Pearls
are almost as old as Mankind. Pearls were the first gems that primitive
peoples used to adorn themselves with, because they could be extracted
with relative ease and because it wasn't necessary to cut or polish them
in order for the piece to look beautiful.
Later, in the world's emerging civilizations, pearls took on a much bigger role, personifying virtue, wisdom, power and wealth.
Nowadays, pearls are considered the "Queen
of Gems" (second only to diamonds), and many people from all
over the World possess and price these singular jewels.
The
commerce of pearls in Mexico is as old as the pre-columbian era, when Mayan
and Aztec dealers went wide and far within the confines of their Empires
to fetch magnificent pearls for their grand rulers and gods.
After the Conquest of the New World by the Spaniards, many expeditions were sent to discover the "sea of pearls", later christened as the "Mare Bermejo de Cortés" (loosely translated to "the Vermillion Sea of Cortez"), and now known as the Gulf of California, to obtain the biggest and darkest pearls known at that time.
The fist pearls to be known as "black pearls" and also as "South Sea Pearls" where the ones fished out of the Mexican -and Central American- waters of the Pacific Ocean (christened by explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa as the "Mare del Sur" -"The South Sea").
Later on, merchant ships
from Holland, England and Russia, started appearing in these waters, trading
whatever valuables they could for the Pearls of the Sea of Cortez...
Copyright 1998-2000 Perlas del Mar de Cortez
Last Updated 06/2000
Page Design by DMcL