Cancún
Cancún panoramic collage
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): The Glistening City
Location of Cancún within Quintana Roo
Cancún Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.8475°W / 21.16056; -86.8475Coordinates: 21°09′38″N 86°50′51″W / 21.16056°N 86.8475°W / 21.16056; -86.8475
Country	Mexico
State	Quintana Roo
Municipality	Benito Juárez
Founded	April 20, 1970
Government
• Mayor	Julián Ricalde Magaña (PRD)
Elevation	10 m (30 ft)
Highest elevation	10 m (30 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2010[1])
• Total	628,306
Demonym	Cancúnense
Time zone	CST (UTC−6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC−5)
Postal code	77500
Area code(s)	998
Website	www.cancun.gob.mx

Cancún (Spanish pronunciation: [kaŋˈkun]) is a city in south-eastern Mexico, located on the north-east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a world-renowned tourist destination,^[2] as well as being the seat of the Benito Juárez municipality. The city is located off of the Caribbean Sea, and is one of the eastern-most points in Mexico. Cancún is located near/in Mexico's Caribbean coast resort band known as the Riviera Maya.

Place names and shield[link]

Place names[link]

There are two possible translations of Cancún, based on the Mayan pronunciation. The first translation is "nest of snakes or pot." The second version and less accepted is "place of the golden snake"^{[citation needed]}.

Shield[link]

Allusive fountain to Benito Juárez's shield, Av. Cobá y Náder.

The shield of the municipality of Benito Juárez, who represents the city of Cancun, was designed by the artist vital Jesús Carmichael Jiménez (Elio Carmichael). It is divided into three parts: The color blue symbolizes the Caribbean Sea, the yellow the sand and the red the sun with its rays.

History[link]

Aerial view of Cancún Point, in 1970.

Catering zone, with incipient constructions. That zone is at present known as Centro de Fiestas.

Master plan of INFRATUR.

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".^[3] In the years after the Conquest, much of the population died off or left as a result of disease, warfare, piracy, and famines, leaving only small settlements on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel Island.^{[citation needed]}

The name Cancún, Cancum or Cankun first appears on 18th century maps.^{[citation needed]} The meaning of Cancún is unknown, and it is also unknown whether the name is of Maya origin. If it is of Maya origin, possible translations include "Place/Seat/Throne of the Snake" or "Enchanted Snake". Snake iconography was prevalent at the pre-Columbian site of Nizuc.^[4]

When development was started on January 23, 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, caretakers of the coconut plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla Mujeres, and there were only 117 people living in nearby Puerto Juarez, a fishing village and military base.^[5]

"Due to the reluctance of investors to bet on an unknown area, the Mexican government had to finance the first nine hotels."^[5] The first hotel financed was the Hyatt Cancún Caribe, but the first hotel actually built was the Playa Blanca, which later became a Blue Bay hotel, and is now Temptation Resort. At the time it was an elite destination, famous for its virgin white sand beaches.

The city began as a tourism project in 1974 as an Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo, National Fund for Tourism Development), formerly known as INFRATUR. Since then, it has undergone a comprehensive transformation from being a fisherman's island surrounded by virgin forest and undiscovered shores to being one of the two most well-known Mexican resorts, along with Acapulco. The World Tourism Organization (WTO), through its foundation UNWTO-Themis, awarded the Best of the Best award "for excellence and good governance" to the Trust for Tourism Promotion of Cancun on February 3, 2007. This award Cancún ensured the ongoing support of the Department of Education and Knowledge Management of the WTO.

Most 'Cancúnenses' are from Yucatán and other Mexican states. A growing number are from the rest of the Americas and Europe. The municipal authorities have struggled to provide public services for the constant influx of people, as well as limiting squatters and irregular developments, which now occupy an estimated ten to fifteen percent of the mainland area on the fringes of the city.^[5]

In the 21st century, Cancún had largely avoided bloodshed associated with the trade of illegal drugs, but the city is regarded as a popular transshipment point for Colombian cocaine and reportedly known for retail drug sales to tourists and as a center of money laundering.^[6] The links with Cancún date from the 1990s and early 2000s, when the area was controlled by the Juárez and Gulf drug cartels. In recent years Los Zetas, a group that broke away from the Gulf Cartel, has taken control of many smuggling routes through the Yucatán, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.^[7]

The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún from November 29, 2010 to December 10, 2010.

City layout[link]

Aerial view of the Cancún Island, from the top of the Torre Escénica in addition to 80 meters of height. May 2008.

Zona Hotelera (Catering zone) at dusk

Apart from the island tourist zone (actually part of the world's second-longest coral reef), the Mexican residential section of the city, the downtown part of which is known as "El Centro," follows a master plan that consists of "supermanzanas"^[8] (superblocks), giant trapezoids with a central, open, non-residential area cut in by u-shaped residential streets. These open centers usually have walkways and 'sidewalks' around a central garden park, or soccer fields, or a library, etc. which make the mainland "Mexican" Cancún bicycle-friendly.^{[citation needed]} The residential roads of central or 'Mainland' Cancún, U-shaped and culs-de-sacs, insulate housing from the noise and congestion of the main flow of traffic.^{[citation needed]} Mainland Cancún has a central market that resembles an outlet mall, colorful buildings on a pedestrian city block.^{[citation needed]}

Ave. Tulum is the main north-south artery, connecting downtown to the airport, which is some 30 km (19 mi) south of downtown. Tulum is bisected by Ave. Cobá. East of Ave. Tulum, Cobá becomes Ave. Kukulcan which serves as the primary road through the 7-shaped hotel zone. Ave. Tulum ends on the north side at Ave. Paseo José López Portillo which connects to the main highway west to Chichén Itzá and Mérida. Another major north-south road is Ave. Bonampak which runs roughly parallel to Ave. Tulum. The main ferry to Isla Mujeres is located in Puerto Juarez, on Ave. Paseo José López Portillo.

To save on the cost of installing sewer systems and other public services, the design of much of the rest of the city reverted to the grid plan after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.^{[citation needed]} The newest upper-middle-class residential areas reflect the original plan, but are much less intimate. Less expensive developments are composed almost entirely of identical one- or two-story small row-houses, sometimes built around interior plazas or 4 story apartment blocks.^{[citation needed]}Until recently, most mainland buildings were four stories or shorter; since 2005, there has been an influx of condominium and luxury retail and office space concentrated along Ave. Bonampak.

Cancún's Mainland or Downtown area has diverged from the original plan; development is scattered around the city. The remaining undeveloped beach and lagoon front areas outside the hotel zone are now under varying stages of development, in Punta Sam and Puerto Juarez to the north, continuing along Bonampak and south toward the airport along Boulevard Donaldo Colosio. One development abutting the hotel zone is Puerto Cancún,^[9] also Malecon Cancún^[10] is another large development.

Mayan archaeological sites[link]

El Rey mayan ruins

There are some small Mayan vestiges of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Cancún. El Rey (Las Ruinas del Rey) is located in the Hotel Zone. El Meco, a more substantial site, is found on the mainland just outside the city limits on the road north to Punta Sam.^{[citation needed]}

Close by in the Riviera Maya and the Grand Costa Maya, there are sites such as Cobá and Muyil (Riviera) the small Polé (now Xcaret), and Kohunlich, Kinichná, Dzibanché, Oxtankah, Tulum, and Chacchoben, in the south of the state. Chichén Itzá is in the neighboring state of Yucatán.

Transportation[link]

Cancún is served by Cancún International Airport with an added main runway that commenced operation as of October 2010. It has many flights to North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe. It is located on the northeast of the Yucatán Peninsula serving an average of more than ten million passengers per year. The airport is located around 12 miles from the hotel zone, approximately 20 minutes trip by car.^[11] There is also a public transit bus system, servicing the hotel zone. The island of Isla Mujeres is located off the coast and is accessible by boat from Puerto Juárez.

Climate[link]

Cancún has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw), with few temperature differences between seasons, but pronounced rainy seasons. The city is warm year-round, and moderated by onshore trade winds, with an annual mean temperature of 27.1 °C (80.8 °F). Unlike inland areas of the Yucatán Peninsula, sea breezes restrict high temperatures from reaching 35 °C (95 °F) on most afternoons. Annual rainfall is around 1,340 millimetres (52.8 in), falling on 115 days per year. More temperate conditions occur from November to February with occasional refreshing northerly breezes, it is drier and becomes hotter in March and April. It is hottest from May to September, due to proximity to the Caribbean and Gulf humidity is high the year round, especially so during hurricane season (averages close to 70% on rainfree days). The hotel zone juts into the Caribbean Sea, it is surrounded by ocean therefore daytime temperatures are around 1-2C less and windspeeds are higher than at the airport located some distance inland, which is the official meteorological station for Cancún, averages as shown below.^[12]

The tropical storm season lasts from May to December, the rainy season extends into January with peak precipitation in September. February to early May tend to be drier with only occasional scattered showers. Cancún is located in one of the main Caribbean hurricane impact areas. Although large hurricanes are rare, they have struck near to Cancún in recent years, Hurricane Wilma in 2005 being the largest. Hurricane Gilbert made a devastating direct hit on Cancún in September 1988 and the tourist hotels needed to be rebuilt. In both cases, federal, state and municipal authorities were well prepared to deal with most of the effects on tourists and local residents.^[15] Hurricane Dean in 2007 also made its mark on the city of Cancún.

Hurricane Gilbert[link]

1988's Hurricane Gilbert was the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin. It landed on the Yucatán peninsula after crossing over the island of Cozumel. In the Cancún region, a loss of $87 million (1989 USD) due to a decline in tourism was estimated for the months October, November and December in 1988.^[16]

Hurricane Wilma[link]

On October 21, 2005, Hurricane Wilma made landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, with strong winds in excess of 150 mph (240 km/h). The hurricane's eye first passed over the island of Cozumel, and then made an official landfall near Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo at around midnight on October 22 EDT with winds near 140 mph (230 km/h). Portions of the island of Cozumel experienced the calm eye of Wilma for several hours with some blue skies and sunshine visible at times. The eye slowly drifted northward, with the center passing just to the west of Cancún, Quintana Roo.

Hurricane Dean[link]

Two years later, in 2007, the eye of Hurricane Dean landed 190 miles (310 km) to the south of Cancún. Fierce winds at the edge of Dean's impact cone stripped sand off 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of beaches from Punta Cancún (Camino Real Hotel) to Punta Nizuc (Club Med).^[17] The authorities asked tourism operators to suspend sending tourists to Cancún while Hurricane Dean was approaching, but did ask airlines to send empty planes, which were then used to evacuate tourists already there.^[18]

Tourism[link]

The Nichupté Lagoon is on the opposite side of the island from the Caribbean Sea, which is used for boating excursions and jet-ski jungle tours. Cancún is also the gateway to the Riviera Maya and the Yucatán interior, which has numerous archaeological sites, such as Chichen Itza, Cobá and Tulum as well as the many cenotes such as Dos Ojos and Ik Kil. English Sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor has created a monumental underwater art museum in the National Marine Park of Cancún.^[19]

Education[link]

Although Cancún is better known as a travel and tourism destination, in recent years some colleges and universities have been offering higher education to both Mexican and foreign students.

The first higher education institution established in the area was the Instituto Tecnológico de Cancún. Other followed, including Universidad La Salle Cancún, Universidad Anáhuac Cancún, Universidad Tecnológica de Cancún, Universidad del Caribe, and more recently the Universidad Interamericana para el Desarrollo and the Tec Milenium.

Sister cities[link]

• Cozumel, Mexico
• Timișoara, Romania

References[link]

External links[link]

Mexico portal

• Cancun travel guide from Wikitravel
• Cancún at the Open Directory Project

v t e  State of Quintana Roo Chetumal (capital) Municipalities (seats) Bacalar (Bacalar) Cozumel (San Miguel de Cozumel) Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Felipe Carrillo Puerto) Isla Mujeres (Isla Mujeres) Othón P. Blanco (Chetumal) Benito Juárez (Cancún) José María Morelos (José María Morelos) Lázaro Cárdenas (Kantunilkín) Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen) Tulum (Tulum) Places of interest Akumal Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park Banco Chinchorro Chacchoben Coba Isla Contoy Isla Holbox Kohunlich Mahahual Muyil Puerto Morelos Punta Allen Punta Sur Riviera Maya San Gervasio Sian Ka'an Tulum Xcalak Xcaret Xelha Yo'okop

Diana Golden Brosnihan, née Diana Golden (March 20, 1963, Lincoln, MA – August 25, 2001, Providence, RI) was an American disabled ski racer. After losing a leg to cancer at age 12, she went on to win 10 world and 19 United States championships between 1986 and 1990 as a three-tracker, or one-legged skier. Golden also won an Olympic gold medal in giant slalom at the 1988 Calgary Games, where disabled skiing was a demonstration sport. She participated in alpine skiing at two Winter Paralympic Games, in 1980 and 1988, winning two gold medals in the latter year.^[1] After retiring from skiing, cancer returned in 1992 and 1996, with her last bout of cancer resulting in her death in 2001.

Early life[link]

Diana Golden grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts and began skiing at the age of five,^[2] making regular trips to Cannon Mountain Ski Area with her parents.^[3] However in 1975, at the age of 12, her right leg collapsed while she was walking home from skiing and doctors diagnosed bone cancer.^[4] As a result the doctors had to amputate her leg above the knee to stop the cancer from spreading.^[3]

Following the surgery the first question Golden asked was whether she would be able to ski again and was relieved to discover that she would be able to.^[3] After being fitted with a prosthetic device she learned to walk and then ski again within six or seven months with the help of the New England Handicapped Skiing Association.^[5][6] In her junior year at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School she became a member of the ski team and by the age of 17 had joined the United States Disabled Ski Team (USDST).^[3][7]

After high school Golden went to Dartmouth College and gained a degree in English Literature in 1984. While there in 1982 she competed at the World Handicapped Championships in Norway, winning a gold medal in the downhill and a silver in the giant slalom.^[3] However she then became disillusioned with competitive skiing and would join a group of born again Christians.^[4] After college she went to work for a local firm selling computer software before a friend reintroduced her to skiing and she rediscovered her love of it. In 1985 she rejoined the USDST and would gain sponsorships and a scholarship in order to be able to pursue it full time.^[3]

Skiing career[link]

Within a year of taking up skiing again Golden had won 4 gold medals internationally including 3 in the 1986 World Disabled Championships.^[3][5] She was dominant in the United States Disabled Alpine Championships winning all four of the giant slalom, slalom, downhill and combined disciplines in both 1987 and 1988.^[5] Also in 1988 Golden won 2 golds at the World Disabled Championships and most famously won a gold in the giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, where the event was a demonstration sport.^[7] Golden retired in 1990 but before this she would win 3 gold medals at her last World Disabled Championships in 1990 at Winter Park Resort in Colorado.^[3] In total throughout her career Golden won 19 national, 10 World and 1 Olympic disabled gold medals.^[8]

Golden at first used outriggers when skiing but would abandon these in favour of the standard ski poles so being able to reach greater speeds but requiring more strength and stamina.^[7] In 1990 using the normal ski poles and one ski Golden was recorded as travelling at 65 miles per hour during a downhill race.^[3] As well as competing in disabled events Golden also took part in able-bodied events and she got the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) to pass the "Golden Rule" in 1985.^[7] Under this rule the top disabled skiers were able to race after only the top 15 skiers had taken part, thus enabling the disabled skiers to compete before the course becomes rutted from heavy usage.^[5] In 1987, competing against able-bodied competitors, Golden finished 10th in a USSA competition.^[3]

Golden received a number of awards during her career including the USSA's Beck Award in 1986 honouring the best female skier in international competition.^[3] It was in 1988 however that Golden received the most recognition when both Ski Racing Magazine and the United States Olympic Committee named her female skier of the year, choosing her ahead of able-bodied skiers.^[5][7]

Later life[link]

Golden became a motivational speaker following her skiing career, and also took up rock climbing and mountaineering leading to a successful climb of Mount Rainier.^[5][7] However in 1992, at the age of 29, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, for which she had to be treated with bilateral mastectomies.^[4] While operating on her, doctors also found a pre-malignant growth and as a result had to remove her uterus.^[8] After this, realising she could never have children, Golden became depressed and in 1993 attempted suicide, something which she would consider again.^[9]

Golden recovered and resumed motivational speaking but would give this up for good in 1996 when she was again diagnosed with breast cancer, which was treatable but now incurable.^[5] She returned to New England from Colorado and it was here that she once more met Steve Brosnihan, a freelance cartoonist she had known at Dartmouth College.^[5][7] Brosnihan and Golden fell in love and were married in August 1997.^[7]

Golden died in August 2001 from the cancer at the age of 38. Following her death Golden would inspire a race series called the "Diana Golden Race Series", hosted by Disabled Sports USA, at mountains which offer programs that teach the physically disabled how to ski.^{[10] [11]} The Diana Golden Opportunities Fund is the endowment that supports and encourages junior athletes with disabilities in their pursuit of excellence in skiing by providing scholarships for purchasing equipment or participating in an adaptive race or development camp.^[10]

After her retirement from skiing Golden continued to be honoured by various organisations. In 1991 the Women's Sports Foundation gave her the Flo Hyman Memorial Award, while in 1997 she was inducted into the US National Ski Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame.^[3][7] The citation on her entry into the International Hall of Fame read "She persuaded the ski world to treat all athletes the same, regardless of ability or, in her case, disability."^[7]

References[link]