Loreto

Loreto (or Conchó) is a resort town and municipal seat of Loreto Municipality, located on the Gulf of California in eastern Baja California Sur state, Mexico. In 2019, the city of 20,385 inhabitants is located about 350 km (220 mi) north of La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur state. The city is a tourist resort, catering mostly to American travellers, with daily flights from California to Loreto International Airport.

History

Loreto was the first Spanish colonial settlement of the Viceroyalty of New Spain on the Baja California Peninsula.

The town was founded in 1697 by Jesuit missionaries, who found a steady spring of fresh water on this site, as the Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto. The Jesuits were expelled in 1767, and control of the Baja California missions was given to the Franciscans. In 1769, the Franciscans were ordered to turn over the Baja missions to the Dominican Order and accompany the expedition of Gaspar de Portolá to establish new missions in the unexplored northern frontier that became Alta California. The expedition departed from Loreto on March 24, 1769.

The town served as the capital of the province of Las Californias from its founding until the capital was moved to Monterey on February 3, 1777. In 1768, the province had been split into Alta California (today's U.S. state of California) and Baja California. At first, the two provinces continued with a single governor. Later, the town became the headquarters for the Lieutenant Governor of California Viejo (the province of Baja California).

Culture

There are seven buildings in Loreto from the 18th to the 20th century that are considered historical monuments by the federal government; the most important is the Mission of our Lady of Loreto, which is at the start of El Camino Real ("The Royal Road"), a historic corridor that follows north along the ancient route of the Spanish missions, to its ending in Sonoma, California, USA. In the neighbouring town of San Javier are five historical buildings, most importantly the Mission of Saint Francis Xavier (Misión de San Francisco Javier), the best-preserved mission in the peninsula. The ruins of Mission of San Bruno, the first mission of Baja California, founded in 1683 by Jesuit missionary explorer Padre Eusebio Kino. It was ordered abandoned by the Spanish Crown a mere two years later. It is located twenty kilometres north of Loreto.

The Jesuit Missions Museum is located beside the Mission of our Lady of Loreto. It has a collection of religious art, weapons and tools from the 17th and 18th centuries that were used in the Spanish missions in Baja California.

In the "La Giganta" Mountain Range ("Sierra de la Giganta"), there are cave paintings in canyons and rock shelters. The nearest sites to Loreto are "Cuevas Pintas" (15 km to the west) and "La Pingüica" (60 km to the North). Some of the cave paintings from the indigenous groups of Baja California have been added to UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.