Campeche

Campeche, state (1990 pop. 535,185), 21,924 sq mi (56,798 sq km), SE Mexico, on the Gulf of Campeche. The city of Campeche is the capital. Comprising most of the western half of the Yucatán peninsula, much of the state lies in hot, humid, and unhealthy lowlands. Rainfall in the southwestern sector is heavy. The state had extensive forests, and logwood (campeche in Spanish) has been one of the chief exports. Agriculture and stock raising are important in the more arid northeastern sector. Using Campeche as a base, the Spanish explorer Francisco de Montejo led (1531-35) expeditions against the Maya. The coast was a haunt of pirates from the 17th cent. to the 19th cent. The principal ports are Campeche and Carmen, a small town on an island at the entrance to the Laguna de Términos.

Campeche, city (1990 pop. 150,518), capital of Campeche state, SE Mexico, on the Yucatán peninsula. It is fortified and surrounded by 18th-century walls. Although it remains an export center for the surrounding region, Campeche's economy is increasingly linked to the offshore oil fields in the Bay of Campeche. The city, once the site of the pre-Columbian town called Kimpech (whose remains are still observable), was founded in 1540 by the son of the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo. It was sacked frequently by English buccaneers. From 1862 to 1864, French forces blockaded the city. The city has a 16th-century cathedral.

City (pop., 2000: 190,813), capital of Campeche state, Mexico. The Spanish town was founded in 1540 on the site of a Mayan village, the remains of which are still visible. It became the capital of the newly created Campeche state in 1863. It is a service centre for offshore oil drilling facilities.

Learn more about Campeche with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Campeche (Ahk'ìin Pech in Modern Maya) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche, located at , on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The city's population at the 2005 census was 211,671 people. The municipality for which it serves as municipal seat had a population of 238,850.

The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Maya city of Canpech or Kimpech. The Pre-Columbian city was described as having 3,000 houses and various monuments, of which little trace remains.

The city retains many of the old colonial Spanish city walls and fortifications which protected the city (not always successfully) from pirates and buccaneers. The state of preservation and quality of its architecture earned it the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Originally, the Spaniards lived inside the walled city, while the natives lived in the surrounding barrios of San Francisco, Guadalupe and San Román. These barrios still retain their original churches;

City fortifications

Due to the constant attacks of both English and Dutch buccaneers and pirates such as Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Laurens de Graff, Kornelius Jols, Jacobo Jackson, Jean Lafitte, Francisco de Grammont, Bartolomé Portugués, William Parker, Francisco Nau, Edward Mansvelt, Henry Morgan, Lewis Scot, Roche Braziliano and Michel de Grammont for almost 160 years, in 1686 the government started to fortify the city.

The French engineer Louis Bouchard de Becour was commissioned to unify all the defensive works that surrounded the city with a wall. At its completion, the wall surrounding the city of Campeche was 2,560 meters in length, forming an irregular hexagon around the main part of the city, with eight defensive bastions on the corners. These bulwarks now serve different functions:

• Santiago: Used as the Botanical Garden 'Xmuch´haltún'. Reconstructed.
• San Pedro: Former prison.
• San Francisco: Protects the Land Gate. Houses the library of the INAH.
• San Juan: Protects the Land Gate.
• Santa Rosa:
• San Carlos: Holds the City Museum. This fort was the first one built. Protects the Sea Gate.
• Nuestra Señora de la Soledad: Also protects the Sea Gate. It is the largest one and holds the Museum of City History.

It also contained four gates to allow access to the main quarters. The main entrances are the Puerta de la tierra ("Land Gate"), built in 1732, and the Puerta del mar ("Sea Gate"). The Land Gate is kept as a tourist attraction, having a light and sound show three nights each week and keeping original supplies and items from the XVII century. The other gates were Guadalupe and San Román, connecting to the outside neighborhoods.

Additionally, two main forts protected the city from two nearby hills on each side, the forts of San José el Alto (built in 1762) and San Miguel. These forts gave long-range artillery coverage and served also as look-outs. They were built before the walls of the city. The fort of San Miguel is used as a museum and houses a collection of pre-Hispanic items. The fort of San José houses a collection of boats and weapons of the period.

History

Campeche was the principal port of Yucatán until the mid-19th century, when it was overtaken by Sisal, and then Progreso. It was historically the second largest and most important city in the Peninsula (after Mérida) until the end of the 20th century and the increased development in Quintana Roo.

A burial ground in Campeche, discovered in 2006, suggests African slaves had been brought there not long after Hernán Cortés completed the subjugation of Aztec and Mayan Mexico. The graveyard had been in use from about 1550 to the late 1600s .

In the 1840s Campeche had a population of about 21,000.

Photo gallery

Notes

References

• Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática

External links

• Official Site

• Friends of World Heritage A non profit organization that identifies projects that support local tourism enterprises that can help alleviate poverty and conserve World Heritage sites.