por He southeastern Mexico It is one of the eight zones that make up Mexico. It is made up of four different states that are Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. The culture of this area has been very marked by the production of products such as coffee and honey and also has a very important biodiversity.
It is a privileged region if one takes into account the different ecosystems it possesses. There are beaches of great tourist interest, mountains with climates typical of high-altitude sites, and rivers relevant to the development of agriculture.
Magazine Forbes, Focused on business and economic issues, she published that Yucatán is a perfect place to settle. It has acceptable levels in relation to security and is culturally strong. Its capital, Mérida, is one of the best qualified cities for the lifestyle of its population.
Despite everything, it is a region full of contradictions. Due to its enormous potential, governments have proposed all kinds of plans for its development, but so far no proposal has had a satisfactory response or the results have not been as expected. Social and economic growth in the region is one of the slowest in the country.
In mid-2019, the United States became involved in the development of the Mexican southeast. Together with the Mexican government, an investment of more than 700 million dollars was agreed to boost the energy area.
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Southeastern states of Mexico
Mexico has 31 states and one capital entity (Mexico City). In the case of the Mexican southeastern region, there are four states that make it up.
Tabasco is the state with the largest population. Campeche is the federal entity with the largest territorial area. Quintana Roo was, along with Baja California Sur in northwest Mexico, the last state in the country to be founded (it happened in 1974). Yucatan closes the list, which has experienced multiple territorial changes over the years.
Tabasco
The state of Tabasco is the most important in terms of population size, since it is the only one in the region that exceeds two million people. Incredibly, it is also the smallest state in terms of territory, since it only has 25,000 square kilometers of surface. In fact, it is the ninth smallest state in all of Mexico.
Its capital is Villahermosa, which is also the most populated city in the entity. It was the thirteenth state to be created, along with Tamaulipas, which occurred on February 7, 1824.
Less than 5% of the population of this entity in the Mexican southeast dominates any indigenous language. It is a lower percentage than normal in the country, especially considering that the national average is 7% of speakers of indigenous languages.
As usual, the belief is that its name comes from an indigenous language. In this case, it is believed that she is originally from the Tabscoob, a community that was in the area when the Spanish conquered Mexico.
But that is not the only theory that exists about the name of the state. Some historians affirm that the natives called the Grijalva river Tabasco and the Spanish copied the term. Others say that it is a variation of the Mayan word Tab-uaxac-coh, whose meaning speaks of a god of eight lions.
The last known hypothesis is that the Maya also had the word Tlahuashco, which means place with owner.
campeche
Its capital is San Francisco de Campeche, being in turn the city with the largest amount of population. Historians affirm that the name of this state comes from the Mayan language and its meaning is snake and tick.
It is one of the three Mexican states that make up the Yucatan peninsula. It is currently made up of 12 municipalities. Congress has already approved the creation of another municipality, a division that will become effective as of 2021.
Of the four states in the region, it is the largest at surface level thanks to its almost 60,000 square kilometers. Despite its size, it is the entity with the least amount of population in the southeast of Mexico.
It is the only one in the region that does not exceed one million inhabitants. This makes Campeche the third federal entity with the smallest population in the entire country. It is only surpassed by Baja California Sur in the northwest and by Colima, in the Mexican west.
Quintana Roo
The name of this Mexican state is due to one of the most important characters of the entity. Andrés Quintana Roo was a Mexican politician, trained as a lawyer. He had a leading role in the independence of the country and in the birth of the Republic.
For many years this state was part of the territory of Yucatan. Everything changed at the end of the 20th century when it was founded as a free and sovereign state of the nation. This recent separation makes Yucatán and Quintana Roo coincide in many elements, especially at a cultural level.
The state has one of the most important cities in all of Mexico: Cancun. It is one of the most attractive places for tourism, both foreign and national. Its main point of interest are its beaches. There are almost 200 hotels, more than 300 restaurants, convention centers and all kinds of attractions for visitors.
According to the census carried out in 2018, Quintana Roo is the fourth state with the smallest population in all of Mexico. Its capital is Chetumal and the city with the largest number of people is Cancun, where almost half of the inhabitants of the entire southeastern Mexican region congregate.
Yucatan
It was one of the first states of Mexico to be created and that happened on December 23, 1823. Its capital and also the most populated city is Mérida. It is the second most populous state in the southeastern region.
It was a very important territory within the Mayan culture, especially before the arrival of the Spanish. Before, Yucatán also included the states of Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo, as well as part of Belize. But this was changing throughout the 19th century.
Even today there are various political conflicts to define the borders of three of the Mexican states. Quintana Roo denounced the invasion of its territory by the state of Campeche, then did the same against Yucatán. If the lawsuit is successful, Yucatan could lose more than five thousand square kilometers of surface.
Its population division is made into cities, towns, villages and ranches. The first must have more than 15 thousand inhabitants. Villas must have at least 8,000 people, towns must have more than 3,000 people, and ranches must have at least 400 inhabitants.
Climate
The southeast area is characterized by warm climates that can be of three types: sub-humid, humid or semi-dry. This variety of environments and temperatures is due to the presence or absence of rain.
Rainfall is constant during the summer season (throughout the months of June to October). There are areas where there are more than a thousand millimeters of water per square meter.
Culture
The Mayan culture left its mark on this region of Mexico. The southeast has ruins and archaeological remains of great importance for understanding the beginnings of these civilizations.
One of the most important places is Chichén Itzá. It is located in the state of Yucatan and at the end of the 20th century it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
In the Mexican southeast, carnivals have been celebrated for more than 400 years. They are an influence left over from the Spanish conquest. Parades, contests and all kinds of festivities are held.
The Day of the Dead is common throughout Mexico and is no exception in the southeast, especially due to the belief that this celebration originated in the Mayan culture. Perhaps for that reason in the southeast it is an even more important celebration. It begins on October 31, pilgrimages are made, altars are decorated and the different offerings are presented.
One of the most popular festivals takes place in Campeche. In this state the black Christ of San Román is celebrated. These parties were born at the end of the 16th century.
Economy
The southeast of the country has not shown great progress at the economic level. It contrasts with other areas of the country, such as the center and the north, which have managed to grow more than 5%. Tabasco and Campeche are perhaps the two most affected states in the region. These states have seen their productive activity diminish in recent years.
For a long time the Mexican government has tried to boost the economy in this region. It is a strategic point for the Asian market and a privileged area due to the presence of resources and ideal conditions for agricultural activity, mining or the development and production of energy.
The National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) announced that the southeast region has the two states with the worst salaries in the entire country: Yucatán and Campeche. While in the north it is totally different.
One of the most stable activities in the region has been the production of handicrafts. The Panama hat is native to this area and is made from palm leaves.
Over the years they have also worked with leather, ceramics and some elements of the sea have been used to create different products.
Flora
Several areas in the southeastern region are natural areas that are being protected in order to preserve their characteristics and the balance of the species that inhabit there.
In Campeche there are six, in Quintana Roo seventeen, in Tabasco there are nine and in Yucatan there are six. There are a total of 38 of the 175 areas that exist throughout Mexico and are divided into national parks, biosphere reserves, protected areas of flora and fauna, natural resources, natural monuments, and natural sanctuaries.
Campeche has one of the largest mangroves in the Mexican Gulf area. The southeast also has jungles, where cedar species, mahogany and ceiba hardwood trees are typical.
It is possible to collect chicle thanks to the chicozapote plant, due to the sap that is obtained. Its fruit is usually sweet and has a pleasant smell.
Fauna
There are a large number of species that inhabit this area of Mexico. Several of them are in danger of extinction, such as the ocelot (from the leopard family), the puma and the jaguar.
There are more than 100 types of mammals that have been recorded in the southeast. Bird species may exceed 300 classes. Not to mention the enormous variety of butterflies and bees.
The most common animals are the tiger and the tiger leopard. The howler monkey, also known as saraguato, is typical of this region and parts of Central America such as Belize and Guatemala. Other species present in the southeast are toucans, lizards and herons.
Biodiversity in the sea is also very wide. Sharks are present, smaller fish such as grouper and dogfish. Or more exotic species such as manatees and some turtles that are in danger of disappearing.
Gastronomy
The gastronomy that exists in the southeastern area of Mexico has a wide variety of influences. On the one hand, there are dishes that come from the Mayan culture, although the Spanish also left…