Yucatán Peninsula

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The Yucatán peninsula as seen from space

The Yucatán Peninsula separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a northwestern geographic partition separating the region of Central America from the rest of North America.

The peninsula comprises the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; the northern part of the nation of Belize; and Guatemala's northern department of El Petén. Mexican states situated on the isthmus to the west of the peninsula include Chiapas and Tabasco.

1 Geology
2 Etymology
3 People
4 Climate
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Geology

The peninsula is largely a karstic formation, composed of limestone bedrock. Cenotes or sinkholes are widespread in the northern lowlands. These sinkholes were (and are) the main water source for many ancient and contemporary Maya people. Paleontologists have theorised that the dinosaurs became extinct when an asteroid hit the earth. According to the Alvarez hypothesis, the Yucatán Peninsula was the site of this impact, centering off the north coast of the modern town of Chicxulub (see Chicxulub Crater). The now-famous "ring of cenotes" (visible in NASA imagery) outlines one of the shock-waves from this impact event, where it dropped the surface limestone into the underground Yucatan aquifer.

The boundaries between northern Guatemala (El Petén), Mexico (Campeche and Quintana Roo) and western Belize are still occupied by the largest continuous tracts of tropical rainforest in Central America. However, these forests are suffering extensive deforestation. Short and tall tropical jungles were the predominant natural vegetation types of the peninsula.

[edit] Etymology

There is a popular myth that the name Yucatán comes from the Yucatec Maya phrase for "listen how they speak," or "I don't understand your words" -- supposedly said by contact period Maya when the first Spanish explorers asked what the area was called. The proper derivation of the word Yucatan is widely debated.

[edit] People

The Yucatán Peninsula comprises a significant proportion of the ancient Maya Lowlands (although the Maya culture extended south of the Yucatan peninsula, through present Guatemala and into Honduras and highland Chiapas). There are many Maya archaeological sites throughout the peninsula; some of the better-known are Chichen Itza, Tikal, Tulum and Uxmal. [1], [2] Indigenous Maya and Mestizos of partial Maya descent still make up a sizable portion of the region's population, and Mayan languages are still widely spoken there.

In the late historic and early modern eras, the Yucatan Peninsula was largely a cattle ranching, logging, chicle and henequen production area. Since the 1970s (and the fall of the world henequen and chicle markets due to the advent of synthetic substitutes), the Yucatán Peninsula has reoriented its economy towards tourism, especially in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Once a small fishing village, Cancún in the northeast of the peninsula has grown into a thriving city. The Riviera Maya, which stretches along the east coast of the peninsula between Cancún and Tulum, currently has more than 50,000 beds and is visited by many thousands of tourists every year.

[edit] Climate

Like much of the Caribbean, the peninsula lies within the Atlantic Hurricane Belt. The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season was a particularly bad season for Mexico's tourism industry, with two forceful category 4 storms hitting, Hurricane Emily and Hurricane Wilma. Fortunately, the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season was a typical year which left the Yucatán untouched.

Strong storms called nortes can quickly descend on the Yucatán Peninsula any time of year. Although these storms pummel the area with heavy rains and high winds, they tend to be short-lived, clearing after about an hour. The average percentage of days with rain per month ranges from a monthly low of 7% in April to a high of 25% in October. Daily average high temperatures range from 81 to 90.2 degrees Fahrenheit (27.2 to 32.3 °C), with the hottest average temperatures in July and August. However, temperatures can climb up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 °C). Low temperatures seldom dip below 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 °C), with daily averages ranging from 67.4 to 78.2 degrees Fahrenheit (19.7 to 25.7 °C). Though ocean breezes can have a cooling effect, humidity is generally high, particularly in the remaining rainforest areas.