Yucatan

Yucatan is one of the 31 states of Mexico, its located southeast of the peninsula of the same name. It borders to the north by the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the state of Quintana Roo and southwest to the state of Campeche. It has the largest economy in south-eastern Mexico and in that fertile land stands the Pyramid of Kukulcan, declared a New Wonder of the World in 2007.

Before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores to the region, the Yucatán peninsula was one of the most prosperous regions of the Maya culture and still today conserves some archaeological ruins that are over a thousand years old. The Mayan cities in the region continued to grow after the collapse of other Mayan cities in the central zone and some of them were still inhabited until the arrival of Europeans. Others, such as Izamal and Merida (the state capital, named Jo 'in Yucatan Mayan language) are important urban centres at the moment.

Yucatan as a state was among the last to be fully joint to the Mexican federation. In fact, in the nineteenth century some groups promoted the separatist Republic of Yucatan, which had a short-lived life. During the porfiriato the territory of the state was divided to create the Federal Territory which now occupies the state of Quintana Roo. It currently has 106 municipalities including Mani, Motul, Muna, Progresso, Tekax, Ticul, Tizimin, Uman and Valladolid.

In the northern part of the state of Yucatan is a beach called Progresso and to the North Progresso is a set of islands called Alacranes Reef where millions of species of flora and fauna as well as 34 species of corals; this national park has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The origin of the name

The name Yucatan originated during the Spanish conquest. Although there are several stories that agree that the origin would have been originated by a verbal misunderstanding between the Maya and conquerors, they are all quite uncertain:

• According to one of them all was the result of a Spanish explorer came to an indigenous Mayan and asked him how those lands were called. The Indian probably answered Yuk ak katán in Yucatan Mayan language means not understand your language.
• Another said that a conqueror approached a native and questioned him about the name of the land, to which the Indian replied: Yucatan, which in their language meant I am not from here.
• It was also said that the Spanish gave the name of Yucatan to the region because the Maya answered their questions with the phrase uh uthaan yu, which means Maya heard as they talk, and the Spaniards understood Yucatan.
• Other speculation indicates that comes from the Mayan Yucatan than or Ci, which means I do not understand, and that is that this was the response that the Mayans gave the Spaniards. Hispanics understand something similar to what we know today as the Yucatan, which is the name that has finally prevailed.
• It is likely that the first narrator of the story of "do not understand" Fray outside Toribio de Benavente Motolinía, at the end of Chapter 8 of the Treaty III of its history of the Indians of New Spain says, "because talking to those Indians of that coast, which the Spaniards asked the Indians responded: "Tectetán, Tectetán", which means: "Do not you understand, you do not understand": Christians corrupted the word, and not understanding what the Indians said, they said "Yucatan called this land" and the same was in a place that there's land, which also named after Cotoch and Cotoch in that language means home. "

History

It is likely that the origin of the Maya people in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, dates to the time of man Loltún 8,000 BC Although up to the year 435 AD, when it is reported the itzáes, "those who speak the language interspersed." According to the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, itzáes reached Bakhalal (today Bacalar) from Chacnovitan and between the years 435 and 455 Uc And abnal founded, "the seven lineage Abnal" that would be named after Chichen Itza, "near the mouth of the well of itzáes. "

There were major Mayan urban centres in the Yucatan, though each city had self-government and military force (with a similar organization to the Greek polis), all identified as Maya. In the peninsula were the three main cities: Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Mayapan, they formed the League of Mayapan that there was some sort of confederation to be mutually supportive in terms of trade and defending its borders. The power developed by the Triple Alliance lasted just because Hunac Ceel Cauich, lord of Mayapan, defeated Chac Xib Chac of Chichen Itza, who fled and settled in Lake Peten Itza, in northern Guatemala, as the tale of Chilam Balam of Chumayel.

Many cities in their current locations Mayan origin were: Merida (Tho), Campeche (Akimpech), Chetumal (Chaktemal), and so on. On the other hand many names and surnames today are inherited from this village to the modern Yucatecos: Canul, Cahuich, Cohuó, Pech, Chi, Oh, Pat, Ixba surnames are still preserved in the twenty-first century and have originated in the ancient Mayas.