Essay On the Yucatan Peninsula
Essay On the Yucatan Peninsula
The Yucatan Peninsula in Central America separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea. Covering about 73,000 square miles, and mostly in southeastern Mexico. It comprises the states of Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, Mexico; Belize; and part of Peten, Guatemala. Merida and Campeche, Mexico and Belize City, Belize are the chief cities of the Yucatan. The peninsula is largely a low, flat, limestone tableland rising to 150 meters in the south. To the north and west the plain continues as the Campeche Bank, stretching under shallow water 150 miles from the low, sandy shoreline. The eastern coast rises in low cliffs in the north and is indented by bays and paralleled by islands and cays in the south. Cozumel is the largest island. Short ranges of hills cross the peninsula at scattered intervals. The only rivers are those flowing east and northwest from Peten.
In the northern half of the tableland, rainfall is light and is absorbed by the porous limestone. The land has tropical dry and rainy seasons, but generally in the north the climate is hot the dry, and in the south hot and humid. The north and west are arid grasslands dotted with cacti. In the south are swamps and dense rain forests. Water for people and livestock comes from a maze of underground rivers and wells (cenotes) from which it is often pumped by traditional Mayan windmills, and from surface pools (aguadas). The main crop is sisal (henequen); fishing is also economically important. Tropical beaches, inlets, peninsulas, and offshore islands (the largest of which is Cozumel) are popular tourist resorts.
Most of the northern half, although covered with only a few inches of subsoil, is one of the most important henequen-raising regions of the world; the uncultivated area is under a dense growth of scrub, cactus, sapote wood, and mangrove thickets. Subsistence crops, tobacco, and cotton also are grown. Magnificent forests of tropical hardwoods in southwestern Campeche, Peten, and Belize provide the basis for a lumber industry. This area teems with tropical life, including the jaguar, the armadillo, the iguana, and the Yucatan turkey. Fishing is important along the Yucatan coast. Many of the peninsula’s fine beaches and archaeological sites have been developed for tourism, which is a significant part of the peninsula’s...