Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, constitute the 32 federal entities of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. 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 ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

and is bordered by the states of

Campeche Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...

to the west and Yucatán to the northwest, and by the

Orange Walk Orange walks, or Orange marches, are a series of parades by members of the Orange Order and other Protestantism, Protestant Fraternal organization, fraternal societies, held during the summer months in various Commonwealth of Nations, Commonw ...

and Corozal districts of

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern 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 maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

, 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 is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and to the north with the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. The state previously covered and shared a small border with

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

in the southwest of the state. However, in 2013, Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation resolved the boundary dispute between Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Yucatán stemming from the creation of the

Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya civilization, 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 w ...

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 Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

ruins of Chacchoben, Cobá, Kohunlich, Muyil, Tulum, Xel-Há, San Gervasio 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, Campeche,

Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...

, and

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

. The state is frequently hit by severe

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

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, which started in the 1840s, all non-natives were driven from the region. The independent

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

. The Territory of Quintana Roo was created by decree of President

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

on November 24, 1902. It was named after an early patriot of the Mexican Republic, Andrés Quintana Roo. The Mexican Federal Army succeeded in subjugating most of the indigenous 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. As result of this development, the northern part of Quintana Roo has been increasingly touristified. By contrast the south has continued with a traditional economy of

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and wood extraction.

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. 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 depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. 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 rediscovered 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 ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

Geography

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, 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 subtype 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.

Wildlife

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, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. 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) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s in Quintana Roo— tropical forests, or jungle;

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

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

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 encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

is the creation of additional habitats, such as second growth

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

and fields/

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

s.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 (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

coastline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

, and cenote sinkholes. Biological experts consider the coastline of Quintana Roo one of the best

manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

habitats worldwide.Schlesinger, Victoria. 2001. ''Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide''. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas. Queen conchs 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.

Birds

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 (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

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 considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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

Demographics

Municipalities

The State of Quintana Roo is divided into 11

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

(), each headed by a municipal president: * Bacalar * Benito Juárez * Othón P. Blanco * Puerto Morelos * Cozumel * Felipe Carrillo Puerto * Isla Mujeres * Solidaridad * Tulum * José María Morelos *

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. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...

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, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

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

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

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 total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

.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 is located along the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

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, Kohunlich, Muyil, San Gervasio, Tulum, Xcaret, Xelha, and Yo'okop. Projections for the tourism economy of Quintana Roo have been optimistic, based on multiple attractions, from the

ruins to the lush forests and beautiful beaches. However, long-term problems include the effect on the local environment, economic stresses of development and population, and "

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

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. In the EU context, the Euro ...

" of the Maya natives.

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 literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

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. The club announced a return to Mexico City in 2020, concurrently with the relocation of Cafetaleros de Chiapas to Cancún and its rebranding as

Cancún F.C. Cancún Fútbol Club is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Cancún, Quintana Roo. It plays in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was fou ...

They play in the Mexican second division Liga de Expansión MX at

Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo The Estadio Olímpico Andrés Quintana Roo is a 18,844 seat stadium in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is the home field of Liga de Expansión MX, Expansión MX’s Cancún F.C., and was formerly the home field of Ascenso MX's Atlante F.C. The ...

. In addition to soccer, the city has a professional baseball team, the Quintana Roo Tigers, which began playing at the Estadio de Béisbol Beto Ávila in Cancún in the 2006 season. The Tigers made it to the Mexican League series (analogous to MLB's

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

) 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 (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communicat ...

( UTC−05:00). Quintana Roo does not observe daylight saving time, so Southeastern Time is constant throughout the year. 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 Cancún, 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