1900s

During the last ten years of the 1800s and the ten years of the 1900s, thanks to the combined efforts of the people and the enthusiasm of Don Guadalupe Las Penas gradually progressed.

The discovery of silver in US brought down its price and old prosperity became affliction. The miners from the mountain townships left their newly acquired trade to go back to farming. They chose the fertile Ameca valley, so rich it could produce three corn harvests a year.

Puerto Vallarta and the agricultural valley to the north were important destinations for those leaving the Sierra towns who were looking for a place to settle as mining activities in the Sierra waned in the early 1900s. Many of the new arrivals already had family members living in Puerto Vallarta, turning the town into a collection extended families, confering on it the cohesion of a typical sierra town.

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1800 (Part 3)

At the start of the 1880s, Las Penas had a population of 1,500 inhabitants. New families from San Sebastian and Cuale came to settle in the port. In the middle of the decade, on July 14, 1885, the port was opened to national maritime traffic and officially named Las Penas. On July 23rd, a Maritime Customs Office was established. The next year on October 31, 1886 the town was given official political and judicial standing when decree No. 210 was passed by the State Congress.
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1800s (part 2)

The overland route from San Blas, the main port serving Jalisco, to the Sierra was very inconvenient. So for smaller shipments Puerto Vallarta was a more attractive alternative port, also for smuggling operations which evaded the tax collectors at San Blas.

The early settlers in Puerto Vallarta were mostly families who had left the Sierra towns for one reason or another. Puerto Vallarta also became a vacation destination for residents of the sierra towns. By the mid 1800s, the town already had its regularly returning population of vacationers.

An important turning point for the small village, then named El Carrizal or Las Penas, came in 1859 when the Union en Cuale mining company acquired land extending from Los Arcos to the Pitillal River and extending back up into the Sierra for miles. The purpose of the government's sale of the land to the company was to provide development (shipping, fishing and agricultural) to support for the mining operations which were rapidly growing in the Sierra. Puerto Vallarta Tourist Guide

1800s

The site that is today Puerto Vallarta in the 1800s was used for the unloading and loading of supplies and materials for the mining companies that worked the mines in Cuale and San Sebastian.

Puerto Vallarta's during the 1800s destiny was linked to that of the Sierra towns of Mascota, San Sebastian del Oeste and Talpa de Allende. Today these are quaint tourist destinations, but during much of the 1700s Mascota was Jalisco's second largest town. As Mascota grew during the 1700s Puerto Vallarta grew with it. It transformed from a fishing and pearl-diving village into a small beach-landing port serving the Sierra towns.

Originally from Cihuatlan, Jalisco, Don Guadalupe Sanchez Torres, in 1851 began to make regular deliveries of salt from San Blas or the Marias Islands in asmall boat since the mines required large quantities for refining the silver. With his men Don Guadalupe built a small lean-to from tree trunks and palm leaves so that they would have a place to rest that was out of the sun while the sale was being loaded onto donkeys for transport to the mines. Towards the end of 1851, Don Guadalupe decided to bring his family to Las Penas de Santa Maria de Guadalupe (future Puerto Vallarta) because he arrived early in the morning hours of December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. With the arrival of new families, the village grew bit by bit and its economy began to change. While some families brought in salt, others began to devote themselves to agriculture or cattle-raising.
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History of Puerto Vallarta, Pre-Hispanic until 1800 (part 2)

The of Puerto Vallarta area appears on mapas and in sailing logs as a bay of refuge for the Philippine trade as well as for other coastal seafarers. Smuggling and pirate operations and pirate contravention efforts by the government involved the area. Banderas Valley and beaches along the Bay of Banderas served as supply points for ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 1600 and 1700s.. The area also served as a point where smuggled goods could be sent on to the Sierra towns near Mascota, evading the customs operations at San Blas, Nayarit. It is known that a shipyard was built on the bay in 1644 (probably where Mismaloya is located today) and two ships were built for Bernardo Bernal de Pinadero that would be used in the colonization of Lower California.

In ship's logs and documents from the 1700s constant references are made to whaling ships and fishing boast that harbored in the bay. At the time, Banderas Bay was also known as Humpback Bay (Bahia de los Jorobados) because of the number of humpback whales that were seen in the bay.
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History of Puerto Vallarta, Pre-Hispanic until 1800

Not much is known about the history of the area prior to the 1800s. Archaeological evidence exists of continuous human habitation from 580 BCE probably by the Aztatlan culture which dominated Jalisco, Nayarit and Michoacan from approx. 900-1200 CE.

The bay (Banderas) has been known since the early 1500s by Spanish soldiers, during the expeditions to Baja California (or island of pearls, as they called it), landed on the bay's beaches in order to supply their ships with water, firewood and fresh food. There are many chronicles from that time that mention the beauty of the coastline, the fertility of the land and the safe harbors that the bay offered ships.

Missionary and conquistador accounts chronicle battles between colonizers and the local peoples. In 1524 a battle between Cortes and an army of 10-20,000 Indians resulted in the Spanish taking control of much of the Ameca valley. The valley was then called Banderas, or Flags, after the colorful standards carried by the natives. During the 1500s safe harbors all along the Pacific Coast were a vital necessity so that ships returning from the Philippines would have a place to find refuge in case of attack by pirates. These harbors were also necessary during the long journeys, to and from the Orient so that ships could be repaired if necessary and crews could take on provisions. One of the first to propose a settlement on Banderas Bay was Captain Pedro de Unamuno after the trip he made in 1587 from the Philippines. Famous navigators like Sebastian Vizcaino, Lopez de Vicuna and Gonzalo de Francia more than once landed on these beaches and also proposed the establishment of a colony, but their petitions never received any attention.

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Puerto Vallarta, Introduction

Puerto Vallarta was a vibrant Mexican community long before it became an international tourist zone. Because of the climate, scenery, tropical beaches, and rich cultural history tourism has become a major economic activity. Puerto Vallarta's proximity to the agricultural valley of the Ameca River, the Bay of Banderas and the important mining centers in the Sierra have given the town a more interesting past than most Mexican tourist destinations.

During the first part of the 19th century, at the mouth of the Cuale River - at that moment in time, inhabited mostly by crocodiles - there were practically no human dwellers. Between the rugged sierra, the ocean and the powerful Ameca River, this beautiful piece of Mexican geography remained isolated from the rest of the world. The hubs of economic activity were up in the mountains, in the towns of Cuale, San Sebastian and Mascota, where silver mines abounded but where salt, an essential element for the metal processing, wasn't found, we'll return to that further on.

Today, visitors to Puerto Vallarta Mexico can enjoy a breathtaking view from any of the hills that surround the city of Puerto Vallarta Mexico. Puerto Vallarta is located on the Pacific Coast on one of the largest bays in the world (member of "The Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club".) Banderas Bay measures 42 kilometers from north to south. The northernmost limit of the bay is at Punta Mita which is the end of the Sierra de Vallejo mountains and, to the south, the bay ends in Cabo Corrientes, part of the foothills of the Sierra del Cuale range.

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