Tabasco
Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa.
It is located in southeast Mexico and is bordered by the states of Campeche to the northeast, Veracruz to the west, and Chiapas to the south and the Petén department of Guatemala to the southeast. It has a coastline to the north with the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the state is covered in rainforest as, unlike most other areas of Mexico, it has plentiful rainfall year-round. The state is also home to La Venta, the major site of the Olmec civilization, considered to be the origin of later Mesoamerican cultures. It produces significant quantities of petroleum and natural gas.
Geography
The state is located in the southeast of Mexico, bordering the states of Campeche, Chiapas, and Veracruz, with the Gulf of Mexico to the north and the country of Guatemala to the south and east. The state covers, which is 1.3 percent of Mexico's total. The northwestern portion is on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico with the south and east as part of the mountain chain that extends into northern Chiapas. It is divided into seventeen municipalities. There are 36 communities designated as urban, with about 3,000 smaller towns and villages. 185 are classified as "regional development centers". Tabasco has seventeen municipalities: Balancán, Cárdenas, Centla, Centro, Comalcalco, Cunduacán, Emiliano Zapata, Huimanguillo, Jalapa, Jalpa de Méndez, Jonuta, Macuspana, Nacajuca, Paraíso, Tacotalpa, Teapa and Tenosique.In 1994, the state was officially divided into two regions and five sub-regions for socioeconomic development and geographic documentation. The two major regions are called the Grijalva and the Usumacinta. The Grijalva Region is named after the river on which most of the municipalities here are dependent. It is the smaller of the two regions with a territory of or 48.94 percent of the state's territory; however, it contains most of Tabasco's urban population as well as of its socioeconomic and political activity. It is divided into three sub-regions called Chontalpa, Centro and Sierra; it includes the municipalities of Huimanguillo, Cárdenas, Comalcalco, Cunduacán, Paraíso, Jalpa de Méndez, Nacajuca, Centro, Jalapa, Teapa and Tacotalpa. The Usumacinta Region is named after the main river on which the Centla, Jonuta, Emiliano Zapata, Balancán and Tenosique municipalities depend. It is divided into the Pantanos and Ríos subregions, which are both more rural than the Grijalva Region.
The environment of the state consists of extensive low-lying floodplains, mountains and valleys. Most of the territory is covered with tropical rainforest and wetlands. There are also areas with savanna, beaches and mangrove forests. Much of the rainforest has suffered degradation due to over-logging and conversion of territory into farmland. The east is formed of low humid plains formed by sediment deposited by a number of rivers. In the Chontalpa zone and in parts of the municipalities of Centla and Jonuta, there are swampy depressions extremely vulnerable to flooding from both riverflow and from excessive rainfall. In the south there are some elevations which are part of the central mesa of Chiapas. The most important of these is El Madrigal, La Campana, La Corona, Pomaná, Coconá, Mono Pelado and El Tortuguero. However, most hills in the state do not exceed above sea level.
File:Villahermosa Panorámica 3.jpg|left|thumb|Grijalva River flowing through Villahermosa
Tabasco has of shoreline, of estuaries, lakes and numerous rivers and streams. Flooding is a frequent occurrence, especially in September and November.
There are four principal ecosystems in the state: tropical rainforest, tropical savannah, beaches and wetlands. Tropical rainforest dominates most of the state due to the high levels of rainfall the area receives. However, what exists today is only a fraction of what used to be, as much of the forest area has been over-exploited by man, mostly through logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. Most of the intact rainforest is found in the municipalities of Tenosique, Balancán, Macuspana, Teapa, Tacotalpa, Cárdenas and Huimanguillo.
These rainforests contain species such as mahogany, cedar, numerous types of palm, jacarandas, ceiba, Salix and many more. There are various types of orchids, bromeliads, tillandsia, ferns, and aroid plants native to the state, along with a variety of species of cactus, both terrestrial-arid and epiphytic-forest types. Examples include Epiphyllum anguliger, Schlumbergera, and Disocactus. This state also has one of the widest varieties of wildlife in the country, such as macaws, yellow-headed parrots, resplendent quetzal, numerous endemic hummingbirds, green iguana, and numerous species of snakes. Mammal species have declined because of deforestation, but still persist; one may encounter spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, jaguar, ocelot, coatimundi, jaguarundi, oncilla, coyote, margay, bobcat, puma, raccoon, northern tamandua, prehensile-tailed porcupine, agouti, paca, woolly and common opossums, brocket deer, white-tailed deer, collared peccary and tapir.
Tropical savannah is mostly found in the southern part of the state, mixed in with areas of rainforest. These areas are dominated by grasses and bushes along with some smaller trees such as jahuacte, cocoyol and small palm trees. The savannah has wildlife such as rabbits, deer, foxes, and various species of birds.
Along the coast the soil is sandier and while the vegetation is still tropical, species are different from in the interior rainforest. They include coconut palms, palo mulato, royal palm, and pimento de Tabasco. These areas have suffered the most from slash and burn agriculture.
Most of the wetlands of the state belong to the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve. The abundance of fresh water in wetlands and river areas supports a wide variety of aquatic life such as freshwater gar, mojarra, crocodiles, various species of turtles and frogs, and many species of native and migratory waterfowl. In larger bodies of water manatees can be found. In the brackish and salt water lagoons various ocean species are found, as well as shellfish and mollusks, and bird species such as seagulls and pelicans.
Tabasco has a hot tropical climate, with the Gulf of Mexico having significant influence on weather patterns. Over 95 percent of the state's territory has a hot, wet climate. The rest is hot and semi-humid, located in the far northeast of the state. The average annual temperature is with high temperatures averaging, mostly in May, and lows of in January. Unlike many parts of Mexico, Tabasco has abundant year round precipitation. The state receives an average annual rainfall of. Rain occurs all year but is particularly heavy from June to October. The flat areas of the state are subject to frequent flooding. One reason for this is the rivers that flow from the Sierra region and the Usuamacinta River. Another is that there are a number of dams such as the Angostura, Chicoasén, Malpas and Peñitas; these are built for hydroelectricity and flood control, but can overflow.
The state has of state protected lands such as the Agua Blanca waterfalls and the Sierra State Park in Teapa. The caves are classified as a natural monument with. The Centla Biosphere Reserve covers an area of. The Yumká Park and Laguna de las Ilusiones Ecological Reserves have. The Laguna de la Lima Reserve has. The Chontalpa Ecological Park has. The Laguna del Camarón Ecological Park has.
History
Pre-Columbian period
The origin of the name Tabasco is not definitively known, with a number of theories debated among linguists. The name appears in the chronicles of Bernal Díaz del Castillo during the conquest era, who mentions a river named after local ruler Tabscoob. One possible theory states that it is from Nahuatl with two possible derivations: one meaning "place that has a lord" and the other "place where the land is moist". The state seal is that which was granted in 1598 to the town of Villahermosa, then called San Juan Bautista by Philip II of Spain. This is one of the oldest coats of arms in the Americas.The Olmec civilization dominated much of what is now Tabasco 3,000 years ago, reaching a height around 800 BC. It was the oldest Mesoamerican culture, dominating what are now the states of Mexico, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tabasco as well as parts of Central America, and is considered the founding culture for all of Mesoamerica. The main Olmec site in Tabasco is La Venta. The site covers an area of surrounded by swamps and marshes linked to the Tonalá River, from the Gulf of Mexico. Around 300 AD, the Mayans began to dominate part of the state. Mayan sites include Comalcalco, Pomoná, El Tortuguero and Jonuta. The Mayans in Tabasco reached their peak between the 6th and 7th centuries.
In the early 16th century, the territory of Tabasco was home to a number of relatively small polities. The Chontal Maya were the predominant ethnicity, and within Tabasco were divided into the provinces of Potonchán, Cupilco, Zahuatan-Chilapa in the south, and Ixtapa-Usumacinta in the east. Of these, Potonchan was the most populous, and is sometimes considered to have been the capital of a kingdom known as Tabasco. The western coastal portion of the state was known as Ahualulco or Yahualulco and was inhabited by a mix of Nahuas and Popolucas. Cimatan was the capital of a lordship that ruled over several Zoque towns to the south. Tabasco, in particular the region around Comalcalco and Villahermosa, was one of the major cacao-producing regions in late postclassic Mesoamerica, alongside Soconusco and certain parts of Central America.
The territory of Tabasco, together with portions of the neighboring states of Veracruz and Campeche, was a hotspot for regional trade, as the numerous rivers and lagoons made transportation by canoe very efficient. Local rulers, being connected by trade to many different regional powers, frequently aimed to balance their foreign relations in order to maximize their commercial profits. Many rulers were themselves successful merchants, rather than the hereditary monarchs typical elsewhere in Mesoamerica. The region had a reputation for being open-minded towards foreigners and patronizing the arts.