Mazatlan, Mexico

Mazatlanis a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio (municipality) for which the city serves as the municipal seat is also called Mazatlan. It is located on the Pacific coast, just across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.

Aerial view of Mazatlan. This file is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License. Check out more photos of all our featured destinations in our photo gallery.

Spring Break

Mazatlan has been a steady Spring Break destination for the past several years. Though it has never rivaled the popularity of destinations like Cancun or Acapulco, Mazatlan sees thousands of students each year during the months of February through April.

Hotels and Restaurants

The Howard Johnson (aka the "HoJo") is a popular spring break hotel because of its location. It sits directly across from the beach, and is within walking distance to Fiestaland(aka "The Castle"), a collection of clubs and bars.

Look for our full directory of hotels, coming soon.

Clubs and Bars

Fiestaland(aka "The Castle") is a hot spot for the spring break crowd.

Look for our full directory of clubs, coming soon.

Attractions and Events

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.

Tourism

Mazatlan, with a population of over 400,000 as of 2006, 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 Mazatlan to La Paz, Baja California Sur.

Climate

Coming soon.

Good to know

The main language in Mazatlan is Spanish, although English is widely spoken throughout the tourist areas.

Most establishments accept U.S. dollars, even though the Mexican Peso is the official currency.

Mazatlan is served by Gral. Rafael Buelna International Airport.

History and Development

Mazatlan 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 Mazatlan 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 the music, Banda, which is an alteration of Bavarian folk music.

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-American 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.

The Lighthouse "El Faro"

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 into the pacific of high rocks for a tip of a couple pesos. As an example of Mazatlan touristic expansion, the largest timeshare provider in Mexico, Mayan Resorts was founded in 1975 on Mazatlan with the inauguration of Paraiso Mazatlan (Mazatlan Paradise).

In local culture they have celebrities like Julio Preciado, "Banda" national superstar, in classical music Enrique Patron de Rueda and the Machado Orchestra, and Angela Peralta (1845 - 1883) considered one of the best opera singers in Mexico. And in pop culture and fashion icons there are celebrities like the Quinones girls, always seen as potential influence on the youth population. Also Mazatlan is the hometown of Pedro Infante, the most popular actor and singer of the golden years of Mexico's film industry.

This article has been modified from its original version (available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazatlan) and is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.