Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality's formal name is Guaymas de Zaragoza and the city's formal name is the Heroica Ciudad de Guaymas. The city has a well-attended annual carnival, which has been held since 1888. Nearby, San Carlos and its beaches are major tourist attractions.

History

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the bay of Guaymas was dominated by the Guaymas, Seri and Yaqui tribes. In 1539, two Spanish ships, the Santa Águeda and the Trinidad, arrived in Guaymas Bay. They were commanded by Francisco de Ulloa, who called the area "the port of ports."

Some small Jesuit missions were founded in the 1610s and 1620s, when Jesuits founded eight mission villages with the Yaqui. The Seri strongly opposed the European settlements and resisted fiercely until 1769.

Juan María de Salvatierra and Eusebio Kino asked for permission to evangelize the area, which was received in 1697. This mission was abandoned permanently in 1759.

During the Mexican Revolution, the first aerial bombardment of a naval target occurred just off the coast of Guaymas. In 1913, five military ships belonging to Federal forces appeared in the bay, and General Álvaro Obregón of the rebel army ordered the bombing of these ships using the aircraft Sonora. and has a hot, dry climate and of beaches.

|source 2 = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional

The city

thumb|Statues of the three presidents at the Tres Presidentes Plaza

Guaymas is an industrial and shrimp-fishing port which has conserved a number of historical attractions. Buildings in the historic center have a mix of Neoclassical and Moorish facades, however many are in disrepair. The city has two main plazas, one called 13 de Julio, which is nicknamed the "plaza de los flojos" (lazy men's plaza) for the large number of people who relax there.

Institutes of higher education in the city include the Instituto Tecnológico de Guaymas [http://www.itg.edu.mx/] , the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Guaymas [https://web.archive.org/web/20091015095417/http://antiguo.itson.mx/ug/] and the Universidad TecMilenio Guaymas [https://web.archive.org/web/20090918112030/http://www.tecmilenio.edu.mx/_nuestroscampus/guaymas/index.php]

Baseball is a popular sport in this city. The local professional team is called the Ostioneros.[https://web.archive.org/web/20091230072011/http://www.clubostioneros.com/]

The city once had ferry service to/from Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur, although it was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and as of 2022 there are no plans to resume service. There is an international airport. the most populous of which are Bahía San Carlos, Pueblo Vícam, San Ignacio Río Muerto, Pótam, Bahía de los Lobos and Ortíz. The municipality has a territory of . Other species such as Perityle have been long noted at Guaymas. Desert animals such as the desert tortoise, chameleon, puma, rattlesnakes and others are the main wildlife. The most notable peak in San Carlos is called the Tetacawi or Teta de Cabra, which appears to have two horns. Teta de Cabra means "goat's udder" which it is supposed to resemble. but According to local sources the station was abandoned shortly after the conclusion of the Apollo program and has been used recently as a greenhouse complex for agricultural use.

Communications and transport

The municipality of Guaymas has a transport infrastructure consisting of a road network of 986.8 kilometers, being the Federal Highway 15 main line of communication, of which 118.2 correspond to the main network, 184.6 to the network 684 kilometres are rural or neighborhood roads.

It also has a branch of railway lines of 4.5 kilometers, an international airport, 8 runways and a port with a total docking length of 17,234 meters distributed between the port of height and the docking extension for fishing activity.

For public freight transport, the Port of Guaymas has a central freight services and has solved the problem of lack of bus lines to expand the ticket offer.

As far as communications are concerned, Guaymas has all the public services offered by the sector, including those for maritime navigation. Particularly the mail and telegraph services that have 5 offices, especially to cater to those towns with greater than 500 inhabitants.

Guaymas International Airport serves the city with flights on two commercial passenger airlines.

Sociodemographic profile

Ethnic groups

The indigenous presence in the municipality is of great importance, since it has 11,394 inhabitants who speak an indigenous language, which represent 8% of the total population of the municipality. The most common indigenous language is Yaqui Language, which accounts for 10,779 (94.6%) of the total.

Demographic evolution

According to the Population and Housing Count of 2010, the city of Guaymas had a population of 113,082 inhabitants.

The total municipal population has 149,299 inhabitants in its approximately 42 localities and approximately 310 ejidos and rancherías.

As a municipality stand out: 113,082 of its municipal headoffice (Guaymas), Vícam with 9,364, Pótam with 6,417, and San Carlos with 2,264.

Economy

Main producer and exporter of honey in Mexico, with quality and international recognition.

Fishing

It has 175 kilometers of coastline including important bays such as Guaymas, Lobos, San Carlos (Mexico) and the Herradura. The municipality has more than 83% of the docks operating in the State. 80 percent of fishermen in coastal communities originate from the same region where they fish; 15 percent come from other localities of the state, and about 5 percent from other states, particularly Sinaloa and Nayarit.

Fishing has historically been the most important activity and main source of income in this city; with large installed capacity for capture, processing, and commercialization. Today, although it generates big employment and provides good income to the majority of the Guaymense population it has stopped being considered as the most important activity. The arrival of maquiladora (manufacturing) plants which compete with the fishing industry have been a challenging factor, as well as the unfortunately growing lack of interest in both its government and population.

There was a time when the Guaymense fishing employed 11,800 people in the catch, and another 325 in aquaculture. It contributed to 70% of the total Sonora state fisheries production, with the main species caught being sardine, shrimp and squid. The fleet consisted of 359 shrimp vessels, 32 sardineras, 3 for scales fishing and 910 smaller vessels, for a total of 1,304. 55% of catches were sold in the State, and the remaining 45% to other parts of Mexico and the foreign market. Foreign exports have always been mostly shrimp, which has a high price in the international market, and makes Guaymense fishing very dependent on the conditions of this market.

In 1962, when the Instituto de Investigaciones Biológico Pesqueras, today known as Instituto Mexicano de Investigación en Pesca y Acuacultura Sustentables (National Fisheries Institute), was created, the federal government started the construction of four fisheries biology stations, being Guaymas the location of one of the first four.

For the facilities, it requested the import of prefabricated houses that were located on 20th Street in Colonia La Cantera, where it still remains and which would later be renamed Centro Regional de Investigación Pesquera (CRIP), whose first director was biologist Fernando J. Rosales.

In Guaymas was where in 1969, shrimp farming was first carried out in Latin America, by M. en C. Maria Concepcion Rodriguez de la Cruz. Although not for commercial purposes, but as part of the work being carried out at the National Fisheries Institute. Although the technical work continued at the Scientific and Technical Research Center of the University of Sonora (CICTUS), and in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, many years passed before this technique could be implemented commercially, which happened in 1985.

The states of Sinaloa and Sonora were the pioneers in this activity, where cultivation was mostly carried out with wild white shrimp postlarvae, although there are currently some laboratories dedicated to the controlled production of these stages, the cost of production makes cultivation with wild organisms more profitable. where dolphin-therapy services are offered.

Tourism activity generates more than 8,000 jobs, of which 2,700 are direct. Guaymas's lodging facilities consist of 24 establishments, including hotels, motels and guesthouses; with a total of 1,801 rooms.

It also has 4 tourist condominiums, 2 marinas with spaces to accommodate 798 boats, and 5 fields for trailers with a total of 729 spaces.

Technical classes are offered in school to train citizens in community tourism jobs.

The local hotels in Guaymas-San Carlos have an average annual occupancy rate of 41.8%, reaching 100% during busy seasons, which keeps Guaymas as a focal point in Sonorense tourism.

Sister cities

  • El Segundo, California
  • Mesa, Arizona
  • Silver Spring, Maryland

References

  • Why some Arizona Republicans see the Mexican border as an impediment to economic growth
  • http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/guaymas-mayor.html CityMayors feature
  • Mexico's Guaymas Port May Pick Up California's Slack, 16 September, 2005