Campeche

The name Campeche is derived from Can Pech, the Maya name of a chiefdom of the southwestern Yucatán Peninsula that existed at the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. The capital city of the chiefdom of Can Pech was called "Ah-Kin-Pech", where the city of Campeche is now. When the Spanish first arrived to the area in 1517, they called it Lazaro, since "the day of our landing was St. Lazarus' Sunday". The native name means "place of snakes and ticks". ==Geography==

Campeche is a relatively flat area of Mexico with of shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the surface is of sedimentary rock, much of it of marine origin. The area with the highest elevations is near the borders with Guatemala and Quintana Roo. Notable elevations include Cerro Champerico, Cerro los Chinos, Cerro El Ramonal, Cerro El Doce, and Cerro El Gavilán. However, these hills are separated by large expanses of lower flat land. In the south of the municipality of Champotón begin a series of rolling hills known as the Sierra Alta or Puuc, which extend northeast to Bolonchen and then into the state of Yucatán. These have only an average altitude of between with some reaching . Other areas of these rolling hills lie near the city of Campeche, the main ones known as Maxtum, Boxol and El Morro. Another set is called the Sierra Seybaplaya in the center of the state. Rainforest areas subdivide into a number of types which include perennial tall tree rainforest, semi perennial tall tree rainforest, deciduous medium height tree rainforest, semi-deciduous medium height tree rainforest, deciduous low height tree rainforest and semi-perennial low height tree rainforest. Away from the coast, these rainforests are interspersed with savannah areas and along the coast are accompanied by areas with sand dunes, mangrove wetlands and estuaries. Species that can be found in the various rainforests include Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), oxhorn bucida (Bucida buceras), Campeche logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum), and wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum). It also includes a number of precious tropical hardwoods such as red cedar (Toona ciliata) Honduran mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), ziricote (Cordia dodecandra) and Hollywood (Guaiacum sanctum). Along the coastal areas, palms dominate such as the coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) and royal palm (Roystonea regia). The main wildlife species in the state are the jaguar, ocelot, puma, deer, collared peccary, raccoon, hare, ring-tailed cat and Yucatan spider monkey. There are many bird species including the plain chachalaca, quail, pelican, and toucan. Reptiles include rattlesnakes, coral snakes, boa constrictors, various species of sea and land turtles, iguanas, and crocodiles. While still rich in wildlife, much has been decimated because of agriculture and exploitation of forest resources destroying habitat as well as uncontrolled hunting. Most of the state's aquatic life — including many species of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks — is found in the Bay of Campeche. Many of these are exploited commercially. Most of the state's surface freshwater is in the south and southwest, with rivers, small lakes and estuaries. These diminish in the north where rainfall rapidly filtrates into the subsoil. The rivers in the south and southwest belong to various basins, with the largest being the Grijalva to which the Candelaria, Chumpán and Mamantal Rivers belong. The -Usumacinta also flows in the state but it tends to change course frequently and occasionally divides into branches. The east branch of this river is also called the Palizada River, which has the largest volume although it is narrow. The San Pedro River is another branch of the Usumacinta, which passes by Jonuta Municipality in Tabasco before emptying in the Gulf of Mexico. The Chumpán River is an isolated river formed by the union of various streams. It runs north–south and empties in the Laguna de Terminos. The Candelaria River forms in Petén, Guatemala and runs north–south and empties into the Laguna de Pargos. The Mamantel River empties into the Laguna de Panlau. The Champotón River is in the center of the state and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The rest of the state's streams flow only in the rainy season. The Laguna de Términos lagoon is located in the southwest of the state, near the border with Tabasco. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico only by the Isla del Carmen. It receives freshwater from most of Campeche's rivers as well as saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico. In these brackish waters have developed a number of aquatic species such as sea bass, small sharks, crabs, oysters, turtles, and storks. The lagoon is ringed by smaller lakes and forms the most important lake-lagoon system in the country. These lakes include Atasta, Pom, Puerto Rico, El Este, Del Vapor, Del Corte, Pargos and Panlau. This system formed about five thousand years ago by the accumulation of sediment carried by surrounding rivers. This system connects to the Sabancuy estuary to the northeast. Campeche is in the tropics; it has a humid climate, with a defined rainy season, and a relatively dry season from late winter to early spring. Average annual rainfall varies between . The hottest and most humid areas of the state are along the coast between the Laguna de Términos and the northern border. Average annual temperature is with highs up to in the summer and lows of in the winter. Prevailing winds are from the northwest from November to March, from the north between September and October, from the southeast from June to August and from the south in April and May. In the winter, storms from the north called "nortes" can bring colder dry air from the area of the United States. In the late summer, there are sometimes hurricanes. The state has a number of ecosystems, from rainforest, to savanna to coast and sea. Environmentally, the state is divided into four major regions. The coastal region consists of the entire coastline of the state and a strip of shallow water just offshore called the Campeche Bank with coral reefs and low islands called cays. The region has large expanses of mangroves that dominate the swamps. Non-swamp areas are dominated by palm trees. Wildlife is dominated by bird and reptile species such as storks, pelicans, ducks, seagulls, lizards, turtles and water snakes. The mountain region is in the north and east of the state consisting of two chains of low hills called the Dzibalchen and Sierra Alta. It also includes the savannah area and an area called Los Chenes, where natural wells (called cenotes) are common. This area is noted for its tropical hardwoods and the chicle or gum tree. Wildlife includes deer, armadillos, rabbits, quail, and woodpeckers. The rainforest region is located on the center and south of the state with a wide variety of trees including tropical hardwoods such as mahogany. Many of the plants used in the state's cuisine such as achiote and tropical fruits are from here. The river region is located in the southwest of the state, named after the various rivers that flow here, mostly emptying into the Laguna de Términos. It has the hottest and most humid climate in Campeche with wildlife and vegetation similar to that found in both the Rainforest and Coast regions. Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve, and the Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve. The Calakmul Reserve was created in 1989 over . It consists of Yucatán and Tehuantepec moist forests, containing high and medium growth semi-deciduous forests and seasonally flooded low height semi-deciduous forests. There is also aquatic vegetation. The Laguna de Términos Reserve includes the lagoon and the area surrounding it with an area of . It was established in 1994. Los Petenes is a natural reserve consisting of isolated pockets of rainforest with mangrove areas in between. The wildlife is dependent on a varied and complex system of fresh and brackish water. The reserve extends over in the municipalities of Campeche, Tenabo, Hecelchakán and Calkiní. In Isla Arena, Campeche, within the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve, Conservation International Mexico and CONANP carried out a pilot community mangrove restoration project aimed at restoring 217 hectares of degraded and dead mangroves, emphasizing hydrological restoration to recover water flow and ecosystem function in impacted areas. ==History==

at Calakmul The first people to dominate the area were the Maya, who arrived to Campeche from Guatemala, Honduras and Chiapas. The main Mayan cities in Campeche were Edzná, Xtampak, and later Calakmul and Becán. The Maya civilization reached its height between 600 AD and 900 AD. From 1000 AD on, the Maya cities collapsed and were abandoned for unknown reasons. This led to the establishment of smaller settlements and a mixing of the Maya and Chontal people in the south of the state, which had commercial ties to the central highland cultures of Mexico. From the 11th century to the 16th century, Campeche was divided into smaller dominions. The first Spaniards in the area were Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and Antón de Alaminos in 1517, who landed at a settlement called Can-Pech, part of the Sol Garrapata dominion. He renamed it San Lázaro. He moved onto the territory of Chakanputon (today Champotón) where he and his men were attacked by the warriors of this dominion. Hernandez de Cordoba died of his wounds from this battle, prompting the Spanish to call this bay the "Bahía de Mala Pelea" (Bay of the Bad Fight). During the colonial era, it was a commercial port equal to Havana and Cartagena even though piracy was a constant threat. It shipped valuable exports such as agricultural goods, tropical hardwoods and dyewood, then a widely used textile dye in Europe. It also handled gold and silver from other areas in Mexico going to Spain. Imported items to the port included luxury items such as Italian marble and crystal chandeliers from Austria. Most of the attacks were at the port of Campeche, but Champontón also suffered significant attacks in 1644 and 1672. Fortification of the city of Campeche began as early as 1610, but these structures were insufficient. However, the production of oil has brought environmental problems to the area, especially fishing yields, as well as internal strife between locals and newcomers. In the mid-1980s, about 25,000 Guatemalan refugees had fled into the state to escape civil war there. The most recently created municipality is Candelaria in 1998. In 2017, the territorial dispute with Quintana Roo was archived by the Supreme Court, basically giving Campeche 10,500 sq km. ==Economy==

Total: Campeche contributes 1.83% of Mexico's total GDP. The average salary per year in the state is $141,088 pesos in comparison to the national average of $99,114. However, there is a very large discrepancy between highly paid oil workers, mostly coming from out of state, and locals who do not work for PEMEX. Over sixty five percent of the territory is exploited for forestry products, with over 25% used for grazing, with only 3.3% used for agriculture and about 5.5% used for other purposes such as human settlements. Only 3.3% of the state's land is used for raising crops due to the soil composition. Over ninety percent of cropland is used for seasonal crops such as corn with the rest used for perennials such as fruit trees. The most important crop is corn, followed by rice and sorghum. Other important crops include jalapeño chili peppers, watermelon, sugar cane and various tropical and non-tropical fruit-bearing trees, especially citrus and mango. Most cattle are raised in the center and south of the state for both meat and milk products and account for the most product by volume. In the north, most commercially raised livestock is domestic fowl mostly chickens and turkeys, but domestic fowl is raised in most rural homes all over the state. Sheep and goats are raised sparsely all over the state, depending on local vegetation. Forestry, including the extraction of precious tropical hardwoods, remains an important economic activity despite the degradation of many of the state's forests. Commercial fishing is mostly done along the coast, with shrimp being the most valuable catch, followed by crustaceans and mollusks. This is mostly done in the coast reason, where most of the economy outside of oil production relies on fishing and the building and repair of fishing boats. The secondary sector of the economy (mining, construction and industry) is almost entirely concentrated in the coastal area of the state in the municipalities of Campeche, Carmen and Champotón. Mining, mostly oil production, accounts for 52.8% of the state's GDP. This oil lies off the coast of the state, in a shallow water section of the Gulf of Mexico called the Sonda de Campeche. Campeche oil and gas production accounts for 37% of Mexico's total with crude oil alone accounting for 76% in absolute numbers. Campeche does not have metal deposits but it does have deposits of building stone, such as sandstone, marble and limestone, sand, gravel, lime, clay and other minerals. Most deposits are located in the municipalities of Hopelchén, Champotón and Calakmul. In the far north of the coast region, there are important deposits of salt. Construction and manufacturing account for 6.7% of the state's GDP. The most common type of industry relates to food and food processing including seafood, soft drinks, cookies, flour, sugar and honey. Another common industry is that of building materials such as cinderblock, wood products and the processing of building stone. Most industries are small with little financing for technology and growth. Since the 1990s, factories of the "maquiladora" type have opened in the state, such as the Calkiní Shirt Company in Tepacan, Calkiní, Textiles Blazer in Lerma, Campeche, Quality Textil de Campeche in Becal, Calkiní and Karims Textile and Apparel México in the city of Campeche. Commerce and services account for 33.2% of the state's GDP. The commerce sector of the economy is mostly traditional with small establishments catering to local or regional needs. In the larger cities, supermarkets and malls can be found. Most commerce with entities outside of Campeche is in seafood, agricultural and forestry products. The state has thirty-four traditional public markets. All petroleum products are marketed by the national oil company PEMEX. The state has about five hundred businesses dedicated to tourism, about half of which are restaurants, a little less than a quarter bars and a similar number of handcraft shops. There are 126 major hotels, mostly in the municipalities of Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen and Champotón. ==Culture==

family in Campeche The state has two main government-sponsored cultural festivals, the Festival del Centro Histórico and the Festival de Jazz. Campeche has a Festival del Centro Histórico in November and December, which attracts over 5,000 artists, intellectuals and academics to over 800 events such as concerts, theater, dance, book presentations, and workshops. One notable economic fair outside the city is the "Jipi" Sombrero Festival in Bécal in April and May. Other important religious festivals include Candlemas (Candelaria) in Hool, Champotón and Campeche, feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmen in Ciudad del Carmen, feast day of Saint Joachim in Palizada, and the feast day of Saint Roman in Campeche, the feast of San Isidro Labrador in Calkiní in May, the feast of the Cristo Negro in San Román, Day of the Dead in all of the state, feast of the Holy Cross in Sabancuy, Carmen in May, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmen in Ciudad del Carmen in July and the feast of the Señor de la Salud in Hecelchakán in April. During these festivals is when the state's most traditional music, called jarana, and traditional dances can be heard and seen. There are two main types of cuisine: "mestizo" is mostly of Spanish origin with some indigenous additions, while Maya is almost purely indigenous. Some foods have been reinvented. One is papak'sul, or papadzul, which was made with beans and chili peppers. Today it is a torilla filled with cooked egg and squash seed salsa. Common seasonings are a mix of indigenous and those which came from Europe such as salt, oregano, pepper, habanero chili peppers, achiote, cloves and vinegar. Regional dishes include cochinita pibil, beans with pork, pork with , shark tacos, pickled vines, seafood such as many species of fish, shrimp, octopus and crustaceans. Similar to cochinita pibil, pibipollos are chickens roasted in underground pits, most often prepared for Day of the Dead. There is also a large number of seafood-based dishes such as pan de cazón. One notable shrimp dish is made with giant prawns and called "siete barbas". Tamales are filled with ground pork or chicken seasoned with achiote, pibil or sweet corn. The staple bread is the corn tortilla. The town of Pomuch in the municipality of Hecelchakán is known for its bread and has a type named after it.(turimsoenc) Cheese was mostly likely influenced by pirates with queso de bola related to Dutch cheese-making traditions. ==Education==

The average number of years of schooling for those over age 15 is 8.5, which means that most finish middle school. This is slightly under the national average of 8.6. Over 55% finish primary school and over 35% finish a level over high school, either in technical training or university. The state has over 1800 schools from preschool to university level. These include seventeen teachers' colleges and twenty eight other institutions of higher education. The Universidad Autónoma de Campeche was founded in 1957 by the state to systematize higher education in the state as its first major university. The institution operated out of several buildings until the mid-1960s, when the Ciudad Universitaria campus was built, and named the Universidad del Sudeste. This name was changed to the current one in 1989. The university offers twenty three bachelor's degrees, and eight graduate degrees. The Instituto Tecnológico de Campeche was founded in 1976 as the Instituto Tecnológico Regional de Campeche as part of a nationwide system of technical colleges with only two majors. The college gained its own campus in 1978 and its current name was adopted in the 1980s. ==Demographics==

family in Campeche As of 2015, the state has a total population of 899,931. Seventy-five percent live in urban areas along the coast and twenty-five percent live in rural areas. Fourteen percent of these speakers do not speak Spanish. According to the 2020 Census, 2.08% of Campeche's population identified as Black, Afro-Mexican, or of African descent. Sixty three percent of the population profess the Catholic faith as of 2010. ==Municipalities==

The state of Campeche is located in southeast Mexico, on the west side of the Yucatan Peninsula. The territory comprises , which is 2.6% of Mexico's total. It borders the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Tabasco, with the country of Guatemala to the south and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. Politically, it is divided into thirteen municipalities: Calakmul, Calkiní, Campeche, Candelaria, Carmen, Champotón, Dzitbalché, Escárcega, Hecelchakán, Hopelchén, Palizada, Seybaplaya, and Tenabo. ==Communications and transportation==

Media The state has eighteen radio stations (fifteen of them commercial), seventeen television channels, one of which is local, ten from Mexico City and the rest cable or satellite, and four local newspapers, along with various from Mexico City. Newspapers of Campeche include: Crónica de Campeche, El Sur de Campeche, Expreso de Campeche, La Ira Noticias para Mí Campeche, Novedades de Campeche, and Tribuna (Campeche). Telephone service is still mostly landline, but cellular infrastructure is growing. Intercity rail transit came in 2023 with the Tren Maya, which connects to cities across the Yucatán peninsula. The Campeche Light Train, an autonomous rapid transit guided bus, opened in 2025 and connects the historic center to the Tren Maya station. ==Tourism==

The city Campeche (formally known as San Francisco de Campeche) is one of the least known and most overlooked colonial cities in Mexico, mostly bypassed by those visiting more famous destinations in the Yucatan peninsula. Stories persist that many of the mansions had tunnels to escape pirates, but these have never been found. Notable museums in the state include the Del Carmen Archeological Museum, the Museo de las Estelas Mayas in Ciudad del Carmen and the Camino Real Archeological Museum in Hecelchakán. It was discovered in the 1920s and excavated in the 1940s. It is located away from other Mayan settlements on the peninsula and was probably a collection center for the agriculture products grown in the area, reaching its height between 600 and 900. These were sent to the city of Tikal in exchange for ritualistic adornment for the site. Its most important building is the Pyramid of the Five Stories, built as its name implies. Another important find came in the 1990s. During the planting season in early May, archeologist Antonio Benavides noticed that the setting sun illuminates a stucco mask hanging one of the pyramid's rooms. The effect also happens in August, during harvest and it is believed to be related to the asking and receiving of abundant crops. The largest archeological site in the state is Calakmul, which means "twin heaps" in the Mayan language. It is located in the Petén region built in the late Classic period (500–900 CE). Calakmal is estimated to have been populated around 1000 BCE with its height at around 600 In 695 CE, Calakmul was conquered by Tikal and the city fell into decline. Calakmul is located in the interior rainforest of the state in a biosphere named after it near the Guatemala border. The site extends over and was one of the largest cities of Mesoamerica. Its temples were mostly dedicated to ancestor worship encircling the palaces of the elite in the center. There are an estimated 6,000 structures at the site with only half a dozen restored. The two most important structures are the twin pyramids of Temple II and Temple VII, similar to structures found at Tikal. Temple II is tallest at high. The site has been heavily looted by grave robbers. While most sites are in the interior rainforest of the state, there are 55 archeological sites on the coast alone, mostly remnants of small villages. The Isla de Jaina is one of the best preserved archeological sites in the state because of its location on an island on the coast, surrounded by estuaries and mangroves. It requires special permission to visit. Unlike others on the coast, it was a true city. Other sites include Can-mayab-mul in Nunkiní, Xculhoc in Hecelchakán, Chunan-tunich, Xtampak, Hochob, Pak-chén and Dzebilnocac in Hopelchén, El Tigre in Candelaria, La Xoch and Chun Cedro in Tenabo and Becán in Calakmul. ==Notes==