Cabo History

THE SEA OF CORTEZ,  BAJA CALIFORNIA

&

ITS ISLANDS

Many years after the arrival of the first Europeans in Baja California, the Sea of Cortez or the remelian sea as it was formally known continue to be an astonishing place which the explorer Fernando Jordan so applied called the unknown land.

In order to understand it shape, color, characteristics, an extraordinary natural richness, one has to reconstruct the stages of its geological history.

A land surface reveals traces of intense subterranean activity, while the remains of underground organisms are the undeniable sign of the emerge of the enormous land mass millions of years ago.

The earth always did not look the way it looks today, previously was a single land mass known as “angio” over millions of years this land mass split-up until it assume the shape that the continents has today.

On what is known as the territory of mexico there was a break on the continental crossed that gave rise to the baja california peninsula, together with the sea of cortez and its islands.

Within the geological map some of its islands are the result  of the folding, to which the large tectonic plates were subjected in this area.

Others are the result of the need of internal heat to escape to the surface .

Evidence   of this activity still found in the chimeneas  through  where an enormous amount of energy is released.

By absorbing the shapes and textures achieve by nature we can understand the work done  by the wind,water and sun over thousands of years, the reflects can be perceived in land in the arredaty of the dessert.

On the coast the constant waves an breeze shape the boundaries between sea and land.

Its where in the peninsula torrential rains specially during the cyclone season course enormous rocks to break-off, this is led to the formation of hundreds of different landscapes such as the reviens in the sierra de san francisco overtime this rocks  get smaller and will en-up faraway.

Nature has many other ways of doing its work, in the highlands of the north the abrupt temperature changes between night and day and crack the rocks.

Rain water then creeps into the spaces and when it tries splits the stones creating capricious shapes.

As the result of the wind that blows over the Sea of Cortez, and astonishing amount of decomposing organic particles lies to the surface becoming valuable food for fatal  plankton which enters searns as a  nutritional source of food for other organisms.

If we regard the Sea of Cortez as a geographical region bounded by the Baja California peninsula the golf of the same name and the mainland coastal region then it constitutes an unusual space in which various ecosystems coexists.

Some of the largest of this are the dessert regions sometimes called arid zones  their color like most things depends on the light but during the day ocure tones preveal this almost miraculous ecosystem supports organisms that are so highly evolved that are able to survive and stand lenty-droughts. This desserts are vertebral natural laboratories where one can observe processes of adaptation to the environment that are taken days, years or even centuries, the results are plants and animals that make excellent use of moisture when it is present.

An extraordinary example the biology of this ecosystem is the desierto del vizcaino  which forms part of the largest biosphere in the country, a large number of species whos complexity is difficult to imagine live here some of which like the buyum tree  are endemic to the area.

Conversely the area with more rainfall is the sierra de san pedro martir where some of the pics are over the 3000m high this landscape  includes extensive conifer forest and other trees such as cypress and purples.

In addition to the impressive mountains and deprovins this area still holds many secrets for nature lovers it contains enormous pails of rocks whos shapes challenge the imagination together with natural landscapes protected by the geographical insulation, this mountains overlook their inseparable companions the sea and the dessert and underneath this transparent sky you may think as those who work on the observatory suggest that you could almost touch the stars at night.

Along the coast  maindropsuats acts as nursery gardens that encourage marine plant life, the arrival of various bird species that makes this forests a paradise for photographers. Together with its islands this coastal ecosystems form part of the variatic corridor that serves as stop over migratory birds flew the winter in part of the United States and Canada.

Sailing around the Sea of Cortez and its islands accompanied by dolphins of the coast is a privilege. This islands with their outline and small base captivated the first navigators that came in search of pearls and amazons.

The sea is the site of intense activity since its bio wealth is enormous it is home of 35% of the world marine species, and then species numbered 336 but quit apart from this maps of information that biologist sow treasure there is a enjoy the images that paint a thousands words as they say.

A few years ago it was commonly believed that the existence of many creatures in the sea at the point where light gave way to dark and that are greater devast organisms could not be assumed to exist.

However over the past two decades scientist agreesores has obtained evidence that next to the cracks were chimeneas have been formed organisms survive in the ausence of light under extremes conditions of temperatures and pressure at this dept dehydrated sulfides that emanets from the chimeneas is the source of chemical energy that replaces that in sunlight.

The images we have seen the landscapes that the silence has preserved, the sunsets at the other end of the peninsula are small example of what nature must been looked like since time in memorial.

One day  many years ago when everything was still on its prestige state tireless travelers from the north up here  on the peninsula and arrived  to this  inhospitable miracle eve. They were hunters and gathers who perhaps form the part of those groups that follow the long route southern in search of food and shelter.

Until a very end they remain unconquered continuing to employee the subsistence tragedies that forced them to go from place to place in search of their pray… And land… And the sea.

Abundant evidence of this exist in the caves paintings with images and symbols of the creatures that form part of the environment and terrestrial universe.

The very existence of this paintings is prove of the level of development achieved by settlers in the region who require earth and pigment for creating their works in  addition  to the creative  and ritual aspects  involved. It is astonishing that this man knew that the pears outside need it for their works like mirrorhand in the fulios of the three virgenes volcano this vanes may also have been the source of the colors we can see in the paintings of the san francisco  caves   their survival was probably due to the discover of mines containing obsidian which they use to fashion arrowheads for capturing animals. These peoples were there at the time of Spanish arrivals and they are known as cochimies .

The reflect of the peninsula would be inhabited by explorers …and navigators, missionaries, treasure hunters and firms dedicated to extracting minerals or salt, or fishing as well as tourist and foreigners. It is true that the territory of Baja California as indomitable as the cochimies has reminiscences presence through all its history as many of those who reach its beaches and bays discovered to their dismay.

The first descriptions of the conquistadores were made from the bacils on which they sailed through the sea overtime were bare the name of the man who had in barktain in champagne in search of new territories to extend the kingdom. This California as this it was called it was a land of promises.

The braves inicious missionaries that arrived later built a missionary networks from south to north and from north to south in the lates of seventeen century the Jesuits built religious sanctuaries  designed to serve as economic and social units, the cochimies left the mountains and the dessert, turn their backs to the antian way of life and try to adept to the new one. The experience failed and right after the cochimies begin  to die-out, the Jesuits were sporran on 1767 and the missions and the Indians were abandon until the arrival years later of the Franciscans.

In the san javier  mission and “r” tree planted 300 years ago standsas awitness of an era that went to beyond utopia.

This region also known as the bounder of a heal challenge mens skill, explorers, Jesuits and adventures under what unforgettable experiences in their quest to colonize the area through all the nineteen centuries this enormous region barged by siletud and silence was varied populated.

In 1885 a french companies suddenly begin to explore a mining state a santa rosalia and by accord of fate a church brought using the technology that helpful had made famous at that time bound its way here.

Were the mine was exhausted or the mine prove unprofitable the machines stop working one day and silence fail the miners that came from other countries left taking any hopes of prosperity with them.

Nearly a 100 years ago an old sailing lezzerd carrin aman in search of adventure ran around in a lonely part of the coast called tempabichi the man settled on the sore and sar about looking for a pearl bank.

Three pieces of evidence have survive to this day a ruin palace, a photograph taken there showing this legendary character with his family and his descendants who lived out of raisin goats and searching for pearls always hoping for  a stroke of look.

In the early 21th century many areas of the peninsula remain untouched unlike other places where centuries of developments have emerged but are totally unrelated to the natural environment the natural conditions of the region are so fragile that as it was said before man intends to settle here have always end up in febrile.

Some believed that the only possible way of recreating the food full encourage between man and nature that took place 3000 years ago of which evidence still remains is doing sure that wherever land, islands and sea combine one should see  the emulate the means of preserving the environment equilibrium discovered by Fernando Jordan in his work and guarantee that man establishes a sustainable relationship with his surroundings.

The challenge remains of the coast of solitary islands in the missionary areas in the futurist cities…in the beaches that are as yet undiscovered in the transparency of the territory where today is in evidence are forced to acknowledge the existence of a hereto indomitable space that rightfully belongs to their children.