San Marcos is a town in the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

. 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, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

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

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

and ends near the town of Puerto Ángel in the neighbouring state of Oaxaca.

Geography

The town is located approximately 59 km south of Acapulco. It is located 18 km inland and along Federal Highway 200, known locally as the Acapulco–Pinotepa Nacional highway. It is only about one hour's drive from Acapulco and about three hours (157 km) from

Pinotepa Nacional Pinotepa Nacional (formally: Santiago Pinotepa Nacional; in Ñu'savi, ''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 Distric ...

History

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

Saint Mark Mark the Evangelist ( Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark ( Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' Aramaic'': ܝܘܚܢܢ, romanized: Yōḥannān'') or Saint Ma ...

, 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