Calakmul is a municipality in the
Mexican state
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
of
Campeche
Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...
, situated in the central part of the
Yucatán Peninsula.
History
The municipality was created on 31 December 1996, from part of the territory of
Champotón. On 19 June 1998, the
State Congress enacted legislation creating the new municipality of
Candelaria as of 1 July of that year, and Calakmul lost 24% of its population and a portion of its territory.
Geography
The
municipality of Calakmul borders to the east with
Quintana Roo (municipalities of
José María Morelos,
Bacalar, and
Othón P. Blanco) and
Belize (
Orange Walk District); to the south with
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
(
Petén Department); and to the north and west with other municipalities in Campeche (
Candelaria,
Champotón,
Escárcega and
Hopelchén
Hopelchén (, Yucatec Maya: "place of five wells") is a city in the Mexico, Mexican mexican state, state of Campeche. It is situated inland in the north of the state. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding Hopelchén Municipality. In ...
). It covers 13,839.11 km² (5,343.31 sq mi), accounting for 24.34% of the state's total surface area, and is the 10th-largest municipality in area in the country.
Demographics
The 2010 census reported a population of 26,882 persons.
The languages spoken in Calakmul include
Yucatec Maya,
Ch'ol,
Chontal,
Tzotzil
The Tzotzil are an indigenous Maya people of the central Chiapas highlands in southern Mexico. As cited by Alfredo López Austin (1997), p. 133, 148 and following. As of 2000, they numbered about 298,000. The municipalities with the largest Tzo ...
, and others. The municipal seat is the town of
Xpujil
Xpujil is a town in the Mexican state of Campeche. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of Calakmul. As of 2010, Xpujil had a population of 3,984.
Xpujil is located in the south-east of the state, close to the border ...
, a small settlement of 3,984 inhabitants located on
Federal Highway 186 as it crosses the base of the peninsula from
Escárcega, Campeche, to
Chetumal, Quintana Roo.
Towns and villages
The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are:
2010 census tables: INEGI
Heritage
Maya archaeological sites in the municipality include: Calakmul, Becán
Becan ( Spanish: Becán) 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 (93.2 ...
, Chicanna, El Hormiguero, Río Bec and Xpuhil
Xpuhil Pronounced:/ʃpuχil̥/ (also Xpujil) 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 M ...
. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve also covers much of its southern portion.
References
Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005
INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México
External links
Ayuntamiento de Calakmul
Official website
Municipio de Calakmul
from official Campeche state government website
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Campeche