Editing Acapulco (section)

=== 16th century ===
[[File:Yope Acapulco.png|thumb|upright=.95|[[Codex Tudela]]: "Acapulco's Yope Indian, at the South Sea".]]
There are two stories about how Acapulco bay was discovered by Europeans. The first states that two years after the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]], [[Hernán Cortés]] sent explorers west to find gold. The explorers had subdued this area after 1523, and Captain Saavedra Cerón was authorized by Cortés to found a settlement here. The other states that the bay was discovered on December 13, 1526, by a small ship named the El Tepache Santiago captained by Santiago Guevara.<ref name="encmuc" />

The first [[encomendero]] was established in 1525 at ''Cacahuatepec'', which is still part of the modern Acapulco municipality. In 1531, a number of Spaniards, most notably Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte, left the Oaxaca coast and founded the village of Villafuerte where the city of Acapulco now stands. Villafuerte was unable to subdue the local native peoples, and this eventually resulted in the Yopa Rebellion in the region of ''Cuautepec''. Hernán Cortés was obligated to send Vasco Porcayo to negotiate with the indigenous people giving concessions. The province of Acapulco became the encomendero of Rodriguez de Villafuerte who received taxes in the form of cocoa, cotton and corn.<ref name="encmuc" />

Cortés established Acapulco as a major port by the early 1530s, with the first major road between Mexico City and the port constructed by 1531. The wharf, named Marqués, was constructed by 1533 between Bruja Point and Diamond Point. Soon after, the area was made an "alcadia" (major province or town).<ref name="encmuc" />

[[File:Carl Saltzmann - View of Acapulco, 1879.jpg|thumb|upright=.95|left|alt=Painting of a sandy beach, sun setting behind it, seen from the water. People sit by a hut with two longboats. A woman carries a basket on her head up the beach toward a tile-roof house. Lush forest is silhouetted against the late sunset.|''View of Acapulco'', 1879, oil painting by [[Carl Saltzmann]].]]
Spanish trade in the [[Far East]] would give Acapulco a prominent position in the economy of [[New Spain]]. In 1550, thirty Spanish families were sent to live here from Mexico City to have a permanent base of European residents.<ref name="encmuc" /> [[Galleon]]s started arriving in Acapulco from Asia by 1565. Acapulco would become the second most important port, after [[Veracruz, Veracruz|Veracruz]], due to its direct trade with the Philippines. This trade would focus on the yearly [[Manila-Acapulco Galleon]] trade, which was the nexus of all kinds of communications between New Spain, Europe and Asia. In 1573, the port was granted the monopoly of the Manila trade.<ref name="apiacapulco" />