[8] In 1767, Viceroy Marqués de Croix ordered a major military offensive, the Sonora Expedition, to subdue the Seri and Pima tribes.

No traces of the fort remain today, but the San José mission is marked by a church located on the road leading to Empalme.

[10] In the mid-19th century, Guaymas was the target of several filibusters, or unauthorized military expeditions from foreign nations, designed to foment rebellion.

One was by the crew of the English sailing vessel Challenge and the French ship La Belle, commanded by Count Gastón Raousett-Boulbón, who intended to control all of Sonora.

[4] On October 4–5, 1911, Guaymas was struck by a major hurricane and accompanying storm surge which killed some 500 people in the city and environs.

[2] Due to changes in Mexican maritime law, a private company under contract to the government, Administración Portuaria Integral de Guaymas, took over port operations in 1995.

[10] The municipality is located on the Gulf of California and the western edge of the Sonoran Desert[12] and has a hot, dry climate and 117 kilometres (73 mi) of beaches.

[5] In the 13 de Julio Plaza there is a monument commemorating the defense of Guaymas by General José María Yáñez against a French incursion in 1854.

[7] The most famous person in this plaza is León Riso, who has spent fifty-five years here selling homemade ice cream.

In past years, the effigy has represented the figures of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Vicente Fox, George H. W. Bush, Mexico's value added tax and lack of water.

In 2009, the effigy was of singer Julio Preciado for his poor interpretation of Mexico's national anthem at the recent Serie del Caribe baseball tournament.

[16] Other major events include concerts by regionally and nationally known artists, a multi-day parade with floats and the election of the King and Queen of the Carnival.

The queen was determined by which group provided the most money for Carnival events, which led to widespread cheating and scandals, especially in the year 1927, when the military had to get involved to keep order.

[2] Along its coast, there are important bays such as Guaymas, Lobos, San Carlos and La Herradura with 83% of Sonora's piers in this municipality.

[2] The municipality, especially San Carlos, is popular with visitors from Arizona and Sonora, but much of the coastal area, where the stark desert landscape meets the calm waters of the Gulf of California, is still undeveloped.

[2][12] San Carlos is an important destination for sportfishing with modern piers and 800 species that can be caught including sailfish, marlin, yellowtail and others.

[12] Other sports that can be practiced here include kayaking, sailing, jetskiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, mountain biking and hiking.

[7] The Guaymas-Empalme station for space observations is about 10 km (6 mi) east of Empalme, Sonora, adjacent to Federal Highway No.

[21] According to local sources the station was abandoned shortly after the conclusion of the Apollo program and has been used recently as a warehouse for agricultural stores.

It contributes 70% of the total Sonora state fisheries production, with the main species caught being sardine, shrimp and squid.

55 percent of catches are sold in the State, and the remaining 45 per cent has as its final destination other parts of Mexico and the foreign market.

Today fishing is considered the main activity generating employment and providing good income to the majority of the Guaymense population.

The irrigation infrastructure for agriculture in addition to 186 wells, also includes the Ignacio Alatorre Dam that is located in the Guaymas Valley with a total capacity of 27.7 million cubic meters; and the heat water repressive in Vícam with extraction capacity of 15.3 million cubic meters of water and 345 kilometers of coated conduction channels.

The main crops are: wheat, soybeans, safflower, corn, cotton and some vegetables and fruit such as pumpkin and papaya The cultivated area had a decrease of 2.3 per cent on an annual average over the past 5 years, from 51,850 hectares to 42,291 in the 1993-1994 cycle, a behaviour that was mainly influenced by the decline in sesame crops and sesame in that order of importance.

In livestock activity, cattle ranching with 72,875 head is the most important, followed by goats with 20,088 bellies, and lastly birds and other minor species.

The manufacturing industry producing food of fishery origin, both for human and animal consumption, stands out as the main branch of activity.

Guaymas offers many tourist attractions such as: Golf, snorkeling, sport fishing, horseback riding, ecotourism tours, cycling, diving and kayaking.

[citation needed] Thanks to the Only Sonora' program, unique in the country, vehicles can be brought from the United States without paying or carrying out formalities and permits, from Nogales to as far as Empalme.

Among the ecotourism attractions are the nature reserves Soldier's Estero del Soldado, San Pedro Nolasco Island, Devil's Cajon and nacapule's cannon with endemic species.

The local hotels in Guaymas-San Carlos have an average annual occupancy rate of 41.8%,[26] reaching 100% during busy seasons, which keeps Guaymas as a focal point in Sonorense tourism.