Alfredo

Mazatlán (Spanish pronunciation: [masaˈtlan]) is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio (municipality) for which the city serves as the municipal seat is also calledMazatlán. It is located at 23°13′N 106°25′W / 23.217°N 106.417°W / 23.217; -106.417 on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.
Mazatlán is a Nahuatl wordmeaning "place of the deer." The city was founded in 1531. By the mid-1800s a large group of immigrants had arrived from Germany. These new citizens developed Mazatlán into a thriving commercial seaport,importing equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines. It served as the capital of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873. They also influenced the music, banda, which is an alteration of Bavarian folk music,and also started the Pacifico Brewery on March 14, 1900.
Mazatlán, with a population of 352,471 (city) and 403,888 (municipality) as of the 2005 census, is the second-largest city in the state (afterCuliacán) and Mexico's largest commercial port. It is also a popular tourist destination,with its beaches lined with resort hotels. A car ferry plies its trade across the Gulf of California fromMazatlán to La Paz, Baja California Sur. The municipality has a land area of 3,068.48 km² (1,184.75 sq mi) and includes smaller outlying communities such as Villa Unión, La Noria, El Quelite, El Habal andmany other small villages.
The City of Mazatlán has the dubious distinction of being the second city in the world after Tripoli, Libya, to suffer aerial bombardment (although the local historicaldisplay at the plazuela claims that Mazatlán was the first). During the Mexican revolution of 1910-17 General Venustiano Carranza (later president), intent on taking the city of Mazatlán, ordered abi-plane to drop a crude bomb of nails and dynamite wrapped in leather on the target of Neveria Hill adjacent to the downtown area of Mazatlán. The crude bomb landed off target on the city streets of...