Quintana Roo, the territory that kept disappearing

Born of the Caste War

Maya cities such as Cobá and Tulum rose here long before the Spanish, who made their first landing in Mexico at Cape Catoche in 1517.^[1] The region began to fill up only with the Caste War, a Maya uprising in Yucatán that broke out in 1847.^[3][1] Many of today’s people descend from Maya rebels who were not conquered again until the early 20th century.^[1]

In 1902 Mexico carved the territory of Quintana Roo out of Yucatán and Campeche and named it after Andrés Quintana Roo, a hero of the independence wars.^[1] At about 50,000 km² it was bigger than neighbouring Yucatán, and its first capital was the southern town of Santa Cruz de Bravo.^[3]

Now you see it

As a federal territory, Quintana Roo had no government of its own: under the 1917 constitution its governor was named by the president and Congress made its laws.^[3] Between 1902 and 1921 its chief changed about fifty times.^[2]

During the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza abolished the territory in June 1913 and attached it to Yucatán, then restored it by another decree on 26 June 1915.^[2][3] In 1931 President Pascual Ortiz Rubio split it between Yucatán and Campeche; the decree was published on 19 December 1931.^[2][5]

Residents formed a Pro-Territory Committee and asked to run the territory themselves on trial. Lázaro Cárdenas visited the capital, Payo Obispo, as a presidential candidate on 19 March 1934 and promised to restore it. He kept the promise on 16 January 1935.^[2]

A state at last

The constitution let a territory become a state once it had 80,000 people. The 1970 census counted 88,150, and the territory was paying its own way.^[3] President Luis Echeverría sent Congress the bill on 2 September 1974, and the decree making Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur states was promulgated on 8 October 1974.^[3] They are Mexico’s two youngest states.^[4]

The new state’s constitution followed on 10 January 1975, with Chetumal as the capital.^[3] Since then tourism has transformed it: Cancún has overtaken Chetumal as its biggest city, and almost all its income comes from services.^[1]