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 ...

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 The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

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 A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Calakmul borders to the east with

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

(municipalities of

José María Morelos José María Teclo Morelos Pérez y Pavón () (30 September 1765 – 22 December 1815) was a Mexican Catholic priest, statesman and military leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of ...

Bacalar Bacalar () is the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality (until 2011 a part of Othón P. Blanco Municipality) in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about north of Chetumal, at 18° 40' 37" N, 88° 23' 43" W. In the 2010 census ...

, and Othón P. Blanco) and

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

(

Orange Walk District Orange Walk District is a district in the northwest of the nation of Belize, with its district capital in Orange Walk Town. Main settlements The Orange Walk District, with an area of 1,829 square miles (4,636 square km), is located north-northwe ...

); 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 Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...

); and to the north and west with other municipalities in Campeche ( Candelaria, Champotón,

Escárcega Escárcega () is a small city in the Mexican state of Campeche, located at in the central part of the state. As of 2010, the city of Escárcega had a population of 29,477. The city serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding munici ...

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 Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...

, 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 Chetumal (, , ; yua, label=Yucatec Maya, Chactemàal , ) is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco. In 2020 i ...

Towns and villages

The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are:2010 census tables: INEGI

Heritage

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

archaeological sites in the municipality include:

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the large ...

, Becán, Chicanna,

El Hormiguero ''El Hormiguero'' (, Spanish for "The Anthill") is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and guest interviews running since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos. The show ...

Río Bec Río Bec is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located in what is now southern portion of the Mexican state of Campeche. The name also refers to an architectural style (Río Bec Style) that first appeared at Río Bec and subsequently sprea ...

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 The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biósfera de Calakmul) is located at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, in Calakmul Municipality in the state of Campeche, bordering the Guatemalan department of El Petén to the south ...

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