is a city in San Quintín Municipality,

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, located on the

Pacific Coast of Mexico The Pacific Coast of Mexico or West Coast of Mexico stretches along the coasts of western Mexico at the Pacific Ocean and its Gulf of California, Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). Geography Baja California peninsula On the western Baja Califor ...

. The city had a population of 4777 in 2011. San Quintín is an important agricultural center for Baja California.

History

In the early 1800s the

sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of ...

s of San Quintín Bay were targeted by a series of joint ventures between American maritime fur traders and the Russian–American Company (RAC). The first such venture involved the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based maritime fur trading merchant ship ''O'Cain''. RAC Chief Manager Alexander Baranov supplied ''O'Cain'' with twenty baidarkas (Aleutian kayaks) and about forty indigenous Alaskan sea otter hunters, plus two overseers to manage the hunters and hunting, Afanasii Shvetsov and Timofei Tarakanov. ''O'Cain'' sailed to San Quintín Bay and stayed for over three months while Tarakanov and Shvetsov led indigenous sea otter hunting parties all along the coast between Mission Rosario and Misión Santo Domingo de la Frontera. Several other US-Russian joint ventures followed. Within a few years the sea otters of Baja California were almost extinct. In the 1880s, a British land company with plans for a wheat empire purchased much of the San Quintín area from the US–based International Land Company (ILC); at the time, ILC owned most of northern Baja. In response to promises of agricultural wealth, around a hundred English colonists purchased subdivided land tracts from the parent company, planted

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, and constructed a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

. For

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

transportation, the English built a pier on inner Bahiá San Quintín and began constructing a railway to link up with the Southern Pacific tracks to the north in California. Thirty kilometers of track were laid, including a rail causeway from the west bank of inner Bahiá San Quintín, before the colony failed. A 17-ton, six-wheeled locomotive still lies underwater at the mouth of the bay, the remains of a loading accident for the aborted railway. A drought devastated one of the first wheat harvests, and by 1900 all the colonists abandoned San Quintín. Remnants of the

, the railroad causeway, the pier, and an English cemetery still stand along the perimeter of the inner bay. The English names on the cemetery's heavily weathered wooden crosses have faded from sight, and more recent Mexican graves are beginning to crowd out their neglected English counterparts. Recently there has been foreign (especially Chinese) investment in San Quintin for the development of

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

harvesting and export (especially

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

). A tourist hotel is also planned. San Quintín has been running an abalone conservation project, a project to repopulate depleted areas and prevent extinction. The conservation process involves farm growing abalone for two-three years and put back into its natural habitat. Farmers wait three years after that, and abalone is extracted for

commercialization Commercialisation or commercialization is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into e ...

. On October 28, 2015, residents voted 17,580 to 7,548 in favor of San Quintin becoming its own municipality. On February 27, 2020, San Quintin separated from the municipality of Ensenada and became the state's sixth municipality. The agricultural plain roughly 50 kilometers from Camalu to Vicente Carranza, recorded a total of roughly 80,000 people in 2010.

Geography

Climate

The temperatures tend to run warmer in summer and cooler in winter compared to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, but out along the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

coastline about west of San Quintin, the climate is virtually identical to San Diego's weather, year-round.

Economy

San Quintín is home to the largest agricultural company in Baja California- Los Pinos.

Aquaculture

In the realm of aquaculture, there are immense possibilities for growth. The extensive shoreline along the Pacific and the Sea of Cortes is in ideal condition, both biologically and economically speaking. The development and adaptation of aquaculture technology by Baja Californian institutions and the vocation of cultivating marine fish and

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

have influenced the practice, making it a reality in present-day Baja California. Due to the development in the cultivation of

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of Seawater, salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in Marine (ocean), marine or Brackish water, brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly Calcification, calcified, a ...

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

and

s, aquaculture has secured its place in the fishing industry and the demand for fishing products is increasing on a global scale. Baja California is a pioneer in the practice and at the forefront in aquaculture. Natural resources are at their maximum exploitation or have entered over-exploitation.

Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

has proved to be an answer to this crisis, as it is the area in the primary food sector where there are significant records of growth. Fishing has become a tradition for many in Baja California, being distinguished worldwide for its high quality and variety. Business is conducted with distant locations such as Europe and Asia in addition to the United States and parts of Mexico. There is infrastructure in fisheries of all kinds, including technological, scientific, and specialized educational infrastructure. Ensenada has many processing plants, canning machines, freezers, as well as fresh and live products, and gel production from seaweed. Several factories produce packages of different materials, such as tin cans, cardboard boxes, and extracted polyethylene packaging. The adjacent industrial areas in Baja California also facilitate the acquisition of equipment and spare parts. There are shipyards and workshops to support the fishing industry as well as prestigious research centers for aquaculture that prepare students from a specialized secondary education, through technology programs in high school focusing on oceanography, to doctoral degrees in science. Resources have increased substantially in recent years, considering the aquaculture industry in Baja California began just two decades ago. To date, significant progress has already been made, with the greatest development being the cultivation of the oyster in San Quintín, with Ostiones Guerrero, SA de CV being the oldest and largest producer of both Pacific Gigas and Kumamoto oysters in Bahia Falsa and home to La Ostionera, its signature restaurant on the bay where locals and tourists alike come to enjoy fresh oysters and other "mariscos". The local oyster harvests produce over 1000 tons annually as well as mussels, abalone and other local species. The Bahia Falsa is certified by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

of the United States which guarantees the quality of the products and facilitates the commercial concurrence to the markets of that country. In addition to the natural wealth and the relative absence of pollution, it shares a border with a California, an important market. The most diverse shipments of seafood from Baja California cross the international border between Tijuana, B.C. and San Diego, California. The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is located 138 miles from the border with Mexico. From there, regular shipments of live fish and fresh seafood are made, using a route from the Baja California fishing fields ending at the

Tsukiji fish market is a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors in Tokyo. Located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo between the Sumida River and the upmarket Ginza shopping district, the area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associ ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

Media

XEQIN-AM, a government-run indigenous

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station that broadcasts in

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerre ...

, Zapotec and Triqui, is based in San Quintín. The Coatecas Altas Zapotec dialect is spoken in the surrounding areas.

Transportation

By land, San Quintín is communicated by the Federal Highway 1, which runs from

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Luke the Evangelist, Saint Luke Cape (geography), Cape"), also known simply as Cabo, is a Resort town, resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Baja ...

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

. By air, the San Quintín Valley is served by several airstrips: * Cielito Lindo. * El Buen Pastor Airstrip * El Pedregal. * Los Pinos. * Rancho Magaña. The San Quintín Airport is the only paved

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

in the valley, but is a military field, so it is used for

military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...

purposes only. The closest airports of entry are Ensenada and

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Quintin, Baja California Cities in San Quintín Municipality Seaside resorts in Baja California Beaches of Baja California Municipality seats in Baja California