La Paz: All of Mexico’s History in One Museum

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The Anthropology and History Museum:  Of the city’s museums, this is my favorite!   If you are a history buff or spend your vacation in Baja California it is the go-to place to learn how Mexico evolved.  From pre-historic times to Spanish colonialism to the modern State of Mexico - it is all displayed here. 

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The Museo Regional de Antropología e Historia is an engaging museum located at the corner of Altamirano and 5 de Mayo, just 6 blocks from the Malecon. It features well-researched exhibitions of La Paz and Baja Sur history, from the Paleolithic era to the time of the missions, covering the influence of the Spanish colonization and how it impacted the original inhabitants.  

You will discover everything from the area's geological formation, and the history of Sea of Cortez pearls to the impact of the country's independence on the peninsula.

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The historical center or downtown La Paz is the heart of the city, an area rescued by the government for its public buildings promoting art and culture.  Close to the city center is the Regional Museum of Anthropology and History on Calle Ignacio Altamirano.  You will find two modern buildings in a little plaza with beautiful desert plants. 

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The Museum’s Exhibitions:

The first is the Introductory Hall, which opens the way to the ancient cultures of this land.

The second is the Archaeology Room, which deals with the birth of the first cultures in the Baja California peninsula.

The Aztec Empire was the last great civilization prior to the arrival of the Spanish. They came into power in 1325 and ruled until 1521.  In 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs and Mexico became a Spanish colony.

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The third Room displays the Rupestrian Painting, with reproductions and photographs of this type of manifestations of the ancient settlers in the region.

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The next room is dedicated to the first European contacts in the peninsula, their discovery, the missions, the development of the Jesuit missionary enterprise, and the first civil towns that eventually gave shape to the regional society.  The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict and political process, resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. 
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Former U.S. president James K. Polk, also wanted Texas as part of the United States. Mexico considered the annexation of Texas as an act of war.  In the fighting that followed, the U.S. military secured control of Mexico after a series of battles, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848. 

The pact set a border between Texas and Mexico and ceded California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming to the United States.  Their transfer to the U.S.'s control also cut the territorial size of Mexico in half.

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Another museum room exhibits the passage of time of the great social movements: the Independence of Mexico, and the interventions, among which the one of 1947 stands out.

The next room contains the 20th century, the Porfiriato, the period of Porfirio Díaz's presidency of Mexico (1876–80; 1884–1911).  It was an era of dictatorial rule accomplished through a combination of consensus and repression during which the country underwent extensive modernization - but political liberties were limited and the free press was muzzled. 

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What I liked best were the photos of Rock Art, ancient cave paintings quite similar to the ones found in France, a taxidermied mountain lion, and beautifully made exhibitions of Aztec villages.

The explanations are all in Spanish, but if you hold your phone up to a QR Code on the wall and click the link that opens, a page with an English translation will appear on your phone.

The museum is open every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Admission is less than $5.

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