Veracruz

Veracruz (Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ) is a state located on the east coast of Mexico. With 7.1 million inhabitants it is one of the larger states in Mexico. Its capital city is not Vera Cruz, the largest city with the traditionally most important port, but the climatically favorable location Xalapa.

Geography

The state stretches over 1,000 kilometers along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico along down to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Veracruz has a large proportion of the coastal plain and on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. In between are hilly landscapes, which is also the capital of Xalapa Enríquez is.

The highest elevations of the state are the volcanic mountains of Pico de Orizaba (also called Pico de Orizaba ), the highest mountain in Mexico with 5,636 meters is Cofre de Perote and the with a height of 4,282 meters.

Climate

Due to the size of the state of Veracruz has a variety of climates. The coastal region is tropical to subtropical and humid ( eg Poza Rica or Puerto Veracruz ), the hill country dry and cold (example Perote ) and the median moderately high country (example Xalapa ).

Neighboring countries

Veracruz is bordered by many other Mexican states: Chiapas and Oaxaca in the south, to the southeast by Tabasco, to the west of Puebla, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí to the north and Tamaulipas. To the east of the state from the Gulf of Mexico is limited.

Structure

Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave is a total of 71,699 km ² and is divided into 212 so-called municipios. This 212 municipios are summarized in 10 major regions (green).

History

The southern Veracruz was 1200 BC to 400 BC, the Olmec culture of the area. Their centers in this region were San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan and Tres Zapotes, some artifacts in the Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa are issued. At about the time of 300 to 900 AD flourished in the central part of the state, " Veracruz- classical ", which was influenced by Teotihuacán, but clearly has his own handwriting. Famous are the curious " niche pyramids " of El Tajín.

After giving El Tajíns dominated Toltecs and the Aztecs also partly the area and subjugated the indigenous Totonac and Huaxtecs, of which the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés (similar in Tlaxcala ) initially ( 1519) were welcomed as highly welcome allies. During the Mexican-American War, the city between the 9th and 29th of March 1847 was besieged by the Americans under Winfield Scott before it was conquered. In addition to these ( still existing ) groups Veracruz - because of its openness to the Caribbean way - the only state in Mexico with a significant proportion of Afro population.

Population

In the entire state of Veracruz were living in 2005, according to the Conteo General de Vivienda del INEGI just over 7 million people; in 2000 there were still 6.9 million inhabitants. Thus, the seven million mark in the first decade of the new millennium has been broken. Relative to the total population of Mexico is Veracruz almost 7 % and is in third place in the state championship.

In general, the state of one of the richest states in Mexico. The regions are the better developed and industrialized metropolitan areas of Veracruz, Córdoba, Orizaba, Coatzacoalcos and Poza Rica. The poorest region is the highlands in the north of the state.

The largest towns are the port city of Veracruz ( 741 234 inhabitants), the capital of Xalapa Enríquez ( 595 043 inhabitants) and the oil city of Poza Rica ( 481 389 inhabitants).

Of the inhabitants of the State of 83 % are Catholic. 318 626 (4.90 %) spoke in 2005, Nahuatl, Totonakisch 116 044, 50 564 and 32 292 Huastekisch Popoluca.

Education

The most famous university in Veracruz Universidad Veracruzana is the state which has its main campus in Xalapa Enríquez. This university is in addition to the UNAM and the Tec de Monterrey as the most prestigious university in the country.

Economy

The main industry is petroleum extraction. In the Gulf of Mexico, numerous production platforms of the state oil company PEMEX. In Poza Rica in the north and in the south Minatitlán are large refineries, which further process the extracted oil. The most famous traditional export from Vera Cruz is the coffee. Especially in temperate - humid climate around Coatepec thrives this very well. Other traditional exports are rubber, cocoa, vanilla and cotton.

Traffic

The whole state is served by buses of Grupo ADO. The company offers compounds of different classes. The major cities have a bus terminal of appropriate size, such as the CAVE in Vera Cruz or the CAXA in Xalapa.

The largest airport in the state is the Aeropuerto Internacional de Veracruz near Vera Cruz. It offered compounds in various Mexican cities and to Houston. Furthermore, also other major cities airports with national connections.

The ports of Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos are especially important for the export and import of goods. In the port of Tuxpan is a great port of the Mexican Navy.