Baja History

It's believed the first humans arrived in Baja some 11,000 years ago, having followed the Pacific coast down from present-day Alaska. The Yumano (northern Baja), Cochimí (central Baja), and Guaycura (southern Baja) were hunter-gatherers who slept in caves and waged frequent wars among one another. In stark contrast to the well-organized Aztec and Mayan communities of mainland Mexico, Baja's Amerindians lived this way until the arrival of the Spanish.

Led by explorer Francisco de Ulloa, the Spanish came to the peninsula in 1539, believing they had landed on an island. Ulloa, who had been commissioned by Hernán Cortés to find proof of the infamous Northwest Passage, reconnoitered the entire eastern coast of the peninsula and drafted a number of early maps, laying the groundwork for further exploration in the following century. By 1751, Jesuits had begun establishing the first Roman Catholic missions among the Amerindian tribes of Baja California, and over the next hundred years Spain used these religious outposts as a means of extending its stronghold on the territory.

But even after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Baja California remained an underdeveloped and largely uninhabitable desert. It was only with the completion of the Carretera Transpeninsular in 1973 that many towns began blossoming alongside the region's rattlesnakes and giant cardón cacti. Today, Baja California is not just a route of passage to Cabo San Lucas but a burgeoning vacation destination in its own right for fishermen, surfers, sunbathers, and culture fiends from all over the world.