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Puerto Mexico

Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz Llave, Mexico
City and municipality
Coatzacoalcos City,2013
Coatzacoalcos City,2013
Shield of Coatzacoalcos
Shield
Nickname(s): La ciudad de las Avenidas (The city of the Avenues)
Coatzacoalcos stands on the Gulf coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Coatzacoalcos stands on the Gulf coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Coordinates: 18°9′N 94°26′W / 18.150°N 94.433°W / 18.150; -94.433Coordinates: 18°9′N 94°26′W / 18.150°N 94.433°W / 18.150; -94.433
Country Mexico
State Veracruz
City and Municipality Coatzacoalcos
Government
 • Municipal president Joaquin Caballero Rosinol
Area
 • Municipality 471 km2 (182 sq mi)
Highest elevation 50 m (160 ft)
Lowest elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2005/2010)
 • Municipality 305,260
 • Density 650/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
 • Metro 347,223 (Metro)
Demonym(s) Coatzacoalquense, Porteño, Quetzalo
Time zone Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) Central Daylight Time (UTC-5)
Postal code 96380 – 96599
Area code(s) 921
INEGI code 049
Airport Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos National Airport
IATA Code MTT
ICAO Code MMMT
Website www.coatzacoalcos.gob.mx

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.

Coatzacoalcos, in Nahuatl, means "The place where the snake hides." According to the legend, this is the place where the god Quetzalcoatl made his final journey to the sea around the year 999 and where he made his promise to return.

Coatzacoalcos lives within the Olmec heartland. Excavations in 2008 for a tunnel underneath the Coatzacoalcos River indicate a substantial pre-Hispanic population. By the time of the Spanish arrival the area was under Mayan influence. In 1522, Hernán Cortés ordered Gonzalo de Sandoval to fund a settlement near Guazacualco. Sandoval named it Villa del Espíritu Santo.

The San Martín Tuxlta is an active volcano lying northwest of Coatzcoalcos in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. It erupted in 1664, in May 1793 with large ash falls and lava flows, and most recently in 1796.

The town was elevated to the category of port in 1825 and the name was changed to Coatzacoalcos.

The municipality of Coatzacoalcos was established 22 December 1881, with the town as its seat. In 1900 the town name was changed to Puerto México. In 1911 it was elevated to city, and in 1936 the name was changed to the current Coatzacoalcos.

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.

Coatzacoalcos became a very important crossroads during the oil boom of the 1970s, connecting the Yucatán Peninsula and oil fields in Campeche to the rest of Mexico and to the port of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca on the Pacific coast.


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