History Culiacán

1 history

1.1 precolonial period
1.2 foundation
1.3 after world war ii

history
precolonial period

the accepted translation colhuacan place of adore crooked god coltzin . other translation may come word coahuacan, can mean palace of snakes . before spaniards arrived europe, site had been small indian settlement since 628 when amerindians had first founded it.

foundation

the city existing today founded in 1531 spanish captain nuño beltrán de guzmán , named san miguel de culiacán. in same decade, terminus of long journey of alvar núñez cabeza de vaca , company among natives. explorer francisco vásquez de coronado set out culiacán explore southwestern united states. settlers europe came culiacán, , in following centuries, culiacán continued quiet town. after federal government built dams in adjacent areas in 1950s did agriculture explode , city began grow exponentially. of mexico s largest agricultural conglomerates operate in vast , fertile coastal plains. agroindustrial economy continues single largest contributor region s legal economy. while vast majority of technical , skilled labor educated locally, once-seasonal field labor pool experiences yearly shortage of workers. international patterns of migration draw laborers deep within mexico s south northern border states , united states.

after world war ii

culiacán municipal palace (city hall)

beginning in late 1950s, culiacán became birthplace of incipient underground economy based on illicit drugs exported united states. completion of pan-american highway , regional airport in 1960s accelerated expansion of workable distribution infrastructure enterprising few families later come dominate international drug cartels along mexico s pacific northwest.