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 Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, constitute the 32 federal entities of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. It is divided into 11 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal. Quintana Roo is located on the eastern 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 ...

and is bordered by the states 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 ...

to the west and Yucatán to the northwest, and by the Orange Walk and Corozal districts of

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 wa ...

, along with an offshore borderline with Belize District to the south. As Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo has a coastline to the east with the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexic ...

and to the north with the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The state previously covered and shared a small border 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 Hon ...

in the southwest of the state. However, in 2013, Mexico's

Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( es, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) is the Mexican institution serving as the country's federal high court and the spearhead organisation for the judiciary of the Mexican Federal Go ...

resolved the boundary dispute between Quintana Roo,

, and Yucatán stemming from the creation of the Calakmul municipality by Campeche in 1997, siding with Campeche and thereby benefiting Yucatán. Quintana Roo is the home of the city of Cancún, the islands of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, and the towns of Bacalar, Playa del Carmen and Akumal, as well as the ancient Maya ruins of Chacchoben, Cobá,

Kohunlich Kohunlich (X-làabch'e'en in Modern Mayan) is a large archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located on the Yucatán Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo about 25 km east of the Rio Bec region, and about 65 km w ...

, Muyil, Tulum, Xel-Há, and Xcaret. The Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve is also located in the state. The statewide population is expanding at a rapid rate due to the construction of hotels and the demand for workers. Many migrants come from Yucatán,

, Tabasco, and

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. The state is frequently hit by severe hurricanes due to its exposed location, the most recent and severe being Hurricane Dean in 2007, which made landfall with sustained winds of , with gusts up to .

History

The area that makes up modern Quintana Roo was long part of Yucatán, sharing its history. With the

Caste War of Yucatán The Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1915) began with the revolt of Native Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula against Hispanic populations, called ''Yucatecos''. The latter had long held political and economic control of the region. A lengthy w ...

, which started in the 1840s, all non-natives were driven from the region. The independent Maya nation of Chan Santa Cruz was based on what is now the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. For decades it maintained considerable independence, having separate trade and treaty relationships with British Honduras, now

. Quintana Roo was made a territory of Mexico by decree of President

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

on November 24, 1902. It was named after an early patriot of the Mexican Republic, Andrés Quintana Roo. The Mexican army succeeded in defeating most of the Maya population of the region during the 1910s. In 1913 the area was again declared to be legally part of the state of Yucatán, but was again declared a separate territory in 1915. The territory of Quintana Roo was granted statehood within the United Mexican States on October 8, 1974. In the last quarter of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st, Quintana Roo developed rapidly, with tourism being a driving force, notably with the development of Cancún.

Archaeological findings

Ancient human remains have been discovered in a system of submerged caves and sinkholes in the Tulum area of Quintana Roo. To date, a total of nine skeletons have been found in these caves, including one of the oldest human skeletons found on the American continent. In 2016, underwater archaeological exploration of a cave known as Chan Hol found a skeleton of a female who lived in the region at least 9,900 years ago, during the Paleo-Indian period. Dating revealed that the skeleton was probably about 30 years old at the time of death. According to craniometric measurements, the skull is believed to conform to the mesocephalic pattern, like three other skulls found in Tulum caves. Three different scars on the skull of the woman showed that she was hit with something hard and her skull bones were broken. Her skull also had crater-like deformations and tissue deformities that appeared to be caused by a bacterial relative of

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium '' Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, a ...

. According to study lead researcher Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, "It really looks as if this woman had a very hard time and an extremely unhappy end of her life. Obviously, this is speculative, but given the traumas and the pathological deformations on her skull, it appears a likely scenario that she may have been expelled from her group and was killed in the cave, or was left in the cave to die there”. The skeleton found by the 2016 exploration was away from a site where a previous expedition found human remains known as Chan Hol 2. Although archaeologists assumed the 2016 expedition had re-discovered Chan Hol 2, Stinnesbeck concluded that the two skeletons represent different individuals. Due to their distinctive features, study co-researcher Samuel Rennie suggest the existence of at least two morphologically diverse groups of people living separately in

during the transition from

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

Geography

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, much of the state has a tropical wet and dry climate (''Aw'') while the island of Cozumel has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

(''Am''). The mean annual temperature is . The hottest months are April and August, in which the average high is , while January is the coldest month with an average low of . Extreme temperatures can range from a low of in the coldest months to in the hottest months. Quintana Roo averages of precipitation per year, which falls throughout the year, though June to October are the wetter months. Hurricanes can occasionally hit the coastal areas during the hurricane season, particularly from September to November. 2020 was a historic year for hurricanes in Quintana Roo, with a record-breaking 31 tropical systems formed, of which four affected the state.

Flora and fauna

Demographics

Municipalities

The State of Quintana Roo is divided into 11

municipalities 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 ...

( es, municipios), each headed by a

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' (English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines under the Spanish and American colonization; it is comparable to a mayor of the town or cit ...

: * Bacalar * Benito Juarez * Othón P. Blanco * Puerto Morelos * Cozumel * Felipe Carrillo Puerto * Isla Mujeres *

Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

* Tulum *

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 ...

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the Me ...

Tourism

Quintana Roo's tourist boom began in the 1970s.Anderson, E. N. and Felix Medina Tzuc. 2005. Animals and the Maya in Southeast Mexico. University of Arizona Press. Tucson, Arizona.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

resulted in the development of coastal hotels and resorts, in addition to

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

inland and in coastal regions, which have increased the development of the region as well as the

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...

.Daltabuit, Magali and Oriol Pi-Sunyer. 1990. Tourism Development in Quintana Roo, Mexico. ''Cultural Survival Quarterly'' 14.2, 9-13. Quintana Roo ranks sixth among Mexican states according to the United Nations Human Development index (HDI).''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 2008. "Quintana Roo". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9062295. Retrieved February 21, 2008. The

Riviera Maya The Riviera Maya () is a tourism and resort district south of Cancun, Mexico. It straddles the coastal Federal Highway 307, along the Caribbean coastline of the state of Quintana Roo, located in the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsul ...

is located along the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

coastline, including Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos, Akumal and Cozumel. There are a number of Mayan archeological sites in Quintana Roo, including Chacchoben, Coba,

, Muyil, San Gervasio, Tulum, Xcaret, Xelha, and Yo'okop.

Biotic situation of the Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula is one of the most forested areas of the world in terms of biotic mass per hectare. However, anthropological, biological and governmental experts have determined that Quintana Roo is 'facing a faunal crisis'. Many medium to large game animals are disappearing due to

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. While its population is relatively small, Quintana Roo is experiencing both a population influx and an increase in tourism. This only increases the pressure on the plants and animals native to the area.

Ecosystems and animals

There are four generalized

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

s in Quintana Roo—

tropical forests Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical for ...

, or

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

;

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground ...

, mangrove forests, and

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. ...

. One of the byproducts of traditional and large-scale

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

is the creation of additional habitats, such as second growth forests and fields/ pastures.Villa Rojas, Alfonso. 1945. The Maya of East Central Quintana Roo. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publication 559. Washington D.C. Tourism has caused Quintana Roo to become famous around the world in the last thirty or so years for its

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

coastline The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

, and

cenote A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used ...

sinkholes. Biological experts consider the coastline of Quintana Roo one of the best manatee habitats worldwide.Schlesinger, Victoria. 2001. ''Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide''. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas.

Queen conch ''Aliger gigas,'' originally known as ''Strombus gigas'' or more recently as ''Lobatus gigas'', commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. This s ...

s are also noted for their inhabitation of coastal territory. The wide variety of biotic organisms such as these has decreased drastically in the last fifteen years.Juarez, Ana M. 2002. "Ecological Degradation, Global Tourism, and Inequality: Maya Interpretations of the Changing Environment in Quintana Roo, Mexico. ''Human Organization'' 61.2, 113-124.

Avifauna

Also affected by the loss of habitat due to both agriculture and development,

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

are one of the region's most varied animal assets. Hundreds of species reside in Quintana Roo permanently, with hundreds of others either wintering there or using it as a stopover on the long journey into

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. As a result, many birders come to the area annually in search of the rare and unexpected.

Impact

Many blame the environmental damage in Quintana Roo on either the regional government or outside investors. However, resorts and hotels in Quintana Roo have created jobs and increased economic activity, which in turn has resulted in growth. Projections for the tourism economy of Quintana Roo were exceedingly optimistic. It houses multiple tourist attractions from the Maya ruins to the lush forests and beautiful beaches. However, the long-term effects were not foreseen. The effect on the local environment was not properly considered. Economic stresses of development and population were virtually ignored. The effect on the native population was not properly considered. The '

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

' of the Maya has had drastic effects on their sense of place and

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

Education

Universities

*Instituto Tecnológico de Cancún, Cancún *Instituto Tecnológico de Chetumal, Chetumal * University of Quintana Roo, Chetumal * Intercultural Maya University of Quintana Roo, José María Morelos * Universidad Anáhuac Cancún, Cancún * Universidad del Caribe, Cancún * Universidad Tecnológica de la Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen *Universidad La Salle Cancún, Cancún *Universidad TecMilenio, Cancún

Media

Newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

of Quintana Roo include: ''Diario de Quintana Roo'', ''Diario Respuesta'', ''El Periódico de Quintana Roo'', ''El Quintanarroense'', ''Novedades de Quintana Roo'', and ''Por Esto!''

Sports

Soccer club Atlante F.C. was founded in 1916 in

and moved to Cancun in 2007 due to poor attendance. During its years in Mexico City, the team played in

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

, Mexico’s premier pro soccer league. In June 2020, a possible move of Atlante F.C. began to be speculated. On June 26, the relocation of that club to

became official. The same day, however, the relocation of

Cafetaleros de Chiapas Club de Fútbol Cafetaleros de Chiapas is a Mexican football club based in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas currently competing in Liga Premier de México, the third tier of Mexican football. Between 2015 and 2020, the team played at Asc ...

was announced, moving to Cancún and rebranding as Cancún F.C. They play in the Mexican second division

Liga de Expansión MX The Liga de Expansión MX, also known as Liga de Desarrollo (Liga BBVA Expansión MX for sponsorship reasons), is a Mexican football league founded in 2020 as part of the Mexican Football Federation's "Stabilization Project", which has the prima ...

at Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo. In addition to soccer, the city has a professional baseball team, known as the Quintana Roo Tigers. After playing the 1955–2001 seasons in Mexico City and the 2002–2005 seasons in

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, the Tigers have been playing baseball with a home field at the Estadio de Béisbol Beto Ávila in Cancún since the 2006 season. The Tigers made it to the Mexican League series of baseball (analogous to MLB’s

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

) in 2009, but lost to the Saraperos de Saltillo 4 games to 2.

Time zone

On February 1, 2015, Quintana Roo officially adopted a new time zone, Southeastern, which is five hours behind

Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about one second of Solar time#Mean solar time, mean solar time (such as Universal Time, UT1) at 0° longitude (at the I ...

( UTC−05:00). Quintana Roo does not observe daylight savings time, so Southeastern Time is constant throughout the year (that is, it does not shift forward in the spring and back in the fall). Southeastern Time (ST) is the same as Eastern Standard Time (EST) and Central Daylight Time (CDT). This means that in the winter, Quintana Roo has the same time as regions observing EST, such as the eastern U.S., eastern Canada, Cuba, and Jamaica; and in the summer, Quintana Roo has the same time as regions observing CDT, such as central Mexico. Quintana Roo changed to Southeastern Time for economic reasons, including: * Allowing tourists in areas such as Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen to spend more time (and money) at beaches, restaurants, historic sites, and other venues. * Reducing electricity usage by hotels, restaurants, and other facilities. Before Quintana Roo adopted the Southeastern time zone (officially referred to as ''zona sureste'' in Mexico), it had been part of the Central time zone (''zona centro'').

Notes

References

*Dumond, Don E.1985 The Talking Crosses of Yucatán: A New Look at their History. ''Ethnohistory'' 32(4):291–308. *Freidel, David., Schele, Linda., et al. ''1993 Maya Cosmos: Three thousand years on the Shaman's Path''. New York: W. Morrow *Harrison, Peter D. 1985 Some Aspects of Preconquest Settlement in Southern Quintana Roo, Mexico. ''Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns'' edited by Wendy Ashmore Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, A School of American Research Book. *Villa Rojas, Alfonso. 1945 ''The Maya of East Central Quintana Roo: The Pagan-Christian Religious Complex''. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution.

External links

*
Quintana Roo State Government official website
{{Authority control States of Mexico Yucatán Peninsula 1974 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 1974

History

Archaeological findings

Geography

Climate

Flora and fauna

Demographics

Municipalities

Tourism

Tourism

Biotic situation of the Yucatán Peninsula

Ecosystems and animals

Avifauna

Impact

Education

Universities

Media

Sports

Time zone

Notes

References

Further reading

External links