Cancún

Sister cities

• Punta del Este
• Mar del Plata
• Wichita
• Miami
• Hangzhou
• Tela
• Taxco de Alarcón
• Pharr
• Granadilla de Abona
• Varadero
• Compton
• Ibiza

History

In the years after the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, much of the Maya population died or left as a result of disease, warfare, and famines, leaving only small settlements on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel Island. Cancún is a planned city, created to foster tourism. When development of the area as a resort was started on January 23, 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, all caretakers of the coconut plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla Mujeres. Some 117 people lived in nearby Puerto Juárez, a fishing village and military base. Cancún was created as a government project to boost tourism. In 1967 the Mexican government allocated a 2million dollar fund to be administered by the Bank of Mexico to determine the feasibility of creating new recreational zones, “preferably where no other viable development alternatives exist." This was entrusted to INFRATUR, a Bank of Mexico agency. Due to the reluctance of investors to gamble on an unknown area, the Mexican federal government financed the first nine hotels. The growth of Cancún was part of a wider touristification of northern Quintana Roo, in contrast to the south and east of the state, which experienced greater development in the timber industry. In the 21st century, Cancún has largely avoided the violence associated with the trade of illegal drugs; however, drugs are sold to tourists in bars and night clubs. Cancún has gradually been reported for being a center of money laundering. The links with Cancún date from the 1990s and early 2000s, when the area was controlled by the Juárez and Gulf drug cartels. By 2010, Los Zetas, a group that broke away from the Gulf Cartel, had taken control of many smuggling routes through the Yucatán, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. There…

Geography

Apart from the island tourist zone (part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System), the Mexican residential section of the city, the downtown part of which is known as "El Centro", follows a master plan that consists of "supermanzanas" (superblocks), giant trapezoids with a central, open, non-residential area cut in by u-shaped residential streets. Cancún's mainland or downtown area has diverged from the original plan; development is scattered around the city. The remaining undeveloped beach and lagoon front areas outside the Hotel Zone are now under varying stages of development, in Punta Sam and Puerto Juarez to the north, continuing along Bonampak and south toward the airport along Boulevard Donaldo Colosio. One development abutting the Hotel Zone is Puerto Cancún; Malecon Cancún is another large development. Cancún has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw), with little temperature difference between months, but pronounced rainy and dry seasons. The city is hot year-round, and moderated by onshore trade winds, with an annual mean temperature of . Unlike inland areas of the Yucatán Peninsula, sea breezes restrict high temperatures from reaching on most afternoons. Annual rainfall is around , falling on 115 days per year. The rainy season runs from late August through November, and the dry season runs from November through April. The hurricane season runs from June through November. The Hotel Zone juts into the Caribbean Sea and is therefore surrounded by ocean keeping daytime temperatures around cooler. Windspeeds are higher than at the airport located some distance inland, which is the official meteorological station for Cancún; averages are shown below. Thanks to the Yucatán current continually bringing warm water from…

Most-observed species

• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  10,735
• Tropical Mockingbird

  Mimus gilvus (Vieillot, 1808) · Aves
  6,392
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  6,174
• Tropical Kingbird

  Tyrannus melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 · Aves
  5,398
• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,353
• Magnificent Frigatebird

  Fregata magnificens Mathews, 1914 · Aves
  5,082
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker

  Melanerpes aurifrons (Wagler, 1829) · Aves
  4,190
• Social Flycatcher

  Myiozetetes similis (Spix, 1825) · Aves
  4,181