Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning "place of the deer." The city was founded in the 1820s. By the mid-1800s a large group of immigrants had arrived from Germany. These new citizens developed Mazatlán into a thriving commercial seaport, importing equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines. It served as the capital of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873. They also influenced the music, Banda, which is an alteration of Bavarian folk music.