El rancho Meling. Imágenes de un pasado y una cultura en Baja California

Abstract

The Meling Ranch is an interesting ecotourist destination in Baja California, located in the path towards the National Park of San Pedro Martir. Along the year, this ranch is visited by thousands of people from all over the world looking for a peaceful place plenty of bushes and pines. However, the relevance of this site, besides the tourist aspect, has to do with the fact of being an important scenario of different historical episodes of Baja California. From being the traditional habitat of the Kiliwa Indians, the Meling Ranch became an icon of the early settlements of the European immigrants between the 19th and 20th Centuries. From being destroyed by the revolu- tionary Magonistas, this place was re-founded and transformed into an emblematic expression of globalization and transnational processes. Moreover, in spite of the fact this was a 19th Century ranch where flourished the masculine oriented cattle culture, the main actors along the history of this site have been women. This paper goes through the history of this ranch.