Yenecamú

Yenecamú is the Pericú name for Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Here the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California beside rocky headlands and a sheltered bay. The Pericú used the sea as well as the land, obtaining fish and shellfish alongside plants and animals gathered or hunted inland.

Spanish expeditions reached the peninsula in the 1530s. In later centuries the cape became a landmark for ships sailing between Asia and New Spain: the Manila galleons approached the coast after crossing the Pacific, and their valuable cargoes attracted pirates. The peninsula’s southern inhabitants experienced profound changes as missionaries and colonists expanded their presence in the eighteenth century. The cape marked the approach to the long American coast of their return voyage.

The later city of La Paz lies here.