Campeche (state, Mexico)

Campeche (state, Mexico), state on the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Campeche is a humid, tropical state that is sparsely populated in most areas and contains some of Mexico’s most important petroleum resources. The state is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico on the north and the west; by Belize and Guatemala on the south and southeast; and by the Mexican states of Tabasco on the west, and Yucatán and Quintana Roo on the east.

Geographically, Campeche serves as an entry to the Yucatán Peninsula. The climate is semihumid to humid, with a winter dry season, and varies little across the state. Tropical forests cover more than half of the state’s territory. A major river, the Usumacinta, passes through the state, flowing through the low-lying marshy plain between Tabasco and Campeche. A large inlet on the Gulf of Mexico, the Términos Lagoon, forms much of the state’s coastline. Campeche covers an area of 56,798 sq km (21,930 sq mi).

The state’s three principal cities—Campeche, the state capital located in the northwestern corner of the state; Ciudad del Carmen, the state’s largest city and the site of a major naval station; and Champotón, an agricultural and fishing center just south of the capital—all lie along the coast, where most of the population is concentrated. The interior of the state is sparsely populated, with few roads. The region was at the center of the civilization of the Maya and a number of Maya ruins are found in the north near the state of Yucatán. A large percentage of the state’s population is of Native American ancestry, largely Maya, and Campeche’s proportion of indigenous residents ranks it among the top 5 out of 31 Mexican states. The University of the Southeast (1756), an important regional institution, is located in the capital city. The state’s estimated population in 2005 was 754,730.

Campeche is a leading producer of fish and several agricultural products, including rice, honey, and sugarcane. The state hosts a fishing fleet of more than 5000 vessels, and has an annual shrimp harvest that ranks among the highest in Mexico. The southern part of the state encompasses a portion of the Tabasco oil fields, whose petroleum reserves helped Campeche to account for about one-quarter of Mexico’s natural gas production in 1995. Campeche’s state government has also initiated efforts to diversify the state economy by promoting ecological tourism in the region’s rain forests. The state is crossed by two major highways which originate from Villahermosa, the capital of neighboring Tabasco, both of which pass through the city of Campeche.

In the 18th century the city of Campeche thrived as a port and monopolized trade on the Yucatán Peninsula. Campeche and the neighboring state of Yucatán have a long history of economic and political competition going back to the 1700s. Politicians and businessmen in the cities of Campeche and Mérida (in what is now the state of Yucatán) vied for control of the region throughout the early 19th century. A number of violent conflicts broke out during this period and the two cities alternated as capitals of the state of Yucatán. Campeche seceded from Yucatán in 1857, shortly after the approval of the 1857 constitution, and became a state in 1858. Campeche also had border disputes with Quintana Roo and lost some of its territory to that state in 1902.