HISTORY OF CABO SAN LUCAS

Archaeological excavations have shown evidence of continual human habitation in the area for at least ten thousand years. When the firstEuropeans arrived, they encountered the Pericú people, who survived on a subsistence diet based on hunting and the gathering of seeds, roots,shellfish, and other marine resources. They called the location Yenecamú.

According to the narrative of Hatsutaro, a Japanese castaway, in the book Kaigai Ibun (written by Maekawa, Junzo and Bunzo Sakai and narrated by Jatsutaro), when he arrived at Cabo San Lucas in May 1842 there were only two houses and about twenty inhabitants. However, American authors such as Henry Edwards and John Ross Browne claim that Cabo San Lucas's founder was an Englishman named Thomas "Old Tom" Ritchie. John Ross Browne says Ritchie arrived there about 1828, while Edwards says that he died in October 1874.

A fishing village began growing in the area when in 1917, an American company built a floating platform to catch tuna and ten years later founded Compañía de Productos Marinos S.A., the plant lasted several years in operation.