Huatulco Bays

Huatulco's sheltered bays belonged to the Pacific trading coast of Oaxaca, connecting Indigenous communities and inland routes with shipping along New Spain's western shore. Huatulco and nearby Tehuantepec were important ports before and after Spanish conquest. Under colonial rule, their region became involved in the movement of goods and people between New Spain, South America and the wider Pacific.

That commerce also attracted raiders. In 1579 Francis Drake entered Huatulco during his circumnavigation. Letters from Viceroy Martín Enríquez and the Audiencia reported his arrival, thefts and misconduct in the church to the Spanish crown. Subsequent expeditions repeatedly visited or attacked the coast, including those of Thomas Cavendish and other English, Dutch and French commanders between the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The bays consequently offered both access to supplies and exposure to foreign ships. Their history joined local coastal society to the opportunities and violence of expanding Pacific maritime networks.