Coatzacoalcos

Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part

of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos
River. Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word
meaning Site of the Snake or Where the snake hides.
The city serves as the municipal seat of the municipality
of the same name.

town name was changed to Puerto Mxico. In 1911 it

was elevated to city, and in 1936 the name was changed
to the current Coatzacoalcos.[4]
On 23 July 1940, Coatzacoalcos welcomed refugees from
the Spanish Civil War who sought asylum in Mexico after travelling across the Atlantic aboard the SS Santo
Domingo.[4]

Coatzacoalcos became a very important crossroads during the oil boom of the 1970s, connecting the Yucatn
Peninsula and oil elds in Campeche to the rest of MexCoatzacoalcos, in Nahuatl, means The place where the ico and to the port of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca on the Pacic
snake hides.[2] According to the legend, this is the place coast.
where the god Quetzalcoatl made his nal journey to the
sea around the year 999 and where he made his promise
to return.

Etymology

3 Geography and climate

History

The city is located at 189N 9426W / 18.150N

94.433W where the Coatzacoalcos Quaschnick River
debouches into the Bay of Campeche. Overland it is connected by road and rail to the Pacic Ocean about 160
kilometres (99 mi) away. This location has prompted
plans for an interoceanic waterway across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, or for a much expanded railroad system, for
over a century.

The city had a 2005 census population of 234,174, making it the third-largest city in the state after Veracruz and
Xalapa, but rst in metropolitan population. The municipality covers a surface area of 471.16 km2 (181.916 sq
mi) and reported a population of 280,263 persons. The
municipality population in 2010 was 305,260 an increase
of 9% over 2005.[1] The largest community in the municCoatzacoalcos waterfront, circa 1904
ipality, aside from the city of Coatzacoalcos, is the town
Coatzacoalcos lies within the Olmec heartland. Excava- of Allende, with a population of 20,501 in 2005.
tions in 2008 for a tunnel underneath the Coatzacoalcos In the Kppen climate classication the climate is clasRiver indicate a substantial pre-Hispanic population.[3] sied as Am for a tropical monsoon climate. A typBy the time of the Spanish arrival the area was un- ical year sees more than 290 centimetres (110 in) of
der Mayan inuence. In 1522, Hernn Corts ordered rainfall.[6] Lying on the Gulf of Mexico, Coatzacoalcos
Gonzalo de Sandoval to fund a settlement near Guaza- has been struck by several hurricanes and tropical storms
cualco. Sandoval named it Villa del Espritu Santo.[4]
such as: Hurricane Diana in August 1990, Hurricane
in November 1998, Tropical Storm Larry in OcMitch
The San Martn Tuxlta is an active volcano lying northtober
2003,
Hurricane Stan in October 2005, Hurricane
west of Coatzcoalcos in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. It
in
August
2007, Tropical Storm Marco in October
Dean
erupted in 1664, in May 1793 with large ash falls and
[5]
2008,
Tropical
Storm
Hermine in early September 2010,
lava ows, and most recently in 1796.
Hurricane Karl in mid September 2010, Tropical Storm
The town was elevated to the category of port in 1825 and Matthew in late September 2010, and Hurricane Richard
the name was changed to Coatzacoalcos.[4]
in October 2010. The winter months are cooler and drier
The municipality of Coatzacoalcos was established 22 than the summer months. Occasionally cold high pressure
December 1881, with the town as its seat.[4] In 1900 the cells from North America drift south across the Gulf of
1

11

SEE ALSO

Mexico and drive strong Tehuano winds across the Isth- to the south over the Tehuantepec route now owned by
mus, with very strong wind concentration taking place in Ferrocarril Transistmico from Medias Aguas to Salina
Chivela Pass in Oaxaca.[7]
Cruz in the state of Oaxaca.[12]

Economy

The citys industry is dominated by the petrochemical

sector. Four big industrial petrochemical complexes are
located near the city (Pajaritos, Cosoleacaque, Morelos and Cangrejera) making it one of the most important concentrations of its kind in the world. The stateowned Pemex Petroqumica subsidiary is headquartered
in Coatzacoalcos and 85% of its production is concentrated there.[9]

Education

The Universidad Veracruzana maintains a branch campus

and library in Coatzacoalcos.[10]

Mexican Federal Highway 180 follows the southern shore

of the Bay of Campeche through Coatzacoalcos to the
Yucatn Peninsula. Highway 180 and a rail line to Allende have been carried over the Coatzacoalcos River via
the 1910 built Coatza I bridge for more than a century. A
second cable stayed bridge known as Coatza II or Antonio Doval Jaime was built to the south to carry more road
trac over the river. It was constructed starting in 1979
and was opened by president Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado on 17 October 1984.[13] Coatza II has a center span
of 288 metres (945 ft) and an overall length of 698.25
metres (2,290.8 ft).[14] A ferry operates between the city
of Coatzcoalcos and Allende, however groundbreaking
was held in 2007 to start construction on a 1.5-kilometre
(0.93 mi) submerged tunnel to carry four lanes of trac
between them.[4][15]

8 Media

Coatzacoalcos is served by diverse media including print,

television, and radio. Newspapers include the national
La Crnica de Hoy,[3] as well as the regional Diario del
The Tiburones Rojos de Coatzacoalcos (Red Sharks) Istmo[16] and Liberal del Sur.[17] The television stations
played in the Primera Divisin A until December 2008 serving the Coatzacoalcos market are:
when they moved to Orizaba to become part of a reformed Albinegros de Orizaba. The Delnes de Coatza- There are several AM and FM radio stations:
coalcos (Dolphins) play in the Estadio Rafael Hernndez
Ochoa, which was built in 1980.[11]

Sports

9 Notable people

Transportation

Coatzacoalcos is the birthplace of actress Salma Hayek;

journalist Mara Antonieta Collins; and footballers Sergio
Ramirez who played for FC Ararat Yerevan in the
Coatzacoalcos has been a transportation hub for hundreds
Armenian Premier League, and Jos Arturo Rivas who
of years. It is connected via air, water, road, and rail to
plays for the Tigres de la UANL in the Primera Divisin
the surrounding region and the rest of the world.
de Mxico.
The Minatitln/Coatzacoalcos National Airport is 15
kilometres (9.3 mi) away in Cosoleacaque and has been
an international airport since August 2006.
10 Sister city
The Port of Coatzacoalcos is an international port of
entry that provides transhipment of oil and petrochemicals. After an upgrade to the railway along the Tehuantepec Route was opened in 1907 by Porrio Daz the port
saw an increase of shipping via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, particularly from the American-Hawaiian Steamship
Company. The port saw a decrease in trac after the
opening of the Panama Canal from 1914 on, but trac
has started to build up since the oil boom of the 1970s.
The CG Railway operates train ferries between the Port
of Coatzacoalcos and the Port of Mobile in Alabama,
USA. Ferrosur also provides rail service in and out of
Coatzacoalcos as far southeast as Las Choapas, to the
north and west to Veracruz and Mexico City, as well as

San Fernando, La Union, Philippines

Rizhao, China

Shandong, China

Baltimore, United States of America

North Tyneside, England

11 See also
German night ghter direction vessel Togo

12

References

[1] INEGI - Mxico en cifras: Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz de

Ignacio de la Llave. Instituto Nacional de Estadstica,
Geografa e Informtica. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[2] Wimmer, Alexis. DICTIONNAIRE de la langue
NAHUATL CLASSIQUE (in French). Retrieved 4
April 2011.
[3] Coatzacoalcos archaeological nds. La Crnica de Hoy
(in Spanish). 16 March 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
[4] E-Local -Veracruz (in Spanish).
2011.

Retrieved 2 April

[5] Global Volcanism Program - San Martn - Summary.

Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[6] Worldwide Bicolimatic Classication System MexicoCoatzacoalcos (in Spanish). Worldwide Bioclimatic
Classication System Phitosociological Research Center.
Retrieved 2 April 2011.
[7] Bourassa, Mark A.; O'Brian, James J. Non-Inertial Flow
in NSCAT Observations of Tehuantepec Winds. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[8] NORMALES CLIMATOLGICAS 19812000
(PDF) (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorolgico Nacional.
Retrieved February 13, 2016.
[9] Acerca de Pemex Petroqumica (in Spanish). Pemex.
Retrieved 2011-03-22. integrado por Pemex Petroqumica Organismo Subsidiario de Petrleos Mexicanos,
el cual tiene ubicadas sus ocinas centrales en la Ciudad
de Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz
[10] Entidades acadmicas - Coatzacoalcos - Minatitln Universidad Veracruzana (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 April
2011.
[11] Stadium Hernandez Ochoa (Coatzacoalcos)". Retrieved
3 April 2011.
[12] Vias principales (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[13] Puente Coatza II, 26 aos de comunicar al sureste mexicano - Agencia Imagen del Golfo (in Spanish). Diario
del Istmo. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[14] Coatzacoalcos Bridge (1984) - Structurae. Retrieved 3
April 2011.
[15] Tunel Sumergido Coatzacoalcos (in Spanish).
trieved 3 April 2011.

Re-

[16] Diario del Istmo - El Diario que Leemos todos - Noticias Coatzacoalcos - Veracruz - Zona Sur (in Spanish).
Retrieved 2 April 2011.
[17] Liberal del Sur, Periodismo Trascendente (in Spanish).
Retrieved 2 April 2011.

Link to tables of population data from Census of

2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadstica, Geografa e Informtica

Veracruz Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mxico

es al mas lindo y hermoso que no hay otro como
Mexico

13 External links
Coatzacoalcos municipal government Ocial website (in Spanish)
(Spanish) Municipal Ocial Information
The Society of Coatzacoalcos
Videos of Coatzacoalcos

14

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