Cancún (/kɑːnˈkuːn/ or /kæn-/;[2] Spanish pronunciation: [kaŋˈkun]) is a city in southeastern Mexico, located on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
It is an important renowned tourist destination in Mexico,[3] as well as being the seat of the municipality of Benito Juárez.
The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, and is one of the easternmost points in Mexico.
Cancún is located just north of Mexico's Caribbean coast resort band known as the Riviera Maya.
In older English-language documents, the city’s name is sometimes spelled "Cancoon," an attempt to convey the sound of the name.[4]
| Cancún | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Motto: The Glistening City | |
 Location of Cancún within Quintana Roo |
|
Cancún
|
|
| Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″WCoordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W | |
| Country |  Mexico |
| State |  Quintana Roo |
| Municipality |  Benito Juárez |
| Founded | April 20, 1970 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Julián Ricalde Magaña (PRD) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,978.75 km2 (764.00 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 10 m (30 ft) |
| Highest elevation | 10 m (30 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2010[1]) | |
| • Total | 722,800 |
| • Density | 370/km2 (950/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Cancunense |
| Time zone | EST (UTC−5) |
| Postal code | 77500 |
| Area code(s) | 998 |
| Website | www |
Allusive fountain to Benito
Juárez's shield, Av. Cobá and Náder.
Place names and shield
|
|
Place names
There are two possible translations of Cancún, based on the Mayan pronunciation kaan kun. The first translation is "nest of snakes." The second version and less accepted is "place of the gold snake."[5]Shield
The shield of the municipality of Benito Juárez, who represents the city of Cancun, was designed by the Mexican American artist Joe Vera.[6]It is divided into three parts: The color blue symbolizes the Caribbean Sea, the yellow the sand, and the red the sun with its rays.
History
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1990 | 167,730 | — |
| 1995 | 297,183 | +77.2% |
| 2000 | 397,191 | +33.7% |
| 2005 | 526,701 | +32.6% |
| 2010 | 628,306 | +19.3% |
| 2014 | 722,800 | +15.0% |
| sources:[7] | ||
In the years after the Conquest, much of the Maya population died off or left as a result of disease, warfare, piracy, and famines, leaving only small settlements on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel Island.[citation needed]
The name Cancún, Cancum or Cankun first appears on 18th-century maps.[9]
The meaning of Cancún is unknown, and it is also unknown whether the name is of Maya origin.
If it is of Maya origin, possible translations include "Place/Seat/Throne of the Snake" or "Enchanted Snake". Snake iconography was prevalent at the pre-Columbian site of Nizuc.[10]
When development of the area as a resort was started on January 23, 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, caretakers of the coconut plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla Mujeres.
Some 117 people living in nearby Puerto Juarez, a fishing village and military base.[11]
Due to the reluctance of investors to bet on an unknown area, the Mexican government had to finance the first nine hotels.[11]
The first hotel financed was the Hyatt Cancún Caribe, but the first hotel built was the Playa Blanca, which later became a Blue Bay hotel.
It is now named Temptation Resort. At the time it was an elite destination, famous for its virgin white sand beaches.
The city began as a tourism project in 1974 as an Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo, National Fund for Tourism Development), formerly known as INFRATUR.
Since then, it has undergone a comprehensive transformation from being a fisherman's island surrounded by virgin forest and undiscovered shores to being one of the two most well-known Mexican resorts, along with Acapulco.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO), through its foundation UNWTO-Themis, awarded the Best of the Best award "for excellence and good governance" to the Trust for Tourism Promotion of Cancun on February 3, 2007.
This award ensured Cancún the ongoing support of the Department of Education and Knowledge Management of the WTO.
Most 'Cancunenses' are from Yucatán and other Mexican states. A growing number are from the rest of the Americas and Europe.
The municipal authorities have struggled to provide public services for the constant influx of people, as well as limiting squatters and irregular developments, which now occupy an estimated ten to fifteen percent of the mainland area on the fringes of the city.[11]
In the 21st century, Cancún had largely avoided the bloodshed associated with the trade of illegal drugs. But it is known for its retail drug sales to tourists as well as for being a center of money laundering.[12]
The links with Cancún date from the 1990s and early 2000s, when the area was controlled by the Juárez and Gulf drug cartels.
In recent years Los Zetas, a group that broke away from the Gulf Cartel, has taken control of many smuggling routes through the Yucatán, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.[13]
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún from November 29, 2010 to December 10, 2010.
-
El Meco archaeological zone
-
Yamil Lu'um (Temple of the Scorpion)
-
Aerial view from El Castillo of the archaeological site El Meco
-
Master plan of INFRATUR
City layout
Aerial view of the Cancún Island, from the top of the Torre Escénica in addition to 80 meters of height. May 2008
Hotels Cancun
These open centers usually have walkways and 'sidewalks' around a central garden park, or soccer fields, or a library, etc. which make the mainland "Mexican" Cancún bicycle-friendly.[citation needed]
The residential roads of central or 'Mainland' Cancún, U-shaped and culs-de-sacs, insulate housing from the noise and congestion of the main flow of traffic.[citation needed]
Mainland Cancún has a central market that resembles an outlet mall, colorful buildings on a pedestrian city block.[citation needed]
Ave. Tulum is the main north-south artery, connecting downtown to the airport, which is some 30 km (19 mi) south of downtown.
Tulum is bisected by Ave. Cobá. East of Ave. Tulum, Cobá becomes Ave. Kukulcan which serves as the primary road through the 7-shaped hotel zone. Ave. Tulum ends on the north side at Ave. Paseo José López Portillo which connects to the main highway west to Chichén Itzá and Mérida.
Another major north-south road is Ave. Bonampak which runs roughly parallel to Ave. Tulum.
The main ferry to Isla Mujeres is located in Puerto Juarez, on Ave. Paseo José López Portillo.
To save on the cost of installing sewer systems and other public services, the design of much of the rest of the city reverted to the grid plan after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.[citation needed]
The newest upper-middle-class residential areas reflect the original plan, but are much less intimate. Less expensive developments are composed almost entirely of identical one- or two-story small row-houses, sometimes built around interior plazas or 4 story apartment blocks.[citation needed]
Until recently, most mainland buildings were four stories or shorter; since 2005, there has been an influx of condominium and luxury retail and office space concentrated along Ave. Bonampak.
Cancún's Mainland or Downtown area has diverged from the original plan; development is scattered around the city.
The remaining undeveloped beach and lagoon front areas outside the hotel zone are now under varying stages of development, in Punta Sam and Puerto Juarez to the north, continuing along Bonampak and south toward the airport along Boulevard Donaldo Colosio.
One development abutting the hotel zone is Puerto Cancún,[15] also Malecon Cancún[16] is another large development.
Cancun Airport's old Control Tower Memorial
Despite being a young city, Cancun has a memorial monument of its foundation on a replica of the old Airport Control Tower that resembles to its own date of foundation.The original Control Tower was a provisional wooden structure to satisfy the operative needs of the recently created airport.
Some documents of the city mention that on that time there were no other formal buildings constructed in the city, being possibly the first built structure of Cancun's recent history.
The old airport was located on the same part of the city that today corresponds to the Kabah Avenue. The tower is 15 meters tall, has a staircase of 45 steps, and has a base dimension of 5 x 5 meters.
The memorial was first built in 2002, with the donations of Aerocaribe, a local airline, but the structure was damaged after Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
After the claims of the local people asking to rebuild the tower memorial, a new version was built on 2010, which was later abandoned without proper maintenance until Woox Pinturas, another local wood maintenance company, made a donation to restore the structure to its original appearance. [17]
Mayan archaeological zones
El Rey archaeological zone
El Rey (Las Ruinas del Rey) is located in the Hotel Zone.
El Meco, a more substantial site, is found on the mainland just outside the city limits on the road north to Punta Sam.[citation needed]
Close by in the Riviera Maya and the Grand Costa Maya, there are sites such as Cobá and Muyil (Riviera) the small Polé (now Xcaret), and Kohunlich, Kinichná, Dzibanché, Oxtankah, Tulum, and Chacchoben, in the south of the state.
Chichén Itzá is in the neighboring state of Yucatán.
Transportation
Cancún is served by Cancún International Airport with an added main runway that commenced operation as of October 2010.It has many flights to North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe.
It is located on the northeast of the Yucatán Peninsula serving an average of about fifteen million passengers per year.
The airport is located around 20 km (12 mi) from the hotel zone, approximately a 20 minute trip by car.[18]
The island of Isla Mujeres is located off the coast and is accessible by ferry from Puerto Juárez.
Climate
Cancún has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw), with few temperature differences between seasons, but pronounced rainy seasons.The city is warm year-round, and moderated by onshore trade winds, with an annual mean temperature of 27.1 °C (80.8 °F).
Unlike inland areas of the Yucatán Peninsula, sea breezes restrict high temperatures from reaching 35 °C (95 °F) on most afternoons.
Annual rainfall is around 1,340 millimetres (52.8 in), falling on 115 days per year.
More temperate conditions occur from November to February with occasional refreshing northerly breezes, it is drier and becomes hotter in March and April.
It is hottest from May to September, due to proximity to the Caribbean and Gulf humidity is high the year round, especially so during hurricane season (averages close to 70% on rainfree days).
The hotel zone juts into the Caribbean Sea, it is surrounded by ocean therefore daytime temperatures are around 1-2C less and windspeeds are higher than at the airport located some distance inland, which is the official meteorological station for Cancún, averages as shown below.[19]
| [show]Climate data for Cancún (Cancún International Airport: MMUN) |
|---|
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79 °F
26 °C |
79 °F
26 °C |
79 °F
26 °C |
81 °F
27 °C |
82 °F
28 °C |
84 °F
29 °C |
84 °F
29 °C |
84 °F
29 °C |
84 °F
29 °C |
84 °F
29 °C |
82 °F
28 °C |
81 °F
27 °C |
Thanks to the Yucatán current continually bringing warm water from further south, the sea temperature is always very warm, with lows of 79 °F (26 °C) in winter and highs of 84 °F (29 °C) in summer.[22]
The tropical storm season lasts from May to December, the rainy season extends into January with peak precipitation in October.
February to early May tend to be drier with only occasional scattered showers.
Cancún is located in one of the main Caribbean hurricane impact areas.
Although large hurricanes are rare, they have struck near to Cancún in recent years, Hurricane Wilma in 2005 being the largest.
Hurricane Gilbert made a devastating direct hit on Cancún in September 1988 and the tourist hotels needed to be rebuilt.
In both cases, federal, state and municipal authorities were well prepared to deal with most of the effects on tourists and local residents.[23]
Hurricane Dean in 2007 also made its mark on the city of Cancún.
Hurricane Gilbert
Main article: Hurricane Gilbert
It landed on the Yucatán peninsula after crossing over the island of Cozumel.
In the Cancún region, a loss of $87 million (1989 USD) due to a decline in tourism was estimated for the months October, November and December in 1988.[24]
Hurricane Wilma
Main article: Hurricane Wilma
The hurricane's eye first passed over the island of Cozumel, and then made an official landfall near Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo at around midnight on October 22 EDT with winds near 140 mph (230 km/h).
Portions of the island of Cozumel experienced the calm eye of Wilma for several hours with some blue skies and sunshine visible at times.
The eye slowly drifted northward, with the center passing just to the west of Cancún, Quintana Roo.
Hurricane Dean
Main article: Hurricane Dean
Fierce winds at the edge of Dean's impact cone stripped sand off 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of beaches from Punta Cancún (Camino Real Hotel) to Punta Nizuc (Club Med).[25]
The authorities asked tourism operators to suspend sending tourists to Cancún while Hurricane Dean was approaching, but did ask airlines to send empty planes, which were then used to evacuate tourists already there.[26]
Education
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. (June 2014) |
Although Cancún is better known as a travel and tourism destination, in recent years some colleges and universities have been offering higher education to both Mexican and foreign students.
Private schools in Cancún include:
Sport
The city is home to C. F. Atlante, who play in the Ascenso MX, the second level of the Mexican association football pyramid.The club left Mexico City and relocated to Cancún following the 2007 opening of Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo, which is now the club's home venue.
The city is also home to baseball team the Tigres de Quintana Roo who play in the Mexican League (LMB).
Source: Wikipedia.org
TTFN
CYA Later Taters!
Thanks for Stopping by.
Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man
No comments:
Post a Comment