American forces when they had possession of the city, still at low tide even the smallest boats and it is difficult to reach within from twenty to fifty feet of the shore. To remedy this the beach is lined with an hundred persons, who with bare legs are able to wade in and bring the luckless passengers safe to dry land. This is sometimes provocative of much fun and laughter, and the pertinacity with which these "common carriers," urge their superior individual claims to employment would do honor to a New York or Philadelphia cabman.
Mazatlan has a population variously estimated at from five to ten thousand. I should think it would not fall below six thousand souls. The cholera, of which all traces have now left the city, carried off many hundred, principally of the lower classes, but I did not learn that any statistical records of the ravages of the disease were kept.
The British frigate Amphitrite is now laying here, and several ships, barks, brigs and schooners are also in port. I did not learn that any of them are American bottoms.
When our passengers returned to the ship this afternoon they came freighted with substantial evidences of their cruise on shore, in the shape of oranges, lemons, bananas, cocoa nuts, pine apples, sweet potatoes, eggs, chickens, pies, cakes, etc., etc., and I presume a great many people will be better natured for the next few days.
By the overland mails I heard that New Orleans papers had been received of as late a date as the 6th of December last. I saw one of the 24th November, but as you will be in possession of later dates before this reaches you, I forbear quoting from it. I notice, however, that an explosion of the boiler of the steamer Louisiana happened just as she was leaving the wharf at New Orleans, by which 100 persons were killed, and among them Dr. Marsh of the Pulpunes Rancho, San Joaquin District, California. Thus has another of our oldest inhabitants, after acquiring a competence, been suddenly snatched from the enjoyments of life and its blessings.
A New Orleans correspondent of El Siglo Diez y Nueva, (paper printed at the City of Mexico on the 16th of December), writing under date of November 30th, says that a rupture had occurred between Mr. Clayton and President Taylor, growing out of the Cuba questions, and that the office of Secretary of State had been tendered to Mr. Clay, who politely but coolly declined it.
Below is an extremely attractive 1748 coastal view of the Mexican harbor of Zihuatanejo by George Anson.
Click on map image for larger view and details.
Zihuatanejo is a stunningly beautiful resort area in Guerrero, Mexico, about 250 km north of Acapulco. This area was originally named Cihuatlán in Aztec, which means “Place of Women”, referring to the matriarchal society that dominated the region in pre-Columbian times. Details the harbor beautifully showing mountains, a fort, and several sailing vessels. Coastal views such as these were created to help early navigators recognize important coastlines from far out to sea.
