Campeche
Encyclopedia
- See also Campeche (disambiguation)
Campeche (kamˈpetʃe) is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Located in Southeast Mexico
Southeast Mexico
The Southeast Mexico is a region of United Mexican States, formed by the states of Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Tabasco. The area is almost flat, except for the presence of the hills and mountains that form the Sierra Atravesada. The mountains are about 250 km in length, and its highest...
, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
to the north east, Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....
to the east, and Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
to the south west. To the south it is bordered by the Petén
Petén (department)
Petén is a department of the nation of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest in size — at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores...
department of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
and to the west by the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
.
The area of Campeche is 57924 square kilometres (22,364.6 sq mi), and the population is only 822,441 inhabitants in 2010. This makes Campeche one of the states with the lowest population densities in Mexico (fifth behind Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
, Durango
Durango
Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, and Chihuahua).
The capital city of the state is the city of San Francisco de Campeche, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
In addition to the city of Campeche, the state of Campeche includes the cities of Ciudad del Carmen
Ciudad del Carmen
Ciudad del Carmen is a city in the southwest of the Mexican state of Campeche. Ciudad del Carmen is located at on the southwest of Carmen Island, which stands in the Laguna de Términos on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The 2005 census population was 154,197 people...
, Champotón
Champotón
Champotón is a small city in Champotón Municipality in the Mexican state of Campeche, located at , about 60 km south of the city of Campeche where the small Champotón river meets the coast of the Gulf of Mexico...
, and Escárcega
Escárcega
Escárcega is a small city in the Mexican state of Campeche,located at in the central part of the state. The population of the city at the 2005 census was 27,214 people, the fourth-largest community in the state....
, the towns of Bolonchén
Bolonchen
Bolonchén or Bolonchén de Rejón is a town in the Mexican state of Campeche, about 120 km East from the state capital, Campeche, in Hopelchén Municipality. The name "Bolonchén" means "Nine Wells" in the Maya language. "de Rejón" commemorates Manuel Crescencio Rejón, a lawyer who helped...
, Calkiní, Dzitbalché
Dzitbalché
Dzitbalché is a large town in the extreme northern part of the Mexican state of Campeche. It is located at 20.32°N 90.05°W, within the municipality of Calkiní...
, Hecelchakán, Hopelchén, Lerma, Tenabo, and Sabancuy, and many ruins of the Maya civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
such as Becán
Becan
Becan is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Becan is located near the center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche, about 150 km north of Tikal. The Maya sites of Balamku, Calakmul, Chicanna and Xpuhil are nearby...
, Calakmul
Calakmul
Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands...
, Silvituc, Dzibilnocac, Edzná
Edzna
Edzná is a Maya archaeological site in the north of the Mexican state of Campeche. The site is open to visitors.The most remarkable building at the plaza is the main temple. Built on a platform 40 meters high, it provides a wide overview of the surroundings. Another significant building located in...
, Hocchob, Holactún, Río Bec
Rio Bec
Río Bec is a Pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located in what is now southern portion of the Mexican state of Campeche. The name also refers to an architectural style that first appeared at Río Bec and subsequently spread to other nearby sites...
, Uxul, Xicalango, Xpuhil
Xpuhil
Xpuhil Pronounced:/ʃpuχil̥/ is a Maya archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Campeche, in the vicinity of the modern-day town of Xpujil...
, and Xtampak
Xtampak
Xtampak is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche. A major town in the Chenes region, it flourished during the Late Classic era....
.
Campeche derives from the name of the Mayan city of Kan pech, which became today's San Francisco de Campeche.
History
Campeche was home to the ancient Mayan culture. Their advanced cultural and scientific development made the Maya one of the most important pre-Hispanic cultures in Latin America. Many Maya ruins that still stand in Campeche, such as CalakmulCalakmul
Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands...
, Chicanna, Becan, Edzna, Xpujil, Hormiguero, Balamku, and El Tigre, among many. The name Campeche has Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
origins, however its meaning has had different interpretations: the most accepted one is that Can means snake and Pech means tick, or "Site of Ticks and Snakes"; this matches the sculpture of a large snake with a tick on its head found within one of its temples.
When the Spaniards first landed on the coast of Campeche in 1517, they were defeated several times by the local leader Moch Couoh. After his death and thanks to territorial conflicts among the indigenous groups, the Spaniards were able to take control and in 1540 gave the settlement the official name of Villa de San Francisco de Campeche to honor Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.Francisco de Montejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479 to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Alvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Grijalva's expedition along the coast of...
, "El Mozo". The polytheist religion of the Maya civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
, which controlled every aspect of their lives, made the evangelization process of the Spaniards specially difficult to achieve in Mayan territory.
The new government readily took advantage of the geographical location of the port and this was soon reflected in a commercial boom. Salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
; timber; and Palo de Tinta, timber from a tree called Tinta, were exported to foreign countries. This boom not only attracted the conquistadores, it attracted European pirates as well; during the 17th century Campeche was attacked repeatedly by them until 1704.
In 1821, at the end of the war for Independence, the new sovereign country was witness to political conflicts between liberals, conservatives, centralists and federalists. In a rebellion about federalism, from 1841 to 1848 Campeche, along with Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
and Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....
states, broke away from Mexico, becoming the independent Republic of Yucatán
Republic of Yucatán
The Republic of Yucatan was a nineteenth century sovereign state during two periods of the century. The first Republic of Yucatan, founded May 29, 1823, joined the Mexican federation as the Federated Republic of Yucatán on December 23, 1823, less than seven months later...
. In 1847 an indigenous rebellion known as the "Caste War" began, with the Mayas rebelling against the "white government" to regain control of their land. The insurrection was mostly crushed with the help of the Mexican Army and the Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
once again rejoined Mexico in 1848 (although the Maya continued to resist until the early 20th century).
The peninsula was also one of the regions in the country that rejected the imposition of a federal government. And to top it all, Campeche and Yucatán had economic conflicts between them at the same time. It wasn’t until May 3, 1858 that Campeche was formally separated from Yucatán. But it was only recognized as a sovereign region in 1863 by president Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
.
The state economy has been based on the exportation of timber and salt since the government of Porfirio Díaz. Corn and sugar cane are the main agricultural products. In 1975, the state's economy was impelled by the discovery of an oil bed off its coasts in the Gulf of Mexico.
Municipalities
The State of Campeche is divided into 11 municipalities , each headed by a municipal presidentMunicipal president
A presidente municipal is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. The position is comparable to the county executive of a county in the United States or to the mayor of a city in the United States, although the jurisdiction of a presidente municipal includes not only a city but the...
(mayor).
Data from the II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2000, INEGI.
Demographics
- Inhabitants: 805,182
- Age Average: 24 years.
- Annual Population Growth: 1.46%
- Population at the Capital: 216,900.
- Population that speaks a native tongue: 89,000.
- Population that does not speak Spanish: 3,140
See also
External links
tp://www.campeche.gob.mx Campeche State Government] Instituto de Cultura