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Mexico Travel :: Yucatan Peninsular

State of Campeche

The state of Campeche has always been a major trade conduit between the Yucatan peninsula and the rest of Mexico. Between 800 BC and AD 250, the Chicanel Culture spread throughout the Maya region, and major settlements were built at Edzna, Jaina Island, and Santa Rosa Xtampak. During the Classic era, El Hormiguero and Calakmul were centers of the Rio Bee style in eastern Campeche. To the north were the Chene Culture sites of Hochob, Santa Rosa Xtampak and Dzibiltun. Campeche was also on the southern boundary of the Puuc region, and much of Edzna, the state's most impressive archeological site, was built in this style. Jaina Island, just off the west coast, may have been a burial ground for Puuc nobility. Inside the many tombs here archeologists have found beautiful ceramic figurines, many of which are probably portraits of the dead. After the Maya collapse, many wandering tribes-including the Xius, Itzas and perhaps the Toltecs-passed through Campeche on their way to settle in Yucatan. The Campeche coast was a base of the Chontal-speaking Maya, the great traders who settled in Cacaxtla and other sites in central Mexico.

In 1517, Francisco de Cordoba landed in Campeche and was mortally wounded in a great battle with the Putun Maya. After the failure of his father to conquer the peninsula, Francisco de Montejo the Younger landed here in 1537, defeated the Putun and founded settlements at Champoton and Ah Kin Pech (now the city of Campeche). In the Colonial era, the territory prospered because of its sugar cane and cattle estates and because, at least until 1811, the city was the sole port for the entire peninsula. Spanish shipping was the quarry of English privateers based in the nearby Laguna de Terminos, and Campeche was girdled with fortifications for its protection. The Indian rebellion led by Canek and the ensuing War of the Castes also spread to Campeche, but not as seriously as in Yucatan. In this century, Campeche underwent a slow decline, until oil was discovered in the Gulf and the economy began to expand again.

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