San Marcos is a town 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 ...

Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...

. It serves as the municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of San Marcos. The town currently has about 12 000 inhabitants. Culturally and ethnically, the town and the municipality belong to what is known in Mexico as the Costa Chica (small coast) of

and

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. This is a 125 km long region along the Pacific coast; it begins south of

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

and ends near the town of

Puerto Ángel Puerto Ángel (English: "Angel Port").Is a small coastal town in the Mexican state of Oaxaca located in the municipality of San Pedro Pochutla. It, along with San Agustinillo and Playa Zipolite are known as the "Riviera Oaxaqueña". It is located ...

in the neighbouring state of Oaxaca. Geographically, the town is located approximately 59 km south of Acapulco. It is located 18 km inland and along Federal Highway 200 which is better known locally as the Acapulco-Pinotepa Nacional highway. It is only about one hour's drive from Acapulco and takes about 3 hours (157 km) from

Pinotepa Nacional Pinotepa Nacional (formally: Santiago Pinotepa Nacional; in Mixtec, ''Ñuu Ñoko'', which means Twenty-House Town) is a city and seat of the municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Jamiltepec District ...

History

Officially, the town and municipality were established on 28 September 1885 and were named in honour of

Saint Mark Mark the Evangelist ( la, Marcus; grc-gre, Μᾶρκος, Mârkos; arc, ܡܪܩܘܣ, translit=Marqōs; Ge'ez: ማርቆስ; ), also known as Saint Mark, is the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Accor ...

, a Catholic saint considered the patron saint of the region. However, the town already existed, firstly under the name of Xolutla and later La Estancia. {{Authority control Populated places in Guerrero