The highway passes through or near several historic towns. El Triunfo was a center for gold and silver mining in the mid 1800's, and San Antonio, where silver was discovered in 1748, served briefly as capital of the Californias, before the capital was moved to La Paz in 1830. The highway drops out of the mountains to the Cortez coast at Los Barriles on the East Cape, then cuts inland again, south of the mountains toward Santiago. Santiago, on the Tropic of Cancer, was the site of some of Baja's bloodiest Indian uprisings, resulting in virtual abandonment of the mission there by the end of the 1800's. Today the town is a thriving farming community, and home to the only zoo in Baja south of Mexicali.
Cages are tiny and life rather bleak for residents here.
Animal lovers might want to avoid the zoo, or consider making donations to improve conditions for its residents. Downtown Cabo San Lucas, and the end of the Baja Highway. Pirates used the estuary for fresh water and shelter, hiding nearby to ambush the galleons, loaded with Mexican gold and silver, sailing from Acapulco to the Philippines to buy silks and spices. That prompted King Philip II of Spain to charter soldiers and Jesuit missionaries to begin colonization of California to protect Spanish shipping. Medano Beach and Cabo's Resort Row, on the Cortez side of Land's End.