page_title: Baja California Sur
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Baja California Sur / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Historical and cultural murals by Xafrerate Sotomayer in the municipal hall in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur
context_page_description: Baja California Sur, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur, is the second-smallest Mexican state by population and the 31st admitted state of the 32 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico.
  Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the El Territorio Sur de Baja California. It has an area of 73,909 km², or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico, and occupies the southern half of the Baja California Peninsula, south of the 28th parallel, plus the uninhabited Rocas Alijos in the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered to the north by the state of Baja California, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the east by the Gulf of California. The state has maritime borders with Sonora and Sinaloa to the east, across the Gulf of California.
  The state is home to the tourist resorts of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. Its largest city and capital is La Paz.
context_section_description: The missions' influence had waned by the start of the nineteenth century, with most closing. However, many of the mission facilities became the centers for ranching operations and some agriculture. Without the protection of the monks, and the lack of governmental control, the indigenous peoples of this time were abused by the ranchers.
  In the early 19th century, Baja California was divided into four municipalities, Loreto, San José del Cabo, San PeroMartir and Santa Gertrudis.
  The southern peninsula's isolation kept it out of the fighting during the Mexican War of Independence. Although this war ended in 1821, the remoteness of the area allowed the Spanish to maintain control of the southern peninsula until 1822. Afterwards, it was divided into four municipalities by Guadalupe Victoria and governor José María Echendía.
  Loreto was the original capital of the peninsula until 1830, when destruction of the town by heavy rains forced the government's relocation to La Paz, which has been the capital since.
  The United States invaded the peninsula during the Mexican–American War and wanted it as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but the Mexican government succeeded in keeping control of the territory. In 1853, William Walker and 45 other Americans captured La Paz. However, due to lack of official U.S. support they were quickly driven out by Mexican forces.
  During the Reform War, Liberal forces under General Manuel Marquez de Leon and others captured La Paz. French forces then invaded the country to support the Conservative cause, and Governor Felix Gilbert recognized Emperor Maximilian. However, Mexican forces under Benito Juarez forced the French out, with Coronel Clodomiro Cota, recapturing the peninsula from the French.
  The division of the peninsula into north and south occurred in 1888 by the federal government under Porfirio Diaz.
caption: One of the historical murals in the municipal hall of San Jose del Cabo
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:17 19:35:47", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "37544", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "37672", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8607", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:07:17 19:35:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:07:17 19:35:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "47/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "38", "EXIF SubSecTime": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "6016", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "37512", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "57", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}