A World-Class Legacy

Los Cabos' vibrant past defines its captivating present

By Marlene Goldman

The history of Los Cabos is as rich as the landscape that envelops the region. Despite its relative isolation for hundreds of years, the area has seen its share of adventure, drama and, of course, success.

This southern part of the Baja Peninsula, whose name translates to "The Capes," has enjoyed a diverse past that has transformed it into the thriving, upscale playground it is today. From plundering pirates and quest-seeking conquistadors to sportfishing aficionados and Hollywood's elite, different cultures and people have left a lasting legacy in this unequaled corner of the world.

Los Cabos' original inhabitants, the nomadic Guaycura Indians, subsisted as hunters and gatherers. Pericú Indians also inhabited the region. There are few records of the existence of either until foreign fleets began entering the waters of this territory.

Conquistador Hernán Cortés had interest in the region. His priority was discovering a northern passage across the continent much like Magellan's Strait in the far south. The first fleet of ships that Cortés sent to Los Cabos failed to arrive, and a second fleet suffered a mutiny. However, chief rebel Fortún Jiménez brought a ship into La Paz Bay in late 1533 or early 1534. As such, his crew members are considered to be the first Europeans to set foot in Baja California.

Jiménez and 20 of his crewmates were killed by the native Indians, but word of black pearls in the waters of the area made it back to the mainland and Cortés himself led the next fleet over. With three galleons carrying more than 600 men and women, Hernán Cortés sailed into a tranquil bay.

The sight of El Arco, the renowned arch at the tip of Land's End, guided both Cortés and Jiménez in the direction of Los Cabos. El Arco, which graces the cover of just about every Los Cabos tourist brochure, marks the spot where the Sea of Cortés and the Pacific Ocean meet head-on. Cortés' ships anchored off La Paz and for two years they tried to establish a settlement, but lack of food and water, as well as hostility from the Guaycuras, forced them to flee.

Fast-forward 30 years to the introduction of the first Manila galleons to the Cape region. Spanish ships sailed into Estero San José at the mouth of the Río San José to replenish their fresh water supplies on the journey from the Philippines to Acapulco. The trade route brought silver from the mines of Taxco and left with pearls, gold, ivory and other valuables.

These treasure-filled vessels became easy targets for English and, later, Dutch pirates along the coast between what is now Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. One of the renowned pirates was Thomas Cavendish, who raided the heavily laden Spanish galleon Santa Ana, which was filled with silver and gold, off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. That was the proverbial last straw for the Spanish, who decided it was high time to end these shenanigans. They set up a fortress at the tip of the Cape with the goal of scaring off the pirates, although they didn't have much success.

Missionaries, rather than conquistadors, introduced European civilization to San José del Cabo. The missionaries set up camp in 1730 to focus their efforts on the Pericú Indians of the region. But all was not peaceful between the missionaries and native inhabitants.

From 1734 to 1737, the Pericú and some Guaycura in the La Paz region and further south lashed out in rebellion against the missionaries, with four missions in particular as targets — San José at Cabo San Lucas, Nuestra Señora del Pilar at La Paz, Santa Rosa at Todos Santos and Santiago de las Coras.

There was one eyewitness, Father Sigismundo Taraval, a missionary at Todos Santos, at the time of the rebellion. As the story goes, the catalyst for the rebellion came when Father Nicolás Tamaral refused to let one of the wives of a Pericú shaman named Chicori return to him after her baptism. This strike against polygamy, which the native population practiced, set the stage for a violent uprising. Those killed included two soldiers, Father Lorenzo Carranco of Santiago and Tamaral of Cabo San Lucas. The Indians also burned the Santiago and San José del Cabo missions in 1734, and nearly captured the Manila galleon calling at Cabo San Lucas Mission in 1735. Taraval, meanwhile, fled to the mission at Los Dolores.

Tamaral's gory death by beheading is forever memorialized in a tile mural that hovers above the San José del Cabo Plaza's main cathedral.

However, European diseases such as measles and smallpox took their toll on the Indians, as did the uprisings against the Spanish. These two factors ultimately decimated the Guaycura and Pericú populations, and by 1767 the native Indians had virtually disappeared. By the end of the missionary period in 1767, the Indian population of the region plummeted by 80 percent to less than 8,000. Survivors were moved to missions farther north while the Spanish continued to use San José del Cabo as a vital military outpost until the mid-19th century, when Mexican nationals gained control of the presidio.

San José del Cabo gained importance once again when marines from the U.S. frigate Portsmouth occupied the city briefly during the Mexican-American War, which lasted from 1846 to 1848. The city's plaza, Plaza Mijares, is named after Mexican naval officer José Antonio Mijares, who led the Mexicans to victory after an intense battle.

The region lost its importance in the early 20th century as mining closed down and sugarcane cultivation — which had brought prosperity to the Los Cabos area in the 1920s and 1930s — slowly dried up. Los Cabos sat quietly for many years.

In that time, the area that is now Cabo San Lucas was nothing but a few farmhouses, cattle and a fish cannery. The 20-mile dirt road connecting the two towns was empty as well. By the 1930s, the town's population was only 400.

But military planes flying over the area in World War II caught sight of large schools of fish, and once the war ended, the area began to attract sportfishermen to its shores, eventually earning the name Marlin Alley. At that time there were still no roads to Los Cabos — only private planes and wealthy yachtsmen had access to the sublime beauty of the area.

As more people began to explore the area, the word of its attractions seeped out. Not only were there big fish to be caught, but Los Cabos was also a breeding ground for gray whales, a nesting area for giant turtles and a sanctuary for more than 800 species of marine life.

These ecological riches, plus the 3,000-mile coastline surrounding both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortés — which, if straightened, would span from Tijuana to Juneau, Alaska — have helped turn former backwater Los Cabos into a mecca for mass tourism.

It didn't take long for the area's population to swell to about 1,500, and with the building of an airport in San José del Cabo, development ensued and the population soared to more than 50,000. The region's first resort at La Paz was built in 1948 by a group of wealthy American actors, among them John Wayne and Bing Crosby.

Los Cabos is now one of Mexico's most easily accessible and visited destinations, a haven for spa goers, scuba divers and golf fanatics, and it's still a sportfisherman's paradise.

Enigmatic Cave Art

By Ken Rivadeneira

High in the Sierras south of San Ignacio, you'll find large murals painted on the rocks of cliffs and caves. Perhaps several thousands of years old, the mostly black, red and white hues of the paintings are still bright and powerful, but the identity of those who created them remains a mystery.

Since the arrival of Spanish missionaries in the 1700s, the answer to this question has been elusive. The local Cochimí tribe of the time claimed a race of northern giants was responsible. While that seems plausible, due to the enormousness of the paintings (at a maximum of 45 feet in length, they are among the largest examples of prehistoric rock art in the world), the artists left evidence to the contrary — outlines of their hands. This sort of "signature" confirms that the mural painters were no more than five-feet-five-inches tall.

Although the elaboration of the paintings is explainable, the work involved — often at dizzying heights — seems so great that it is hard to fathom how ancient peoples could achieve this feat. It is no wonder a string of theories on the subject has evolved. Opinions range from the conventional to the bizarre; while some conclude that the painters used trees and animal hides for scaffolding and ladders, others theorize that they somehow mastered the power of levitation.

Over the years, the paintings have been the subject of many books and even subsequent artwork. While it is somewhat difficult to visit the caves, local artist and gallery owner Kaki Bassi, who draws inspiration from the rock art, creates pieces with similar textures and themes in her Los Cabos gallery. If a journey to the caves is impossible, her gallery is the next best way to admire this long-lasting, fascinating style of art.