Mazatlán

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Mazatlan

Official Name	Mazatlan
Country - State: - Municipality	Mexico Sinaloa Mazatlan
Population (2005)	498 000 hab
Altitude	msl
Coordinates - Latitude: - Longitude:	23º 04' 50" N 105º 43' 23" W
Foundation - Foundation:
Major	Alejandro Higuera Osuna
Political party	PAN
Time zone:	UTC -7
Demonym	Mazatleco(a)
Postal code	82000-
Area code	669
Website: www.mazatlan.gob.mx

Mazatlán [masaˈtlan] 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 the music, Banda, which is an alteration of Bavarian folk music.

Mazatlán, 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 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

[edit] History

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 Paraíso Mazatlán (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 Quiñones 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.