San Ignacio is a town in

Mulegé Municipality Mulegé is a city in Mulegé Municipality, Baja California Sur, situated on the Gulf of California. Located on the Gulf of California, the population was 3,821 according to the Mexican census of 2010. History Indigenous peoples had lived in t ...

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

. The town had a 2010 census population of 667.

History

San Ignacio grew at the site of the

Cochimí The Cochimí were the indigenous inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south. Information on Cochimí customs and beliefs has been preserved in the brief observati ...

settlement of Kadakaamán. The

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán Mission San Ignacio Kadakaaman ( es, Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán) was founded by the Jesuit missionary Juan Bautista de Luyando in 1728 at the site of the modern town of San Ignacio, Baja California Sur, Mexico. History The site for the fut ...

was founded in 1728 by Fr. Juan Bautista Luyando.

Geography

It is located on

Mexican Federal Highway 1 Federal Highway 1 ( es, Carretera Federal 1, Fed. 1) is a free (libre) part of the federal highway corridors () of Mexico, and the highway follows the length of the Baja California Peninsula from Tijuana, Baja California, in the north to ...

between

Guerrero Negro Guerrero Negro is the largest town located in the municipality of Mulegé in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur (BCS). It had a population of 14,316 in the 2015 census. The town is served by Guerrero Negro Airport. Whale Festival The ...

and Santa Rosalía. One can travel on Mexican Federal Highway 1 by vehicle from Ensenada to arrive in San Ignacio. Highway 1 is a well-maintained, four-lane, toll highway from Tijuana to Ensenada. South of Ensenada, Highway 1 becomes a narrow (but relatively well-maintained) two-lane highway. Slow but steady progress is being made to support the tourism industry and Pemex gas stations are now located in every major town through which Highway 1 travels on the way to San Ignacio, both from the North and from the South. Driving only during daylight hours is recommended, due to livestock that frequently cross the road at night, and decreased visibility of the narrow and winding roads through the mountain sides. The nearest airports are located to the north at

Guerrero Negro Airport Guerrero Negro Airport is an airport located 6 km north of Guerrero Negro in neighboring Ensenada Municipality of southern Baja California state, Mexico. It handles air traffic for the City of Guerrero Negro, located in Mulegé Municipali ...

, or to the south at

Loreto International Airport Loreto International Airport is an international airport located in the city of Loreto, in Loreto Municipality of Baja California Sur state, northwestern Mexico. Services The airport handles national and international air traffic for the cit ...

in Loreto.

Geology

The locale has certain

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic soils, providing clues as to the volcanic history of this region. There are a variety of desert flora and fauna in the vicinity of San Ignacio, notably including the elephant tree, (''

Bursera microphylla ''Bursera microphylla'', known by the common name elephant tree in English or 'torote' in Spanish, is a tree in genus ''Bursera''. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a thickened, water-storing or caudiciform trunk. It is found in ...

'').C. Michael Hogan. 2009 At San Ignacio, Baja California's arid Central Desert terrain gives way to a large grove of lush green date palms. A large spring-fed pond and small river on the outskirts of town feeds into the central plaza and village next to the eighteenth-century Jesuit mission. San Ignacio serves as the gateway to

San Ignacio Lagoon San Ignacio Lagoon (Laguna San Ignacio) is a lagoon located in Mulegé Municipality of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, 59 kilometers (37 mi) from San Ignacio, Mexico, and Highway 1. It is one of the winter sanctuaries of the eastern ...

, the winter time sanctuary of the Pacific

gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and bree ...

References

Bibliography

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Elephant Tree: Bursera microphylla'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
* Sigismundo Taraval. 1967. ''Indian Uprising in Lower California 1734-1737'', page 31

External links

www.AllAboutBaja.com
Learn all about San Ignacio and the magnificent Baja peninsula. *

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

{{Authority control Populated places in Baja California Sur Mulegé Municipality Oases