El triángulo de oro del Golfo de California. Mazatlán, Guaymas y La Paz en la conformación de un mercado regional (1848-1910)

Abstract

Maritime trade that emerged in the Gulf of California in the late 18th century consolidated during the first decades of the 19th century thanks to deep-sea navigation, whose axis was the port of San Blas, Nayarit, as well as to trade carried out by the ships transporting agricultural and livestock products to the various destinations of the region. How ever, it took off once and for all owing to the gold fever in California, which allowed establishing regular routes that called at the ports of Guaymas, Mazatlán y La Paz. The urban development itself of these localities was a interesting market for the steamships sailing across the Pacific. Local merchants thus obtained a considerable capital which they invested in other productive sectors of the region, as well as strengthening the ties established among them. The arrival of the railroad in Sonora in the 1880s didnt eclipse Guaymas completely, which played a important role as a regional business center for the rest of the century. As the Iron Horse reduced its costs and gained a good reputation among the Sonora mining and industrial sectors, and, above all, when the South Pacific carried on toward the south, arriving in Sinaloa, the important regional market of the Gulf of California fell significantly.