History of Acapulco
Acapulco has been famous as a traveller’s crossroads for over 1,000 years. Its name means ‘plain of dense reeds’.
The beginnings
The oldest local remains, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, are stone implements and pottery tools. Much later, skilled artisans created shapely female figurines. There are theories that early Polynesian or Asian influences came to Pacific Mexico 1,500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived. Other artefacts are similar to those discovered in highland Mexico.
Though influenced by Tarascan, Mixtec, Zapotec and Aztec civilisations, occasionally honouring them and visited by their traders, Acapulco was never directly controlled by them, and stayed under the control of local caciques until the Spanish occupation.
Trading riches
Having conquered the Aztecs, Hernán Cortés dispatched expeditions south to construct ships and look for a route to China. Expeditions left from Acapulco for Peru, the Sea of Cortez and Asia. However, not one came back across the Pacific until Augustinian priest Andrés de Urdaneta discovered the favourable trade winds of the northern Pacific, which thrust him and his ship, full of Chinese treasure, to Acapulco in 1565.
For over 200 years following that, a trading ship on a special mission, which the English knew as the Manila Galleon, plied the route from Acapulco to Manila and the Orient. Its return kicked off a yearly trading fair in Acapulco where merchants bartered for the galleon's load of silk, chinaware, ivory and lacquer ware. This trading route, which continued until Mexican independence, was the main factor for putting the Philippines east of the International Date Line until the end of 1844.
Attack and disaster
Acapulco's annual riches soon attracted raiders, too. In 1579, Francis Drake mounted an attack on the Manila Galleon but failed to seize it. Finally, in 1587, off Cabo San Lucas, Thomas Cavendish captured the ship. The loss of the cash alone, over one million gold pesos, led to the London bullion market experiencing a severe depression.
After Acapulco was invaded by a Dutch fleet in 1615, the Spanish restored their fort, which they named Fort San Diego in 1617. The War of Independence (1820 to 1821) put a final halt to the Manila Galleon, putting Acapulco into a 100-year sleep. Two earthquakes in July and August 1909 damaged the town severely.
Modern times
Acapulco became a popular holiday destination for Europeans after 1920. In the 1950s, after successful efforts to construct the city's infrastructure including numerous resort hotels, Acapulco became a holiday destination for the rich and famous of Hollywood and across the world. In the 1960s and ‘70s, a wider variety of hotels were built to make it more affordable for vacationers. In the 1990s, a road was built from Mexico City, giving vacationers from all over Mexico access to this beautiful resort city.