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Top Attractions in Campeche

Campeche

San Francisco de Campeche (pronounced: [san fɾanˈsisko de kamˈpetʃe]) (Ahk'ìin Pech - /aχkʼiːn˥˧ pʰetʃ/ in Yucatec Maya) is a city in Campeche Municipality in the state of Campeche —located at 19.85°N 90.53°W / 19.85; -90.53, on the shore of the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico— and its municipal seat also serves as the state's capital city. The city's population at the 2010 census was 220,389, and the municipality for which it serves as municipal seat had a population of 259,005. The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Maya city of Can Pech. 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; the one in Guadalupe is almost 500 years old.

Carmen

Ciudad del Carmen is a city in the southwest of the Mexican state of Campeche. Ciudad del Carmen is located on the southwest of Carmen Island, which stands in the Laguna de Términos on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. As of 2010, Ciudad del Carmen had a population of 169,466, up from the 2005 census of 154,197. In July 2006 Ciudad del Carmen celebrated its 150th anniversary as a city. The city is nicknamed "The Pearl of the Gulf". Ciudad del Carmen was a small city mostly devoted to fishing until the 1970s when oil was discovered in the region; since then it has grown and developed substantially. To this day Carmen is known as one of the best locations to find seafood in Mexico. As late as the early 1980s the city could long be reached only by ferry boats called "pangas" or small motorboats operating between Ciudad del Carmen and Zacatal; this changed with the construction of a causeway bridge to the mainland in the 1980s and another one in 1994 . The construction of the first bridge was motivated by the sinking of one of the island's pangas which resulted in the death of nearly everyone on board. The bridge Puente El Zacatal, constructed in 1994, is one of the longest in Latin America. This border area at the western edge of the Yucatán Peninsula was previously part of the state of Yucatán, then of Tabasco; since 1863 it has been part of the state of Campeche. In 1840 the city had a population of about 7,000. The city is also the seat of the state of Campeche's Carmen municipality, which includes the city and the surrounding area. The 2010 census population of the municipality of Carmen was 221,094 people, second only to the capital municipality of Campeche. The main university in Ciudad del Carmen is the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen .

Xpuhil

Xpuhil Pronounced: is a Maya archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Campeche, in the vicinity of the modern-day town of Xpujil. The area surrounding Xpuhil, along Federal Highway 186, is rich with other Maya sites, including Becan and Calakmul. The name xpuhil means "cats tail" in reference to a type of vegetation found locally. Evidence at the site indicates settlement as early as 400 BC. The pre-Columbian inhabitants of Xpuhil reached their zenith between AD 500 and 750, and went into decline around 1100. Xpuhil was rediscovered in the late 1930s. To date, 17 groups of constructions have been uncovered, which mostly follow Río Bec architectural canons. Structure I is of particular interest because it is not in the Río Bec style, with its three towers and atypical distribution of interior spaces.

Calakmul

Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands. Calakmul was a major Maya power within the northern Petén Basin region of the Yucatán Peninsula of southern Mexico. Calakmul administered a large domain marked by the extensive distribution of their emblem glyph of the snake head sign, to be read "Kaan". Calakmul was the seat of what has been dubbed the Kingdom of the Snake or Snake Kingdom. This Snake Kingdom reigned during most of the Classic period. Calakmul itself is estimated to have had a population of 50,000 people and had governance, at times, over places as far away as 150 kilometers. There are 6,750 ancient structures identified at Calakmul; the largest of which is the great pyramid at the site. Structure 2 is over 45 metres high, making it one of the tallest of the Maya pyramids. Four tombs have been located within the pyramid. Like many temples or pyramids within Mesoamerica the pyramid at Calakmul increased in size by building upon the existing temple to reach its current size. The size of the central monumental architecture is approximately 2 square kilometres and the whole of the site, mostly covered with dense residential structures, is about 20 square kilometres . Throughout the Classic Period, Calakmul maintained an intense rivalry with the major city of Tikal to the south, and the political manoeuvrings of these two cities have been likened to a struggle between two Maya superpowers. Rediscovered from the air by biologist Cyrus L. Lundell of the Mexican Exploitation Chicle Company on December 29, 1931, the find was reported to Sylvanus G. Morley of the Carnegie Institute at Chichen Itza in March 1932.

Campeche City Walls

The city of Campeche is an example of urbanism in a baroque colonial city, with a reticular and regular plan, its urban trace, a model of colonial port cities, reflects the main role that it played as a commercial, religious and military connection point characterized by its high level of integrity and homogeneity. More than one thousand buildings with a historic value have survived as witnesses of space and temporal superimposition of several significant historic periods of Mexico. Due to the constant attacks of both English and Dutch buccaneers and pirates such as Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Laurens de Graaf, Cornelis Jol, 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. Nuestra Señora de la Soledad: Also protects the Sea Gate. It is the largest one and holds the Museum of City History. San Carlos: Holds the City Museum. This fort was the first one built. Protects the Sea Gate. Santa Rosa. 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 17th 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.

Becan

Becan is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Becan is located near the center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche, about 150 km north of Tikal. The Maya sites of Balamku, Calakmul, Chicanna and Xpuhil are nearby. The name Becan was bestowed on the site by archaeologists who rediscovered the site, meaning "ravine or canyon formed by water" in Yukatek Maya, after the sites most prominent and unusual feature, its surrounding ditch. Archaeological evidence shows that Becan was occupied in the middle Pre-Classic period, about 550 BCE, and grew to a major population and ceremonial center a few hundred years later in the late Preclassic. The population and scale of construction declined in the early classic, although it was still a significant site, and trade goods from Teotihuacan have been found. A ditch and ramparts were constructed around the site at this time. There is a ditch that runs the circumference of the city which covers approximately 25 hectares . Around 500 the population again increased dramatically and many large new buildings were constructed, mostly in the Rio Bec style of Maya architecture. Construction of major buildings and elite monuments stopped about 830, although ceramic evidence show that the site continued to be occupied for some time thereafter, although the population went into decline and Becan was probably abandoned by about 1200. The site was first documented in the archaeological literature in 1934 by archaeologists Karl Ruppert and John Denison on an expedition to the region sponsored by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who named it "Becan" after the conspicuous ditch surrounding the center of the city; the ancient name of the site is not known. From 1969 to 1971 archaeological excavations were made at Becan sponsored by Tulane University and the National Geographic Society.

Edzna

Edzná is a Maya archaeological site in the north of the Mexican state of Campeche. The site is open to visitors. The most remarkable building at the plaza is the main temple. Built on a platform 40 m high, it provides a wide overview of the surroundings. Another significant building located in the plaza is a ball court. Two parallel structures make up the ball court. The top rooms of the ball court were possibly used to store images of the gods associated with the events, along with items needed for the games. Edzná was already inhabited in 400 BC, and it was abandoned circa 1500 AD. During the time of occupation, a government was set up whose power was legitimized by the relationship between governors and the deities. In the Late Classic period Edzná was part of the Calakmul polity. Edzná may have been inhabited as early as 600 BC but it took until 200 AD before it developed into a major city. The word Edzná comes from "House of the Itzás" which may suggest that the city was influenced by the family Itzá long before they founded Chichen Itzá. The architectural style of this site shows signs of the Puuc style, even though it is far from the Puuc Hills sites. The decline and eventual abandonment of Edzná still remains a mystery today. Edzná was discovered in 1907. The first organised excavations started in 1958. In 1986, coordinating agencies began to employ Guatemalan refugees in the excavation, restoration and maintenance at Edzná. This project was funded by various international organizations.

Uaymil

Uaymil is pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located on the Gulf Coast of northern Campeche. The settlement of Uaymil occupies a small island approximately 2.5 kilometers from the coast and 25 km north of Jaina. The site has been archaeologically investigated by Rafael Cobos, now of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, who documented 15 structures, 8 of which were situated around a plaza containing an altar . A number of additional monuments and stele were also identified . Ceramic data recovered during archaeological excavation indicate that Uaymil was predominantly a Late to Terminal Classic site. Ceramic, lithic, and architectural data suggest that Uaymil had economic ties with both Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, but largely functioned as a port directly connected to, and dependent on, Uxmal .

Bolonchén

Bolonchén or Bolonchén de Rejón (Bolon Che'e'en in Modern Maya) is a town in the Mexican state of Campeche, about 120 km East from the state capital, Campeche, in Hopelchén Municipality. As of 2010 the town had a population of 3,975 people.. A short distance to the south of Bolonchén are located the caves of Xtacunbilxunan. The name "Bolonchén" means "Nine Wells" in the Maya language, and "de Rejón" commemorates Manuel Crescencio Rejón, a lawyer who helped draft the 1917 Constitution and who was born here. Previously, the Pueblo was named Bolonchenticul. It was renamed in September 1955 to Balonchén de Rejón . It is also the birthplace of Olegario Molina y Solis, the Governor of Yucatán and Minister de Fomento in the Porfirio Díaz era(1877–1911). In 1833, it was the only pueblo to escape the cholera epidemic. This was due to the efforts of Julian Molina y Bastante (Olegario's grandfather) and the brothers Martinez. The large Bolonchén ruins site of ancient Maya architecture is located just north of the modern town. It dates from the Mayan Classic Period and Post Classic Period. Most of the carved stone facades of the ancient structures were removed in the 18th through mid−20th centuries for reuse in new construction work. Nonetheless, a few monuments with sculpture and hieroglyphic texts are still visible. Both the ruins and cave were visited and described briefly by John Lloyd Stephens at the start of the 1840s, but no detailed scholarly examination of the ruins was made until Eric von Euw in 1973 (in part because Stephens and other early visitors failed to note that there were surviving inscriptions).

Chicanná

Chicanná was a Maya town that was built during the Classic period 600 A.D. to 830 A.D. The site was named after its most famous building, Structure II, which means "House of the Serpent Mouth" in Mayan. In the Mayan language "chi" means mouth, "can" means serpent and "na" means house. The site is located just two kilometers west of Becán in the Mexican state of Campeche on the Yucatán peninsula. It is one of 45 other ruin sites located within that area. Chicanná was inhabited from 300 B.C. to 1100 A.D., but was thought to have reached its peak from 300 B.C. to 250 A.D. There is evidence that Chicanná may have been dependent on Becán for much of its existence, since Becán was self-sufficient. Chicanná is one of the most striking examples in the region of the mixing of architectural styles with its stunning detailed buildings. Its buildings have features of the Río Bec, Chenes and even the Puuc style from the north. It does not have large pyramids, but relatively small buildings with an ornateness and quality of decoration that suggests that it was a center for the regions most elite. The city of Chicanná is widely known for one of its well-preserved doorways with interesting detail, the city reached its prime during the late classical period. The city of Chicanná is small. However, it is considered to be home for the elites and rulers of Becán. After continuous research on Chicanná site, knowledge grew which eventually lead to the questioning of previous ideas associated with the style of sculptures in central Yucatán. Jack D. Eaton rediscovered Chicanná in 1966 during his exploration of the Yucatán. Chicanná is a site that takes advantage of the natural elevation found in the region so structures seem higher and, for the Maya, closer to the god. This settlement was most used for important spiritual ceremonies and rituals for the Mayans.
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