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Zihuatanejo Mexico Fotografia Photographs

Photographs by Bill and Dot Bell

Zihuatanejo (Spanish pronunciation: [siwataˈnexo]) is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Politically it belongs to the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the western part of Guerrero, on the Pacific Coast, about 240 km (approximately 145 miles) northwest of Acapulco. The modern tourist resort of Ixtapa is 5 km away.

Zihuatanejo is the seat of government for the municipality and the principal community in the region. Zihuatanejo reported a population of 62,367 in the 2005 INEGI census. The municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta had a population of 104,609 and encompasses an area of 1,921.5 km² (741.89 sq mi) (source: National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing, INEGI).

The name Zihuatanejo is from the Nahuatl "Cihuatlán", meaning "place of women" because it was a matriarchal society.

In pre-Columbian times, a Tarascan leader with a title of Caltzontzin (that means: He who governs countless houses) frequented the area from the modern day Lake Pátzcuaro region.

Legend has it that he constructed the rock barrier on Playa Las Gatas (named for the harmless whiskered sharks that used to be found there) to provide a sheltered swimming area and harbor for the women and children, though the town's official historian says this is a myth. Nevertheless, that barrier, whether man-made or natural, continues to protect the beach to this day.

In 1523, a Spanish expedition under Juan Rodríguez Villafuerte arrived in Zihuatanejo, where he built the first shipyard of the New Spain and constructed several caravels and brigantines, with which he sailed on to Acapulco.

With the arrival of the Spanish, the name Cihuatlan was transformed first into Cihuatlán and then into Ciguatanejo. Zihuatanejo’s current name form has only been in use for the past couple of centuries.

The Spanish Conquistadores believed Cihuatlán to be a land to the northwest with beautiful Amazon women, gold, and precious gems, and perhaps another name for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

 

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Information about Ixtapa Zijuatanejo, Mexico

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo is part of the beautiful Pacific beaches of Mexico and unlike any other beach destination, Ixtapa Zihuatanejo gathers two entirely different places with different lifestyles. In Ixtapa Zihuatanejo you will enjoy two destinations for the price of one....more