TravelTill

History of Puerto Escondido


JuteVilla
The area around Puerto Escondido had been inhabited by indigenous peoples for centuries, but no towns of any size were established during the pre-Hispanic or colonial eras. The bay was known as Bahia de la Escondida (Bay of the Hidden Woman) due to a legend associated with this place. The story states that a fierce pirate by the name of Andr�s Drake, brother of Sir Francis Drake, anchored his ship in the bay when the area was completely uninhabited, in order to rest for a few days unmolested by authorities.

Some weeks before, he and his crew kidnapped a young Mixtec woman from the village of Santa Mar�a Huatulco and took her prisoner. While in the bay, the woman managed to escape the cabin in which she was being held, and being a good swimmer, jumped overboard to get to shore and hide in the jungle just beyond the beach. Since then, the pirates referred to the woman as �La Escondida� (the hidden one) and every time the ship returned to these waters, the captain ordered his crew to search and area around the bay, however, they never found her. Hence, the area became known as the Bah�a de la Escondida.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was known as Punta Escondida (Hidden Point), then later, Puerto Escondido. At that time, it was just a small fishing village that intermittently was used to ship coffee. Back then, Puerto Escondido suffered from a lack of potable water, despite the fact that the Colotepec River ran nearby. This caused people to settle someplace else. Some did stay, including Nazario Castellanos and Escol�stica Valencia, who were the night watchmen for the nearby coffee plantations and considered to be the town�s first residents. There was no real town until the 1930s, when Puerto's activity as a port was more firmly established.

Puerto Escondido belonged to the municipality of Santa Mar�a Colotepec. However, eventually the residents petitioned to change jurisdiction to another nearby municipality, San Pedro Mixtepec, which
previous123next
JuteVilla