Todos Santos (; "All Saints") is a small coastal town in the foothills of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Sierra de la Laguna The Sierra de la Laguna is a mountain range at the southern end of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico, and is the southernmost range of the Peninsular Ranges System. It is located in La Paz Municipality and Los Cabos Municipality of sout ...

Mountains, on the

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

coast side of the Baja California Peninsula, about an hour's drive north of

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...

on Highway 19 and an hour's drive southwest from

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

. Todos Santos is located near the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. The population was 6,485 at the census of 2015. It is the second-largest town in the municipality.

History

The mission at what is now Todos Santos,

Misión Santa Rosa de las Palmas Misión Santa Rosa de las Palmas, also known as Todos Santos Mission, was founded by the Roman Catholic Jesuits in 1733 and dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima. After 1748, the mission was known as Nuestra Señora del Pilar de la Paz. The mission was ...

, was founded by father Jaime Bravo in 1723. In 1724, it was renamed Nuestra Señora del Pilar de La Paz. Located across the street to the southwest from the small town plaza, this mission contains the statue of the Virgin of Pilar, which is the focus of Todos Santos's main festival in November. During the

Mexican American War Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

, the

Skirmish of Todos Santos Skirmish of Todos Santos (March 30, 1848), was the last clash of the Mexican–American War and ended eighteen months of hostilities in Baja California. Raid on San Antonio Following the relief of the Siege of San José del Cabo, Colonel Henr ...

, the last battle of the war, was fought near the town on March 30, 1848. During the 19th century, following the

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

of the missions, Todos Santos thrived as the Baja sugarcane capital, supporting eight sugar mills at the end of the 19th century. Only one existed by the time the town’s freshwater spring dried up in 1950, and that last mill closed in 1965. Todos Santos faced a bleak future until the spring came back to life in 1981 and the Mexican Government paved Highway 19 in the mid-1980s. The highway brought tourists and the rich farmlands have been revived. The town now prospers from farming vegetables, chilies, avocados, papayas and mangoes, as well as from fishing and ranching.

Contemporary Todos Santos

More recently, there has been a gradual increase in tourist activity and a boom in real estate development. Handicraft shops, owner-operated art galleries featuring landscape paintings of local scenes (some artists from Guadalajara and other parts of Mexico also exhibit works in Todos Santos), upscale restaurants, boutique hotels and restored colonial buildings have contributed to the gentrification and redevelopment of the town. There are a few annual festivals, including the Festival de Cine and the Todos Santos Music Festival. The Hotel California is a favorite stop because of the name association with the song made famous by the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, even though the song does not specifically reference this particular hotel, nor any other existing hotel. On May 1, 2017, the Eagles band filed a lawsuit against the Hotel California in the United States District Court for the District of Central California alleging Trademark Infringement in Violation of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125 and Common Law Unfair Competition and Trademark Infringement. The Eagles were seeking relief and damages. The lawsuit was settled in 2018: the hotel continues to use the name, abandoned efforts to apply for a trademark in the United States, and now expressly denies any connection with the song or the band. Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, was named a "

Pueblo Mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

" in 2006.

Notable residents

Félix Agramont Cota Félix Agramont Cota (November 17, 1918 – May 10, 2013) was Mexican politician, agricultural engineer, and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Agramont oversaw the creation of Baja California Sur (BCS) as the 31st Mexican ...

, first

Governor of Baja California Sur The governor is the chief executive of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. The present governor is Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío of Morena, who took office on September 10, 2021. Governors of Baja California Sur Baja California Sur was adm ...

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his car ...

, musician"Peter Buck in Todos Santos"
- YouTube, April 24, 2015

References

Sources

ElCalendariodeTodosSantos.com
Todos Santos' only English language magazine - full issues online.
2010 census tables: INEGI
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática {{Authority control Populated places in Baja California Sur Pueblos Mágicos La Paz Municipality (Baja California Sur)