Yucatán Channel

The Yucatán Channel or Straits of Yucatán (Spanish: Canal de Yucatán) is a strait between Mexico and Cuba. It connects the Yucatán Basin of the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico. It is just over 200 kilometres (120 mi) wide and nearly 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) deep at its deepest point near the coast of Cuba.

Currents

The Yucatán Channel separates Cuba from Mexico and links the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico. The strait is 217 kilometres (135 mi) across between Cape Catoche in Mexico and Cape San Antonio in Cuba. It has a maximum depth near the Cuban coast of 2,779 metres (9,117 ft). Water flows through the Caribbean Sea from east to west. This flow consists of 5 Sv of water from the North Equatorial Current flowing through the Windward Passage and 12 Sv of water from the South Equatorial Current which flows along the coast of Brazil. The total flow is about 17 Sv at a temperature of at least 17°C. When this water flows past the Yucatán Peninsula it becomes the Yucatán Current. This current provides most of the inflow of water into the Gulf of Mexico as the amount of water entering by the Straits of Florida is small and intermittent. The Yucatán Current flows strongly on the western side of the channel while the Cuban Countercurrent flows in the opposite direction on the easterly side of the channel. Underneath the Yucatán Current there is a southward-flowing Yucatán Undercurrent which takes water away from the Gulf of Mexico.

Yucatán

Yucatán ( ʝukaˈtan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán), is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida.

It is located in Southeastern Mexico, on the north part of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is bordered by the states of Campeche to the southwest, Quintana Roo to the southeast and the Gulf of Mexico lies off its north coast.

Before the arrival of Spaniards to the Yucatán Peninsula, the name of this region was el Mayab. In Mayan language, "ma' ya'ab" is translated as "a few". It was a very important region for the Mayan civilization, which reached the peak of its development on this place, where they founded the cities of Chichen Itza, Izamal, Motul, Mayapan, Ek' Balam and Ichcaanzihóo (also called T'ho), now Mérida.

After the Spanish conquest, Yucatán Peninsula was a single administrative and political entity, the Captaincy General of Yucatán. Following independence and the breakup of the Mexican Empire in 1823, the first Republic of Yucatán was proclaimed which then was voluntarily annexed to the Federal Republic of United Mexican States on December 21, 1823. Later on March 16, 1841, as a result of cultural and political conflicts around the federal pact, Yucatán declared independence from Mexico to form a second Republic of Yucatán, but eventually on July 14, 1848, Yucatán rejoined Mexico. In 1858, in the middle of the caste war, the state of Yucatan was divided for the first time, establishing Campeche as a separate state (officially in 1863). During the Porfiriato, in 1902, the state of Yucatan was divided again to form the Federal territory that later became the present state of Quintana Roo.

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula (Spanish: Península de Yucatán), in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel. The peninsula lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a northwestern geographic partition separating the region of Central America from the rest of North America.

Etymology

The proper derivation of the word Yucatán is widely debated. Hernando Cortes, in the first of his letters to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, claimed that the name Yucatán comes from a misunderstanding. In this telling, the first Spanish explorers asked what the area was called and the response they received, "Yucatan," was a Yucatec Maya word meaning "I don't understand what you're saying." Others claim that the source of the name is the Nahuatl (Aztec) word Yocatlān, "place of richness."

Human history

Maya

The Yucatán Peninsula comprises a significant proportion of the ancient Maya Lowlands (although the Maya culture extended south of the Yucatán Peninsula, through present Guatemala and into Honduras and highland Chiapas). There are many Maya archaeological sites throughout the peninsula; some of the better-known are Chichen Itza, Tulum and Uxmal.Indigenous Maya and Mestizos of partial Maya descent make up a sizable portion of the region's population, and Mayan languages are widely spoken there.

Robert Downey Jr.

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. His career has included critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, and a resurgence of commercial success in middle age.

Making his screen debut at the age of five, appearing in his father's film Pound (1970), he appeared in roles associated with the Brat Pack, such as the teen sci-fi comedy Weird Science (1985) and the drama Less Than Zero (1987). Other films he has starred in include the action comedy Air America (1990), the comedy Soapdish (1991), and the crime film Natural Born Killers (1994). He starred as Charlie Chaplin, the title character in the 1992 film Chaplin, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

After being released in 2000 from the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison where he was on drug charges, Downey joined the cast of the TV series Ally McBeal playing Calista Flockhart's love interest. His performance was praised and he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. His character was written out when Downey was fired after two drug arrests in late 2000 and early 2001. After one last stay in a court-ordered drug treatment program, Downey finally achieved sobriety. In 2015, Downey received a pardon from Governor Jerry Brown.