Manzanillo History

Pre-Columbian Manzanillo

Manzanillo was originally called "Tlacotla," meaning "the place of the conch shells," and was occupied by the Tarascan people. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the Tarascan state was the second largest state in Mexico. It was founded in the early 14th century. The Tarascans, upon hearing the fate of the Aztecs, capitulated to the Spanish in 1522.

On a visit to Tzintzuntzan, the Tarascan capital city, Cortez was beguiled by stories of Chinese trading vessels stopping at Tlacotla. In 1522, Cortez sent his lieutenants to conquer Pacific Mexico.

Spanish Discovery

In 1522, Gonzalo de Sandoval dropped anchor in the Bay of Salagua, located north of Manzanillo Bay, on his quest for safe harbors and good shipbuilding sites. He remained in the area for a year. During his stay, he granted an audience to local Indian chieftains in a small cove, which today is known as Playa de la Audiencia.

Manzanillo Bay was discovered in 1527 by navigator Alvaro de Saavedra, christening it Santiago de la Buena Esperanza, or Santiago's Bay of Good Hope. Upon hearing a rumor that a Portuguese fleet was lurking in the nearby waters, Cortez made his first of two visits to Manzanillo Bay in search of his foes. His forces massed at the northern end of the bay, which he named Bahia de Santiago, on July 24, 1535.

Manzanillo Bay was used as a departure point for Spanish expeditions to Baja California and northern Mexico. The forest of manzanilla and other hardwood trees in the area were used by the Spanish to build ships here, in what became Latin America's first shipyard. These ships were used in Spanish expeditions to the Philippines and other Far Eastern countries.

The threat of pirates was ever-present, and ships of the Spanish fleet used Manzanillo's port to hide from the freebooters. Manzanillo was on the main trading route from Acapulco west to the Philippines, and south from Peru. The pirates, hailing from Portugal, England, Holland and France, did make several forays into Manzanillo Bay, where they brazenly attacked Spanish vessels.

By royal decree, Acapulco became Spain's sole port of entry on the Pacific in 1561. With the exception of an occasional merchant galleon or pirate caravel stopping for repairs or supplies, all other Pacific ports, including Manzanillo, reverted to fishing villages.

Hernan Cortez

Manzanillo in the 19th & 20th Centuries

It wasn't until 1825 that Manzanillo received its current name; the name was derived from the groves of manzanilla trees in the area used to make ships in the 16th century.

Manzanillo was the first outpost on the Pacific coast to establish a telegraph office, in 1869. By 1873, the town was raised to the status of a city, and railroad service to the city was inaugurated in 1889. The train linked Manzanillo with the capital city of Colima, boosting the commercial importance of the port.

Soon afterward, during the presidency of Porfirio Diaz, the city's telephone, electrical and potable water infrastructure was constructed. By 1908, the rail link to Guadalajara was completed, and Manzanillo was named an official port of entry into Mexico.

Manzanillo served as the temporary capital of the state of Colima for ten days in late February, 1915, when Pancho Villa's troops threatened to capture the capital city.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the harbor was dredged and modernized, providing access to shipping lines from around the world. As Mexico's largest port, Manzanillo can admit ships of more than 30,000 tons. In addition to its port, the city has become a large manufacturing center.

Anticipating further demand in the region, the federal government built a very large, but stinky, electricity generating plant in the 1960s to supplement Manzanillo's own power stations.

In the late 1960s, Bolivian tin magnate Atenor Patino built the resort of Las Hadas as a playground for his jet setting amigos. Back in the day, it wasn't a hotel per se, but a getaway spot for his rich and famous friends. Las Hadas was featured in Blake Edwards' 1979 film 10, which starred Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. The film propelled tourism to Manzanillo like never before.

Pancho Villa

Today's Manzanillo

The people of Manzanillo have their priorities, and they prefer industry to tourism. The tourist boomlet sparked by the movie 10 has long faded, thus leaving Manzanillo's miles of unspoiled beaches for the most part deserted. Tourism is but a mere sideline in commercially-oriented Manzanillo.

Manzanillo recently became Mexico's largest port, surpassing Veracruz. This is due in large part to the increasing importance of trade with Asian countries. After allocating $2 million to construct a new Cruise Terminal at the port of Manzanillo, the port authorities scrapped the plan in favor of making further improvements to the harbor's infrastructure.

Today, Manzanillo offers great beaches and watersports activities. The capital city of Colima is definitely worth a visit, as is the colonial jewel of Comala. The roads throughout the state of Colima are excellent, and crime is almost non-existent.