by Karin Leperi Pezo
photos Courtesy Traveler Publications

Just the mention of La Paz in Baja California Sur evokes idyllic images of pristine waters surrounded by red-cliffed sheltered sanctuaries that are teeming with incredulous biodiversity.  In particular, the La Paz area was historically noted for its oyster beds and precious pearls, drawing the likes of conquistadors, missionaries and pirates throughout the years.  Also known as “The Pearl of the Sea of Cortés” or “La Perla del Mar de Cortés” in Spanish – La Paz is home to a burgeoning ecotourism industry as well as home-base for water enthusiasts who come from all over for world-class yachting, sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking and fishing.

Cave Paintings by the Ancient Ones

Though La Paz celebrated its 490th. anniversary, the area actually traces its history to times as early as 10,000 B.C. when it was first inhabited by Neolithic hunter-gatherers. These original inhabitants were a nomadic people who lived on fish they caught from the sea and seeds, roots and berries they collected from the surrounding area.  Through their cave paintings, these ancient ones left traces of their lives for posterity to interpret. While the primitive paintings are scattered throughout the Baja peninsula, some are just a short distance from La Paz and are easily accessible.

Meanwhile, the Guaycura – a native people of Baja California Sur – may have had contact with the Spanish at La Paz as early as the 1530s. For the next century and a half, they would continue to have sporadic encounters with a host of missionaries and pirates – sometimes benign and sometimes hostile. Unfortunately, the ravages of small pox and European diseases decimated the majority of Guaycura and other tribes like the Pericues. It is speculated that they were probably culturally extinct around 1800.

Spanish Stronghold

In 1533, a ship of mutineers from the Hernan Cortés expedition accidentally discovered Baja peninsula.  Subsequently, they would return with handfuls of pearls as well as tales of gold controlled by Amazonian women who were living on a large elongated island. Intrigued by their tales, Cortés set sail and arrived in La Paz and what he thought was the legendary island of gold and pearls. However, after only a few years, Cortés was forced to abandon his efforts to settle the area due to the hostilities of the environment, but not before he was able to acquire several high quality pearls. By 1596, Sebastian Vizcaino established his expeditionary base in La Paz, giving the area its modern name. This would be followed by other colonization efforts by Isidro de Atondo and Antillon in 1663, the Jesuits in 1720, and José Espinoza in 1811. Espinoza’s foothold was the first permanent settlement in La Paz, and would later lead to it becoming the capital of Baja California Sur in 1830.

Pirates, Privateers and Pearls

The Spanish may have dominated the coast of Baja in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but not without contest from English privateers and Dutch pirates.  In particular, Dutch pirates were known to repeatedly harass the Spanish by laying in wait – hidden in Baja coves – for treasure-laden Manila Galleons to pass by. In fact, so many Spanish ships were ravaged by the Dutch in the Bay of La Paz that the area was named Pichilingue – a term used to refer to the Dutch.

It was during the 18th and 19th centuries that La Paz Bay became known as one of the world’s great pearling regions. World demand was prodigious. But as was the case with the Guaycura indigenous people, the oyster beds and pearl industry would meet a similar fate – eradication.  A combination of over-harvesting and an unknown blight that attacked the mother-of-pearl shell between 1936 and 1940, all but assured the demise of the pearling industry.