Acapulco in the context of Petatlán

The Manila galleon (Spanish: Galeón de Manila; Tagalog: Galeon ng Maynila) are the Spanish trading ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year between the ports of Manila and Acapulco from the late 16th to early 19th century. The term "Manila galleon" can also mean the trade route itself between Manila and Acapulco that was operational from 1565 to 1815.

The Manila galleon trade route was inaugurated in 1565 after the Augustinian friar and navigator Andrés de Urdaneta pioneered the tornaviaje or return route from the Philippines to Mexico. Urdaneta and Alonso de Arellano made the first successful round trips that year, by taking advantage of the Kuroshio Current. The galleons set sail from Cavite, in Manila Bay, at the end of June or the first week of July, sailing through the northern Pacific and reaching Acapulco in March to April of the next calendar year. The return route from Acapulco passes through lower latitudes closer to the equator, stopping over in the Marianas, then sailing onwards through the San Bernardino Strait off Cape Espiritu Santo in Samar and then to Manila Bay and anchoring again off Cavite by June or July. The trade using "Urdaneta's route" lasted until 1815, when the Mexican War of Independence broke out. The majority of these galleons were built and loaded in shipyards in Cavite, utilizing native hardwoods like the Philippine teak, with sails produced in Ilocos, and with the rigging and cordage made from salt-resistant Manila hemp. The vast majority of the galleon's crew consisted of Filipino natives; many of whom were farmers, street children, or vagrants press-ganged into service as sailors. The officers and other skilled crew were usually Spaniards (a high percentage of whom were of Basque descent). The galleons were state vessels and thus the cost of their construction and upkeep was borne by the Spanish Crown.

Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.

Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 31 states that compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 85 municipalities. The state has a population of about 3.5 million people. It is located in southwest Mexico and is bordered by the states of Michoacán to the north and west, the State of Mexico and Morelos to the north, Puebla to the northeast and Oaxaca to the east. In addition to the capital city, Chilpancingo and the largest city Acapulco, other cities in Guerrero include Petatlán, Ciudad Altamirano, Taxco, Iguala, Ixtapa, and Zihuatanejo. Today, it is home to a number of indigenous communities, including the Nahuas, Mixtecs, Tlapanecs, Amuzgos, and formerly Cuitlatecs. It is also home to communities of Afro-Mexicans in the Costa Chica region.

The state was named after Vicente Guerrero, one of the most prominent leaders in the Mexican War of Independence and the second President of Mexico. It is the only Mexican state named after a president. The modern entity did not exist until 1849, when it was carved out of territories from the states of Mexico, Puebla, and Michoacán.

Andrés de Urdaneta (1508 – June 3, 1568) was a maritime explorer for the Spanish Empire of Basque heritage, who became an Augustinian friar. At the age of seventeen, he formed part of the Loaísa expedition to the Spice Islands where he spent more than eight years. Around 1540 he settled in New Spain and became an Augustinian friar in 1552. At the request of Philip II he joined the Legazpi expedition for a return to the Philippines. In 1565, Urdaneta discovered and plotted an easterly route across the Pacific Ocean, from the Philippines to Acapulco in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The route made it practical for Spain to colonize the Philippines and was used as the Manila galleon trade route for more than two hundred years.

He played an important role in establishing the Catholic faith in the Philippines and was considered a "protector of the Indians" for his treatment of the Philippine natives.

The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (Spanish: Acta de Independencia del Imperio Mexicano) is the document by which Mexico declared independence from Spain’s Spanish Empire. This founding document of the Mexican nation was drafted in the National Palace in Mexico City on September 28, 1821, by Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros, secretary of the Provisional Governmental Board.

Three copies of the act were executed. One was destroyed in a fire in 1909. The other two copies are in the Museo Histórico de Acapulco Fuerte de San Diego in Acapulco and in the General Archive of the Nation in Mexico City.

Hurricane Marie is tied as the seventh-most intense Pacific hurricane on record, attaining a barometric pressure of 918 mbar (hPa; 27.11 inHg) in August 2014. The fourteenth named storm, ninth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane of the season, Marie began as a tropical wave that emerged off the west coast of Africa over the Atlantic Ocean on August 10. Some organization of shower and thunderstorm activity initially took place, but dry air soon impinged upon the system and imparted weakening. The wave tracked westward across the Atlantic and Caribbean for several days. On August 19, an area of low pressure consolidated within the wave west of Central America. With favorable atmospheric conditions, convective activity and banding features increased around the system and by August 22, the system acquired enough organization to be classified as Tropical Depression Thirteen-E while situated about 370 mi (595 km) south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. Development was initially fast-paced, as the depression acquired tropical storm-force winds within six hours of formation and hurricane-force by August 23. However, due to some vertical wind shear its intensification rate stalled, and for a time it remained a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale.

On August 24, Marie developed an eye and rapidly intensified to a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). At its peak, the hurricane's gale-force winds spanned an area 575 mi (925 km) across. Marie subsequently underwent an eyewall replacement cycle on August 25 which prompted steady weakening. Over the next several days, Marie progressively degraded to below hurricane strength as it moved into an increasingly hostile environment with cooler waters and a more stable atmosphere. On August 29, after having lost all signs of organized deep convection, Marie degenerated into a remnant low. The large system gradually wound down over the following several days, with winds subsiding below gale-force on August 30. The remnant cyclone eventually lost a well defined center and dissipated on September 2 about 1,200 mi (1,950 km) northeast of Hawaii.

The 5.5 Metre was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 1968 Summer Olympics program in Acapulco. Seven races were scheduled. 42 sailors, on 14 boats, from 14 nations competed.

Clipperton Island (French: La Passion–Clipperton [la pasjɔ̃ klipœʁtɔn]; Spanish: Isla de la Pasión), also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an 8.9 km (3.4 sq mi) uninhabited French coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The only French territory in the North Pacific, Clipperton is 10,675 km (6,633 mi) from Paris, France; 5,400 km (2,900 nmi) from Papeete, French Polynesia; and 1,280 km (690 nmi) from Acapulco, Mexico.

Clipperton was documented by French merchant-explorers in 1711 and formally claimed as part of the French protectorate of Tahiti in 1858. Despite this, American guano miners began working the island in the early 1890s. As interest in the island grew, Mexico asserted a claim to the island based upon Spanish records from the 1520s that may have identified the island. Mexico established a small military colony on the island in 1905, but during the Mexican Revolution contact with the mainland became infrequent, most of the colonists died, and lighthouse keeper Victoriano Álvarez instituted a short, brutal reign as "king" of the island. Eleven survivors were rescued in 1917 and Clipperton was abandoned.

Chilpancingo de los Bravo (commonly shortened to Chilpancingo; Spanish pronunciation: [tʃilpanˈsiŋɡo] ; Nahuatl: Chilpantzinco (pronounced [t͡ʃiɬpanˈt͡siŋko])) is the capital and second-largest city of the Mexican state of Guerrero. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people. The municipality has an area of 2,338.4 km (902.9 sq mi) in the south-central part of the state, situated in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains, on the bank of the Huacapa River. The city is on Federal Highway 95, which connects Acapulco to Mexico City. It is served by Chilpancingo National Airport, which is one of the five airports in the state.

Ixtapa (Spanish pronunciation: [iksˈta.pa], Nahuatl pronunciation) is a resort city in Mexico, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the state of Guerrero. It is located 5 km (3 mi) northwest of the municipal seat, Zihuatanejo, and 245 km (150 mi) northwest of Acapulco.

In the 2020 INEGI Census, the population of Ixtapa was 13,806.

Zihuatanejo (Spanish pronunciation: [siwataˈnexo]), and/or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is the fourth largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It was known by 18th-century English mariners as Chequetan and/or Seguataneo. Politically the city belongs to the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the western part of Guerrero, but both are commonly referred to as Zihuatanejo. It is on the Pacific Coast, about 240 km (150 miles) northwest of Acapulco. Zihuatanejo belongs to a section of the Mexican Pacific Coast known as the Costa Grande. This town has been developed as a tourist attraction along with the modern tourist resort of Ixtapa, 5 km (3.1 mi) away. However, Zihuatanejo has kept its traditional town feel. The town is located on a well-protected bay which is popular with private boat owners during the winter months. In 2023, Zihuatanejo was designated a Pueblo Mágico by the Mexican government, recognizing its cultural and historical importance. In fact, the 2020, Zihuatanejo de Azueta population was 126,001 inhabitants (48.8% men and 51.2% women), a 6.59% increase from 2010.

The name Zihuatanejo has two possible origins. One origin might be from the Purépecha language meaning "water of the yellow mountain"; another possible origin might be from Nahuatl (Cihuacan) meaning "place of women." Cihuacan, or "place of women", refers to the western paradise of the Nahuatl universe, the home of the "goddess women". According to tradition, these women arose in the afternoon to lead the sun at dusk to the realm of the dead, Mictlan, to give a dim light to the dead. "De Azueta" is in honor of José Azueta, who died fighting a U.S. incursion into the country in Veracruz in 1914.

The Tlapanec /ˈtlæpənɛk/, or Meꞌphaa, are an Indigenous people of Mexico native to the state of Guerrero. The Tlapanec language is a part of the Oto-Manguean language family, and is closely related to the now extinct Subtiaba language of Nicaragua. Today, Tlapanecs live primarily in the state of Guerrero and number more than 98,000.

In pre-Columbian times they lived in the isolated mountain area along the Costa Chica region of Guerrero, just southeast of present-day Acapulco. Their territory was called Yopitzinco by the Aztecs who also referred to the Tlapanecs as Yopi. Yopitzinco was never conquered by the Aztecs and remained an independent enclave within the Aztec empire. The main Tlapanec city was Tlapan and the name Tlapanec is the Nahuatl for "Inhabitant of Tlapan".

The Costa Chica of Guerrero (Spanish for “small coast of Guerrero") is an area along the south coast of the state of Guerrero, Mexico, extending from just south of Acapulco to the Oaxaca border. Geographically, it consists of part of the Sierra Madre del Sur, a strip of rolling hills that lowers to coastal plains to the Pacific Ocean. Various rivers here form large estuaries and lagoons that host various species of commercial fish.

This area is paired with the Costa Chica of Oaxaca as both have significant populations of Afro-Mexicans. The Afro-Mexican presence in Guerrero is strongest in this region, especially in the coastal municipalities from Marquelia to Cuajinicuilapa. Another important ethnic group is the Amuzgo, who are by far the largest indigenous ethnicity in the region, in the municipalities of Xochistlahuaca, Tlacoachistlahuaca and Ometepec. The Amuzgo, especially in Xochistlahuca, still wear traditional clothing and speak the Amuzgo language. Many women still weave cloth on backstrap looms. The region is one of the poorest in Mexico, with an economy based on subsistence agriculture and fishing, with some commerce, especially along Highway 200, which parallels the coast.

Acapulco de Juárez is one of the 81 municipalities of Guerrero, in southwestern Mexico, along Acapulco Bay on the Pacific coast, being both the most populous and most densely populated municipality in Guerrero. The municipal seat lies at Acapulco.

Forty percent of the municipality is mountainous terrain; another forty percent is semi-flat; and the other twenty percent is flat. Altitude varies from sea level to 1,699 metres (5,574 feet). The highest peaks are Potrero, San Nicolás, and Alto Camarón.

Chavacano or Chabacano (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃa.βa.ˈka.no]) is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers. Other currently existing varieties are found in Cavite City and Ternate, located in the Cavite province on the island of Luzon. Chavacano is the only Spanish-based creole in Asia. The 2020 Census of Population and Housing counted 106,000 households generally speaking Chavacano.

The one responsible for this Spanish creole was Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, then governor of Panama, who was also responsible for settling Zamboanga City by employing Peruvian soldiers and colonists. There was an Asian-American route, which led to traders and adventurers carrying silver from Peru through Panama to reach Acapulco, Mexico before sailing to Manila, Philippines using the famed Manila galleons.