In the 16th century, the peninsula had only a few semi-nomadic tribes of fishermen and gatherers of fruit and seed such as the Cochimi, the Guaycura and the Pericú ethnic groups. In 1535 explorer Hernán Cortés named it Villa de la Santa Cruz, but the name didn’t stick and neither did his camp.
Sebastian Vizcaíno gave it the name of La Paz in 1596 when he set up base here. Camps came and went until 1720 when Jesuit missionaries finally settled the area. Or at least tried to. Their efforts to tame La Paz only lasted about 30 years. Then they were practically driven out by the “locals” known as the Pericú.
The next attempt by Europeans to set up shop in the area didn’t happen until 1811. A few years later, La Paz took on the title of capital after the original capital of Loreto was leveled by a hurricane in 1829. The City experienced US occupation during the Mexican American War in the late 1840’s. The Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo ended the war and left La Paz as Mexican territory.
La Paz made history again later with its abundance of pearls. Shallow water pearl divers went down into the sea in the buff, and we hate that we missed that period. Supposedly a 400 grain pearl from Baja ended up in a European royal jewel collection. The pearling industry in La Paz inspired John Steinbeck’s novel The Pearl and the children’s novel by Scott O’Dell The Black Pearl. Pearling lasted until the 1930’s when disease and probably over harvesting brought it to an end.
In the 1970s La Paz saw the completion of an international airport and the Transpeninsular Highway greatly improving accessibility. Today La Paz is home to about 200,000 residents. A few years ago, Money magazine rated La Paz the number one place to retire. The City enjoys one of the highest standards of living in Mexico. And the water is potable!
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