Cancun, Mexico
| Cancún | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Motto: The Glistening City | |
 Location of Cancún within Quintana Roo |
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 Cancún
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| Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.84750°WCoordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.84750°W | |
| Country |
 Mexico
|
| State |
 Quintana Roo
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| Municipality |
 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 |
Cancún (/kænˈkuːn/ 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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