On the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Guerrero, is a city that can boast having some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Mexico. It has been popular among American and Mexican tourists. This is the city of Acapulco.
Today, this city has a population of almost 700,000 people, but as recent as 1940, only had a population of about 5,000 people. So what caused the dramatic rise of this city?
It all started, according to some historians, when the Prince of Wales visited the area in the 1920’s, about ten years after the Mexican Revolution, and was so impressed with the beauty of the place that, when he went back to Europe, he told others of this place. Soon, many of Europe’s elite were traveling to Acapulco to take advantage of its beautiful beaches, brilliant skies, and mountainous backdrop. After World War 2, celebrities from Hollywood and other wealthy Americans were vacationing at this scenic place, thus giving rise to some of the first hotels on Acapulco’s beaches.
It was about this time, in the 1950’s-60’s, that investments were made to improve, increase, and modernize Acapulco’s ports, thus helping to give rise to the ports that were originally started in the 16th century by Spanish Conquistadors.
By the 1980’s-90’s, a lot of the beautiful hotels originally built in the 1950’s for the wealthy were being overshadowed by new modern hotels that catered to the middle classes of the United States and Mexico. At about the same time, new high-rise apartment buildings were being built on the beaches on the south end of the city, helping to draw more people into Acapulco. Also, a new route opened up from Acapulco to Mexico City, helping to bring even more tourists to the city – this time, from Mexico’s capital region.
Unfortunately, the 21st century has seen the rise of rival drug gangs who have made the city much more dangerous than it used to be. So, if you decide to visit this beautiful city on a natural bay overlooking the Pacific Ocean, make sure you research how safe it is at that point in time.
Thus tourism and trade through this city’s ports helped to cause this city to explode, to rise from obscurity to become one of Mexico’s largest cities.
