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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: YAK-ZYM |
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YUCATAN , a peninsula of Central America forming the S.E. extremity of the republic of Mexico and including the states of Campeche and Yucatan and the territory of Quintana Roo. Small parts of British Honduras and Guatemala are also included in it. The natural boundary of the peninsula on the S. is formed in part by the ridges extending across N. Guatemala, the line terminating E. at the lower part of Chetumal Bay, and W. at Laguna de Terminos. From this base the land extends N. between the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in nearly rectangular form for about 280 m., with about the same extreme width in longitude. It has a mean breadth of about 200 m., a coast-line of 700 M. and an area of about 55,400 sq.m.The coast on the N. and W. is low, sandy and semi-barren, and is made dangerous by the Campeche banks, a northward extension of the peninsula, covered with shifting sands. The outer shore-line on the N. for nearly zoo m. consists of a narrow strip of low sand dunes, within which is a broad channel terminating to the E. in a large lagoon. There are a number of openings through the outer bank and several small towns or ports have been built upon it. The E. coast consists of bluffs, indented with bays and bordered by several islands, the larger ones being Cozumel (where Cortes
The peninsula is almost wholly composed of a bed of coralline and porous limestone rocks, forming a low tableland, which rises gradually toward the S. until it is merged in the great Central American plateau. It is covered with a layer of thin, dry soil, through the slow weathering of the coral rocks. The surface is not so level and monotonous as it appears on many maps; for, although there are scarcely any running streams, it is diversified by a few lakes, of which Bacalar and Chichankanab are the largest, as well as by low isolated hills and ridges in the W., and in the E. by the Sierra Alta, a range of moderate elevation
The climate of Yucatan is hot and dry; the Gulf Stream, which sweeps by its N. shores, adds to its naturally high temperature, and the absence of high mountainous ridges to intercept the moisture-bearing clouds from the Atlantic gives it a limited rainfall. The temperature ranges from 75 to 98 F. in the shade, but the heat is modified by cool sea winds which prevail day and night throughout the greater part of the year. The atmosphere is also purified by the fierce ternporales, or " northers," which occasionally sweep down over the Gulf and across this open region. The dry season lasts from October to May, the hottest months appear to be in March and April, when the heat is increased by the burning of the corn and heneauen fields. The rains are quickly absorbed by the light porous soil and leave only temporary effects on the surface, where arboreal growth is stunted and grasses
All the N. districts, as well as the greater part of the Sierra Alta, are destitute of large trees; but the coast-lands on both sides towards Tabasco and British Honduras enjoy a sufficient rainfall to support forests containing the mahogany tree, several valuable cabinet woods, vanilla, logwood and other dye-woods. Logwood forests fringe all the lagoons and many parts of the seaboard, which are flooded during the rainy
chief
cotton
History and Antiquities.The modern history of Yucatan begins with the expedition of Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, a Spanish adventurer settled in Cuba, who discovered the E. coast of Yucatan in February 1517, when on a slave-hunting expedition. He followed the coast round to Campeche, but was unable to penetrate the interior. In 1518 Juan de Grijalva followed the same ccast, but added nothing to the information sought by the governor of Cuba. In 1519 a third expedition, under Hernando Cortes
bear witness to the civilization of the Mayas are the paved highways and the artificial reservoirs (aguadas) designed for the preservation of water for towns through the long dry season. These aguadas were huge basins, paved and cemented, with underground cisterns, also lined with stone and cement, which may have been used for the protection of water against heat when the principal supply had become exhausted. The great problem in all the Maya settlements of Yucatan was that of securing and preserving a water supply for the dryseason. Some of their towns were built near large under-ground reservoirs, called cenotes, that afforded a perennial supply. Since the Spanish conquest, the Mayas have clung to the semi-barren, open plains of the peninsula, and have more than once revolted. They seceded in 1839 and maintained their independence until 1843. In 1847 another revolt followed, and the Indians were practically independent through-out the greater part of the peninsula until near the beginning of the Diaz administration. In 1910 there was another revolt with some initial successes, such as the capture of Valladolid, but then the Indians withdrew to the unknown fastnesses of Quintana Roo.The Mexican STATE OF YUCATAN is bounded N. by the Gulf of Mexico, E. and S. by the territory of Quintana Roo, S. and W. by the state of Campeche. Pop. (1900) about 306,000. The railways include the three lines of the United Railways of Yucatan (373 m.), and a line from Merida to Peto (145 M.). The capital is Merida, and its principal towns, inhabited almost exclusively by Indians and mestizos, are Valladolid, Acanceh, Tekax, Motul, Temax, Espita, Maxcanti, Hunucma, Tixkokob, Peto and Progreso, the port of Merida.Quintana Roo was separated from the state of Yucatan in 1902 and received a territorial government under the immediate supervision of the national executive. It comprises the sparsely settled districts along the E. coast of the peninsula, and the wooded sections of the S., which have not been thoroughly explored. Its population is estimated at 3000, but as its inhabitants never submitted to Spanish and Mexican rule, and have maintained their independence against overwhelming odds for almost four centuries, this estimate should be accepted as a conjecture. Little is known of the wild tribes of the territory. End of Article: YUCATAN If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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