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History of San Felipe


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The Baja California Peninsula was discovered by Hern�n Cort�s on May 3, 1535. The history of San Felipe began later with the expeditions of Francisco de Ulloa, one of Cort�s's captains who navigated the bay in September 1535. In 1536, Hernando de Alarc�n and Domingo Castillo explored the region and made the first detailed map of the peninsula, giving San Felipe its original name, Santa Catalina.

After the first expeditions were long forgotten, Father Eusebio Kino rediscovered the Baja California peninsula in 1701. Juan de Ugarte later built the first ship in Baja California and explored the area, arriving in San Felipe on July 5, 1721. Twenty-five years later Father Ferdinand Kon�?ak arrived and christened the bay San Felipe de Jes�s. In 1766, Wenceslaus Linck was the first person to reach San Felipe by land, and in 1772 the Lt. Governor of the Californias, Jos� Joaqu�n de Arrillaga, began to use it as a port from 1794. He also established the land route between San Felipe and Ensenada through Valle de la Trinidad.

It was not until 1925, during the administration of General Abelardo L. Rodr�guez, territorial governor, that San Felipe began to incorporate, when the first fishing camps were established and the government organized the first sub-delegation and school. Octavio Vega Ruiz was appointed sub-delegate and the basis for the growth and development of San Felipe were established during his administration from 1926 to 1942.

The sea transportation of both people and cargo also contributed to the integration of San Felipe as a township. Among the most celebrated ships of the era were Jos� Ascolani's Trieste, and Pacita and R�o Colorado, owned by Arnulfo Liera. By the end of the 1920s, San Felipe had nearly 100 permanent inhabitants, and in 1940 appeared for the first time in the census with 287 inhabitants.

By 1947, the Compa��a Industrial del Golfo de Cort�s, owned by Jos� Mar�a Rodr�guez Luj�n, bought the land from Guillermo
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