Acapulco
| Acapulco de Juarez | ||
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Coordinates: 16 ° 51 ′ N , 99 ° 55 ′ W Acapulco de Juarez on the map of Guerrero
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| Basic data | ||
| Country | Mexico | |
| State | Guerrero | |
| Municipio | Acapulco de Juarez | |
| City foundation | 1550 | |
| Residents | 673,479 (2010) | |
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| Detailed data | ||
| height | 20 m | |
| prefix | 744 | |
| City Presidency | Evodio Velázquez (2015-2018) | |
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Acapulco de Juarez is the largest city in the state of Guerrero in Mexico and the administrative seat of the municipality of the same name, Acapulco de Juarez , which includes 169 other smaller towns in the vicinity of the city. Colloquially it is known as "Acapulco". Acapulco is located on the Pacific Ocean and, in addition to its economic importance as an industrial port, was primarily known as an international vacation spot before excessive crime (theft, drugs) pushed back tourism.
history
The oldest finds (pottery utensils and tools for grinding grain) date from the 3rd millennium BC. Later finds show curvy female figures. There are hypotheses according to which there was influence from Polynesia around the beginning of the era . Artifacts also found in the highlands of Mexico indicate tribute payments and trade links. Acapulco may never have been completely under the control of the Mixtec , Aztec, and others.
Towards the end of the pre-colonial period, Acapulco - the name comes from the Nahuatl and means “plain of dense reeds” - was no more than a perhaps somewhat larger fishing village .
After the Spanish conquered Mexico , they used Acapulco Bay as a natural harbor several times. In 1550, Spanish colonists established a permanent settlement. Acapulco soon developed into Mexico's most important Pacific port; This is where the trade routes between Spain and China and between Italy and Japan crossed - as it is called in the hymnic poem La grandeza mexicana by Bernardo de Balbuena from 1601. For a long time, the most important commodity was a large part of the silver extracted from the mines of North, Central and South America , which was exported via the Philippines ( Manila ) to China, where it was used for currency purposes.
On March 23, 1803, Alexander von Humboldt landed on his America trip in Acapulco to explore Mexico from there.
As a result of the drug war in Mexico , Acapulco became one of the most dangerous cities in the world in terms of the murder rate in the 2010s . In 2018, the city police were ousted by the military as the police themselves were penetrated by gang members and involved in kidnapping people.
geography
Acapulco is located on the Pacific coast around 300 km southwest of Mexico City . The city was founded on a narrow strip that is barely half a mile wide. It lies between the coast and the high mountains that surround the deep, semicircular bay to the north and east. In the bay there is a single smaller island, Isla El Morro, approx. 200 m from the beach. The municipal area covers an area of 1882.6 km² and also contains smaller towns that are outside the actual urban area.
The climate is tropical, with high to very high temperatures around 27 ° C all year round. 16 km long sandy beaches offer good conditions for tourism. Precipitation is concentrated in northern summer , while northern winter is mostly dry and sunny.
Acapulco is divided into Acapulco tradicional with the port and the old town as well as Acapulco dorado , the kilometer-long mile with the high-rise buildings and luxury hotels. In recent years the city in the south ( Acapulco diamante ) has been expanded with new luxury hotels.
Main beaches are Playa Icacos and Playa La Condesa . Side beaches are the Playa Caleta and the Pie de la Cuesta . Outside there is the Puerto Marques beach bay in the south.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Acapulco
Source: WMO ; wetterkontor.de
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Fuerte de San Diego
The establishment of trade routes from Spain via Mexico to the Philippines and China helped Acapulco to become an important port and the offshore Pacific region to frequent shipping. The goods from the Asian region were brought overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and from there shipped on to Spain. As a result, pirates now not only operated in the Caribbean , but also in the eastern Pacific region. They robbed the ships of the Spanish conquistadors even before they reached Acapulco and raided the city several times. To protect the movement of goods and the city, the conquistadors had the fortress Fuerte de San Diego built in 1615. Adrián Boot was responsible for the architecture and was already instrumental in the construction of the Fuerte de San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz, the counterpart on the Caribbean side of the trade route. After two years of construction, the structure protected the Spanish trade for over 150 years, until a strong earthquake destroyed the fortress in 1776. Reconstruction began two years later, but the port did not regain its old importance, also because the English had meanwhile become the most important sea power and controlled the trade routes from Europe to Asia.
During the Mexican War of Independence against Spain, José María Morelos and his troops took the fortress in a night raid in 1813. It later served as a barracks, hospital and prison. Today it houses a large museum. In addition to its own history, topics include the Spanish and Mexican-Asian trade connections as well as various pirate studies. The exhibitions are protected against the extreme heat and humidity in Acapulco by air conditioning.
From the Zócalo , the traditional central square of Mexican cities, it is only a ten-minute walk to Fuerte de San Diego. The building is still right on the harbor, only separated from the pier for the large cruise ships by a street.
population
According to the 2005 census, the population of the urban agglomeration was 616,394 inhabitants, while 717,766 people lived in the administrative municipality. The resort town of Acapulco is the largest city in the state, far larger than the state capital, Chilpancingo . In addition, Acapulco is a rapidly growing metropolis. According to the city administration, the population is growing at an annual rate of 2.1 percent, which has a significant (negative) impact on the infrastructure: Around a quarter of the residents have no access to water or electricity. 10.4 percent are illiterate (source: Municipio de Acapulco de Juárez).
A large part of Acapulco's population is made up of migrants from the state of Guerrero due to its economic appeal .
Archdiocese of Acapulco
sons and daughters of the town
- Mario Ruiz Massieu (1950–1999), ambassador
- Marcia Arriaga (* 1955), swimmer
- Jorge Campos (* 1966), soccer goalkeeper
- Paloma Jiménez (* 1983), photo model
- El Hijo del Fantasma (born 1984), wrestler
Famous Acapulco residents
- Mario Moreno Cantinflas (1911–1993), Mexican film comedian
- Johnny Weissmüller (1904–1984), Hollywood film Tarzan, died here
- B. Traven (1882–1969), German writer, lived in Acapulco for 20 years
- Teddy Stauffer (1909–1991), Swiss swing musician, lived here from 1946 until his death in 1991
- John Wayne (1907–1979), US actor
- Jane Bowles (1917–1973) and Paul Bowles (1910–1999), writer couple, lived here for a few years in the 1940s
- Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957), author of Under the Volcano , set foot on Mexican soil in Acapulco
Tourism and crime
The attraction as a holiday resort began as early as the 1930s when hotels such as El Mirador and Los Flamingos were built. Acapulco then experienced its heyday as a tourist destination in the 1960s and 1970s. After the revolution in Cuba , the US tourism industry built Acapulco, a three-hour flight from Los Angeles , as a place of entertainment. Celebrities from the show business bought holiday homes there. US hotel chains built large hotels right on the beach.
Acapulco lost its attraction in the 1990s, however, as pollution and crime became rampant. With the start of the drug war in Mexico in 2006, rival drug cartels also fought for supremacy in Acapulco, so that everyday crime increased.
The violence primarily deterred foreign tourists: while 120 to 140 cruise ships docked in Acapulco annually until 2010, the number fell to 14 in 2012. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of arriving air passengers fell from 90,000 to 21,000. Mexican test-tube vacation spots such as Cancún or southern Baja California overtook Acapulco, as the tourist zones in these cities were laid out separately from the daily Mexican “struggle for survival”.
A total of 129 buried bodies were discovered in the Acapulco area from October 2014 to July 2015 by civil rights activist Angel Jimenez Blanco and helpers. Blanco himself was shot dead on August 8, 2015.
Measured by the murder rate , Acapulco has been one of the most dangerous cities in the world since 2016. In 2016 there were 916 murders for every 700,000 inhabitants, making the city top of the list of cities in Mexico with the highest number of victims per inhabitant for the fifth year in a row.
In 2018, Acapulco was the second most dangerous city in the world in terms of homicides , after Tijuana . The murder rate in the former tourist town was 110.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018. In 2018, the city police were ousted by the military as the police themselves were penetrated by gang members and involved in kidnapping people.
economy
The Acapulco seaport is an important port of call for shipping. Cruise ships run regularly between Panama and San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, USA. Agricultural products such as sugar cane, cotton, tobacco and coffee are shipped from the city's port. The Acapulco airport offers mainly domestic flights.
The city has been the location of around 250 films.
On November 12, 2012, Mayor Luis Walton, who came into office in September 2012, declared the city to be “technically bankrupt”. According to Walton, the debt is the equivalent of 130 million euros.
Trivia
- Acapulco is famous for its cliff divers . They can be found near the La Quebrada cliffs ( map ). At certain times of the day, they jump from a height of around 35 meters into the waves of the Pacific that come in at regular intervals.
- "Mr. Acapulco “is the emigrated Swiss swing musician Teddy Stauffer , who drew many celebrities to Acapulco, e. B. Frank Sinatra , John Wayne or Rita Hayworth .
- In 1957 Liz Taylor married the film producer Mike Todd in Acapulco
- The plot of an Elvis Presley film from 1963 takes place in Acapulco and is called " Acapulco ".
- In 1967 the German thriller 48 Hours to Acapulco with Dieter Geißler and Christiane Krüger was shot under the direction of Klaus Lemke .
- The music band Ricchi e Poveri released a song called "Acapulco" in 1983, which was released on the album "Voulez-vous danser".
- In 1989, the music band Four Tops released a song called "Loco in Acapulco", which was written by Phil Collins .
- The protagonists of the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas insist on wearing "Acapulco shirts" before their trip to Las Vegas .
- Bob Dylan released the song "Going to Alcapulco", which was re-recorded for the film "I'm not there" by Calexico and Jim James.
- The singer Peter Fox sings in the song "The Last Day" from the album " Stadtaffe " by Acapulco.
- The thermal baths in Bad Schallerbach (A) are particularly based on: Pirate World Aquapulco .
- The Love Boat (series) often docks in Acapulco.
Town twinning
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Manila , Philippines (since 1969) -
Sendai , Japan (since 1973) -
Onjuku , Japan (since 1978)
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Netanya , Israel (since 1980) -
Qingdao , People's Republic of China (since 1985) -
Québec , Canada (since 1986) -
Naples , Italy (since 1986) -
Beverly Hills , United States (since 1988) -
Cannes , France (since 1998) -
Arequipa , Peru (since 1998) -
Gold Coast , Australia (since 2000) -
Panaji , India (since 2002) -
Riyadh , Saudi Arabia (since 2003) -
Santa Ana , United States (since 2005)
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Puerto Vallarta , Mexico (since 2007) -
Ordizia , Spain (since 2008) -
Sochi , Russia (since 2009) -
McAllen , United States (since 2009)
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Cuernavaca , Mexico (since 2010)
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Yalta , Ukraine (since 2010) -
Guanajuato , Mexico (since 2010)
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Ha Long , Vietnam (since 2011) -
Larnaka , Republic of Cyprus (since 2011) -
Baku , Azerbaijan (since 2011) -
Boca del Río , Mexico (since 2012)
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Puerto Quetzal , Guatemala (since 2012) -
Sosúa , Dominican Republic (since 2012) -
Eilat , Israel (since 2012)
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Callao , Peru (since 2012)
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Bandar-e Torkaman , Iran (since 2012)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ José Antonio Calderón Quijano: Historia de las fortificaciónes en Nueva España . Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, Sevilla 1953, p. 321.
- ^ Hanno Beck: Alexander von Humboldt. Vol. I: From the educational trip to the research trip 1769–1804. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1959, p. 214.
- ^ A b Nicole Anliker: Acapulco - City on the Abyss. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from January 28, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Tim van Olphen, DER SPIEGEL: Mexico: The Land of the Disappeared - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
- ↑ a b DER SPIEGEL: Mexico: Military disarms police in Acapulco - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
- ^ History of the fortress ( memento from June 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b W. Stock: Acapulco: The sunny bay of Fidel Castro . In: Stockpress.de , August 16, 2010, accessed on August 16, 2010.
- ^ A b Joshua Partlow: "Acapulco is now Mexico's murder capital" Washington Post, August 24, 2017
- ↑ Mexican activist found murdered: "The whole area is a mass grave" . ORF.at August 10, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.seguridadjusticiaypaz.org.mx/biblioteca/prensa/viewdownload/5/199
- ^ Lynn Bairstow: Acapulco, Ixtapa & Zihuatanejo. Frommer's, Hoboken, New Jersey 2007, ISBN 978-0470574874 , p. 57.
- ↑ Mexican luxury seaside resort Acapulco is broke