HISTORY
Spanish
galleons first visited Estero San Jose at the mouth of the
Rio San Jose, to obtain fresh water near the end of their
lengthy voyages from the Philippines to Acapulco in the
late 17th and early 18th centuries. As pirate raids along
the coast between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz became a problem,
the need for a permanent Spanish settlement at the tip of
the cape became increasingly urgent. The growing unrest
among Guaycura and Pericu Indians South of Loreto also threatened
to engulf mission communities to the north; the Spanish
had to send armed troops to the Cape region to Quell Indian
uprisings in 1723, 1725, and 1729.
In
1730, Jesuit Padre Nicholas Tamaral traveled South from
Mission La Purisima and founded Mission San Jose del Cabo
on a mesa overlooking the Rio San Jose some 5 km north of
the current town site. Due to the overwhelming presence
of mosquitoes at this site, Tamaral soon moved the mission
to the mouth of the estuary, on a rise flanked by Cerro
del Vigia and Cerro de la Cruz.
Tamaral
and the Pericus got along fine until he pronounced an injunction
against Polygamy, a long tradition in Pericu society. After
Tamaral punished a Pericu shaman for violating the anti-polygamy
decree, the Indians rebelled and burned both the San Jose
and Santiago missions in October of 1734. Tamaral was killed
in the attack. Shortly thereafter the Spanish established
a presidio, which served the dual purpose of protecting
the community from insurgent Indians and the estuary from
English pirates.
By
1767, virtually all the Indians in the area had died either
of European diseases or in skirmishes with the Spanish.
Surviving mission Indians were moved to missions farther
north, but San Jose del Cabo remained an important Spanish
military outpost until the mid-19th century when the presidio
was turned over to Mexican nationals.
During
the Mexican-American War (1846-48), marines from the U.S.
frigate Portsmouth briefly occupied the city. A bloody siege
ensued and the Mexicans prevailed under the leadership of
Mexican Naval officer Jose Antonio Mijares. Plaza Mijares,
San Jose's town Plaza is named for him. As mining in the
Cape Region gave out during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, San Jose del Cabo lost population along with
the rest of the region. A few farmers and began trickling
into the San Jose area in the 30s and in 1940 the church
was rebuilt.
San
Jose del Cabo remained largely a backwater until the Cape
began attracting sportfishers and later the sun-and-sand-set
in the '60s and '70s. Since the late 1970s, FONATUR (Foundation
Nacional de Formento del Turismo or National Foundation
for Tourism Development) has sponsored several tourist development
projects along San Jose's shoreline. Fortunately, the development
has done little to change San Jose's Spanish colonial character,
and local residents take pride in restoring the towns 18th
century architecture and preserving its quiet, lidback ambience.
In
November of 1993 a severe rainstorm wreacked havoc on beachside
condos near San Jose del Cabo but the town itself suffered
little damage.
