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A bunch of historians, research-ers and chroniclers of events of the past
got together on a weekend in mid-May to determine Mazatlan´s birth date.
It seems that nobody really knows when it is, although the date of May 14,
1531, was officially proclaimed by two different Mayors back in 1979 and
again in 1982. The late official city chronicler, Miguel Val-ades, cited
that the year 1531 was when Nuño de Guzman, conquistador of Sinaloa, landed
at Chametla (southwest of El Rosario) and led his party of 50 on a northward
march. A member of the group, Padre Antonio Tello, wrote of passing through
this region on the Feast Day of the Holy Ghost. Valadez found out when Easter
was that year and counted ahead to what would have been the day of Espiritu
Santo on the ecclesiastical calendar. Presto! A birthday! But wait a minute,
not so fast. That´s what other authorities on the history of Northwest Mexico
are saying. They attended the recent gathering to put in what one of them
called “my 20 centavos” worth. And most of them debunk the 1531 date as
unrealistic. Some participants had delved back in historical archives to
the comments of 16th-century travelers. The English pirate Thomas Caven-dish,
on the prowl for Manila galleons in these waters, logged a visit to “Villa
del Mar” in 1587. But was there really a villa (settlement) here? Or did
the native Totorame Indians merely climb up on El Vigia (Lookout Hill) to
catch signs of such marauders as Cavendish, then hie it back to more welcoming
sites near the waters of the Rio Presidio to warn the neighbors of possible
danger. Not that there wasn´t water hereabouts. Trouble was, this coastal
territory was almost completely a brackish marshland until much later in
recorded history. One early traveler described this area as “a sea of islands.”
And some of those were only visible at low tide, according to Padre Tello.
During the recent discussions Adrian Garcia Cortes, the genial official
chronicler of Culiacan, insisted that there was no potable water on the
site of present-day Mazatlán, where to this day the city gets its drinking
water from wells. With a twinkle in his eye, he said that Mazatlán must
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“with the first
kiss that led eventually to the birth of the first child” — but one whose
arrival would have had to be duly noted on a birth certificate to satisfy
this purist. “Documents speak,” he said tersely. Besides the 1531 date,
the experts kicked around numerous others: 1535, said Padre Victor Meneguro
of ICO (Instituto Cultural del Occidente) 1556, according to a Franciscan
missionary´s writings 1566, said one panel partici-pant 1587, according
to pirate logs and a map of the Mexican coast 1602, somebody said they´d
seen written mentions of set-tlers here 1668, according to pirates´ logs
1693, said a conquistador map 1792, with March 23 as the date of an official
document founding the city of Mazatlán, but was it here or at the Presidio
de Mazatlán (Villa Union)? 1806, guesses history professor Luis Antonio
Martinez, for documents exist that say there was a working port here by
then 1812, said somebody in the audience 1821, a map of that year shows
Mazatlán by name 1822, on Feb. 6 the Court of Spain declared Mazatlán an
international port 1837, an official document dated July 2 declares a municipal
government for the Villa de las Costillas de Mazatlán (the town on the coasts
of Maz-atlán) 1852, said Jorge Figueroa of the history faculty of the University
of Sinaloa, for that´s when Mazatlán was officially declared a political
district So the wrangling continued. Several people favored the 1792 date,
but historian Figueroa asked: “Are we talking about the pueblo (town) of
Mazatlán or the puerto (port) of Mazatlán? I believe that the settlement
of 1792 would have been at the presidio (Villa Union), not the port which
was nine leagues (about 18 kms.) away.” Writer Mario Martini, who organized
the conference, liked the 1822 date as well as any. He added as an aside
that rumors of precious metals buried in Old Mazatlán by contra-bandistas
“at one time caused the home owners in the area to start digging to the
point of nearly destroying their houses.” (And all this time most of us
thought the damage was caused by hurricanes.) Adrian Garcia Cortes offered
the last playful idea: “Mazatlán likes to party — look at your carnaval,
for example. I say why not celebrate them all?” |
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