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Cancun, Mexico

Cancún
Montaje de Cancún.jpg
Motto: The Glistening City
Location of Cancún within Quintana Roo
Location of Cancún within Quintana Roo
Cancún is located in Mexico
Cancún
Cancún
Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.84750°W / 21.16056; -86.84750Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.84750°W / 21.16056; -86.84750
Country  Mexico
State Quintana Roo Quintana Roo
Municipality Coat of arms of Benito Juarez, Quintana Roo.svg Benito Juárez
Founded April 20, 1970
Government
 • Mayor Remberto Estrada Barba (PRI)
Area
 • Total 1,978.75 km2 (764.00 sq mi)
Elevation 10 m (30 ft)
Highest elevation 10 m (30 ft)
Lowest elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2010)
 • Total 722,800
 • Density 370/km2 (950/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Cancunense
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
Postal code 77500
Area code(s) 998
Website www.cancun.gob.mx

Cancún (/kænˈkn/ or /kɑːn-/;Spanish pronunciation: [kaŋˈkun]) is a city in southeastern Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is an important tourist destination in Mexico, and the seat of the municipality of Benito Juárez. The city is on the Caribbean Sea, and is one of Mexico's easternmost points. Cancún is just north of Mexico's Caribbean coast resort band known as the Riviera Maya. In older English-language documents, the city’s name is sometimes spelled "Cancoon," an attempt to convey the sound of the name.

There are two possible translations of Cancún, based on the Mayan pronunciation kaan kun. The first translation is "nest of snakes". The second version and less accepted is "place of the gold snake".

The shield of the municipality of Benito Juárez, which represents the city of Cancún, was designed by the Californian Mexican American artist Joe Vera. It is divided into three parts: the color blue symbolizes the Caribbean Sea, the yellow of the sand, and the red of the sun with its rays.

As documented in the earliest colonial sources, the island of Cancún was originally known to its Maya inhabitants as Nizuc (Yucatec Maya [niʔ suʔuk]) meaning either "promontory" or "point of grass". In the years after the Conquest, much of the Maya population died off or left as a result of disease, warfare, piracy, and famines, leaving only small settlements on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel Island.


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