Yucatán (state, Mexico)

Yucatán (state, Mexico), state in southeastern Mexico. The Yucatán Peninsula was at the center of the pre-Columbian civilization of the Maya and is the site of a number of Mexico’s most important archaeological sites. The state is located on the tip of the peninsula and is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico on the north, by the state of Quintana Roo on the east and southeast, and by the state of Campeche on the west and southwest.

The topography of Yucatán is essentially flat, only a few feet above sea level in most areas, and is made up of limestone covered by a shallow layer of top soil, limiting fertility. No surface rivers traverse the state, and water is obtained from underground rivers and cenotes, or deep sinkholes, where the limestone surface has collapsed, revealing water below. The climate is generally humid and rainy in the south, and hot and dry in the north. The state covers an area of 43,257 sq km (16,702 sq mi).

Mérida, the capital city, has a rich cultural history that includes traditions of both the Maya and mestizos (people of mixed Native American and Spanish descent). It is the location of the Autonomous University of Yucatán (1624), an important regional education center. Other important cities are Valladolid; Izamal, the site of the Izamal archaeological ruins; and Progreso, the state’s only important port city. In 2008 the state had a population of 1,898,086.

The rapid expansion of the tourist destination of Cancún, in the neighboring state of Quintana Roo, also has stimulated the tourist industry in Yucatán, and visitors can fly direct to the international airport in Mérida. Until the early 1900s, the state’s economy had depended heavily on the cultivation of henequén, a plant whose fiber is used to make rope. Since then, the state has diversified its economy, which now revolves around tourism, light manufacturing, and agricultural products such as cattle, poultry, and honey. Fishing is also significant, and the state has a number of facilities for processing fish and shellfish.

Three of Mexico’s most renowned archaeological sites—Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and the ruins at —are located within the state’s boundaries. Maya culture continues to play a significant role in Yucatán and the state retains the highest percentage of residents who speak an indigenous language (44 percent in 1990), six times the national average.

During the mid-19th century, the Maya rebelled against the Spanish and mestizo people. This struggle, known as the Caste War of the Yucatán, began in 1847 and was an effort to end the exploitation of the Maya and to stop nonnatives from taking communal Maya lands. The rebellion was largely defeated by 1853, and the war drove many Maya across the Yucatán Peninsula into remote regions of what is now the state of Quintana Roo. In the late 19th century, the cultivation of henequén came to dominate the peninsula’s economy, and the Yucatán became one of the most prosperous states in the nation. Huge plantations produced enormous profits for landowners, but few of the benefits of the lucrative trade trickled down to the state’s indigenous majority. These conditions helped to contribute to the social and political environment that brought about the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). In the 1920s, after the revolution, landholders resisted attempts to break up the large henequén plantations. However, many were taken over by the national government in the 1930s and broken up into small cooperative ejidos, or common lands.