[1] The river flows through the Sierra Madre del Sur, and empties into the Pacific Ocean at Mangrove Point, adjacent to the city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.

[2] The Balsas River valley was possibly one of the earliest maize growing sites in Mexico, dating from around 9200 years ago.

The communities, while retaining their individualities, show close linguistic, kinship, and cultural relationships - revealed, for example, when they perform the rituals of patronal feasts.

Through building dams these activities aimed at irrigation, generation of electricity, and improving agriculture and living conditions of indigenous people, mainly the Nahuas who form the majority group.

Its tasks included planning, design, coordination and implementation of irrigation projects, flood control and hydropower generation, covering rural and urban development and health and communications aspects.

The steep slope of the river in a stretch of 30 km creates an elevation difference of 1200 m, providing excellent opportunities for hydropower development.

[10] Agriculture in the basin has a rich history of over 9000 years, with an impressive transformation from the stage of unwelcome grass to high-yield maize fields.

[14] The navigation of this river by shallow-draft steamers was initially promoted for the development of the Guerrero area, and in 1911 a new concession was given by the Government of Mexico for this purpose.

Initially a 25-foot boat was commissioned at Balsas railroad bridge station by Gullermo Niven, a business man in Mexico City who set out to establish its feasibility in November/December 1911.

On this exploration he was accompanied by 11 people, including two river navigation experts and Fred Macfarlene, a California financier.

During this period many events happened en route due to rebel activities, but the navigation itself was fairly smooth except for an encounter with a rock outcrop in the middle of a narrow section of the river where the boat overturned, injuring two people.

While the river was proven navigable, investments to develop the facilities did not happen immediately due to the rebel activities in the area.

Recent research supports Balsas River valley as the first place in the world where maize was domesticated about 9000 years ago.

Recent debates among scientists center on where exactly in the Balsas River valley this type of teosinte (Zea mays ssp.

During the Purépecha period, the people of the valley created many items of red-slipped buff-colored pottery, painted in white, cream, or red and made many ceramic pipes and tools using bronze alloys.

[6] The indigenous Amerindians inhabiting the Balsas River valley are noted for their bark paintings, often depicting flowers and wildlife.