Cancún
Cancun on the map of Quintana Roo
Cancun is a city on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the administrative district of Benito Juárez in the far northeast of the state of Quintana Roo in the southeastern part of Mexico.
Cancún is the center of tourist area Riviera Maya and has about 880,000 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2007). The capital city is particularly well known as a tourist destination. The name of Can Cun means in the Mayan language " snake pit " ( the name is also often of " pot of gold " is derived ).
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Cancún to remember the roots of the city, located in the Mayan culture. The form is based on the ring, which served as the gateway in the Pelota game of the Maya. The colors blue, beige and red symbolize the sea, the sand and the sun, which the three " elements " are, which helped the international tourism of this town on the meaning.
Recent History
Originally Cancún was until the early 1950s, a largely untouched by civilization island in the Caribbean coast with a few fishing villages and pre-Columbian ruins of the Maya. The Mexican government decided in 1969 together with international private investors to systematically build a resort as a counterpoint to the successful Acapulco to boost tourism in the Southeast.
The draft plan for Cancún was by Agustín Landa Verdugo. When encountered geographical location, a development analogous to that of Miami Beach urged in Florida is a natural. A dam was built to connect the narrow spit Cancún to the mainland. Similarly, the urbanization got an international airport ( IATA code: CUN), which is located southwest of the city. Cancún began to grow strongly from the early 1970s. On the mainland, many people were housed in highly geometric road cells that found their livelihood in tourism and the downstream service industries, while built on the Spit always new hotels. Unlike in other Mexican cities, therefore, can be found in Cancun neither a central place nor an old cathedral and other historical buildings.
In the 20 -kilometer Hotel Zone Zona Hotelera in the upstream sandy beach offer hotels of all categories and sizes. Is supplemented hotel zone around shopping, leisure and entertainment venues, such as the reminiscent of Venice " La Isla ". The audience comes primarily from the U.S. and Canada, guests from Europe provide a stable smaller group. In particular, for Spring Break come many young Americans, which forms a counterpart to the Cancún situated in the Mediterranean Majorca or Ibiza Party centers.
In 2003, the 5th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization ( WTO) was held in Cancun, Cancún in 2004 hosted the 73rd General Assembly of the ICPO -Interpol. Hurricane Wilma in 2005 hosted in Cancun big damage. From 29 November to 10 December 2010 in Cancún, the 16th World Conference on Climate Change of the United Nations COP 16 instead.
Cancún today
Today, Cancun is a city that has spread beyond the limited island out on the nearby mainland, where the mass of the population now lives. The Nehrungsinsel surrounds the north and east approximately 3000 ha large lagoon Nichupté. On it you will find the tourist center of the city, the hotel zone. Most residents of Cancun are not born here, immigrants from almost all parts of the country, attracted by the relatively good earning potential. A significant economic base other than the tourism and meeting operating one does not find in Cancun.
Traffic
Cancún is on the expressway Carretara 180 with Merida, Valladolid and about 200 kilometers away UNESCO World Heritage Site Chichen Itza (all in the West) connected. To the south the main street, Avenida Tulum continues with the Carretara 307, which continues through Playa del Carmen and Tulum in the capital of Chetumal.
Sports
Since 2007, the Atlante soccer club is located in Cancun. Cancún was one of the venues of the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup in 2010.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Ana Claudia Talancón ( born 1980 ), actress
- Carlos Vela (* 1989), football player
Twinning
Cancún has partnerships with the following cities:
- Compton, USA;
- Mar del Plata, Argentina, since 2 December 1987
- Timişoara, Romania.