Bacalar, Quintana Roo

Bacalar is a town in Othón P. Blanco municipality in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about 40 km north of Chetumal, at 18.67°N, 88.38°W. In the 2005 census the town had a population of 9,833 people. [INEGI (2005).]

The name most likely derives from _my. b'ak halal, meaning "surrounded by reeds", [See entry under [http://www.famsi.org/reports/96072/b/bak.htm "Bak Halal"] , in Bolles (1997), based on the "Cordemex" Mayan–Spanish dictionary (Barrera Vásquez "et al.", 1991).] the name of the locality attested at the time of the 16th century arrival of the Spanish.

Bacalar is also the name of the lagoon, Bacalar lagoon on the east side of the town.

Bacalar was a city of the Maya civilization in Pre-Columbian times. This was the first city in the region which the Spanish Conquistadores succeeded in taking and holding in 1543. In 1545 Gaspar Pacheco established the Spanish town here with the name Salamanca de Bacalar. The region of the southern half of what is now Quintana Roo was governed from Bacalar, answerable to the Captain General of Yucatán in Mérida.

After the town was sacked by pirates in 17th century, the Fortress de San Felipe Bacalar was completed in 1729, and may still be visited today.

In 1848 Bacalar had a population of about 5,000 people. In 1848 during the Caste War of Yucatán rebellious Chan Santa Cruz Maya conquered the town. It was not retaken by the Mexicans until 1902.

Bacalar was named a "Pueblo Mágico" in 2006.

Notes

References

: cite book |author=aut|Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo |authorlink=Alfredo Barrera Vásquez |coauthors=aut|Juan Ramón Bastarrachea Manzano and aut|William Brito Sansores (eds.)|year=1991 |title=Diccionario maya Cordemex: maya-español, español-maya |edition=2nd edition|others=with collaborations by Refugio Vermont Salas, David Dzul Góngora, and Domingo Dzul Poot|publisher=Editorial Porrúa|location=México D.F. |isbn=968-452-487-0 |oclc=26611093 es icon myn icon: cite web |author=aut|Bolles, David |year=1997– |title=Combined Dictionary–Concordance of the Yucatecan Mayan Language |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) |format=revised 2003 |url=http://www.famsi.org/reports/96072/index.html |accessdate=2008-04-20: cite web |author=aut|INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática) |year=2005 |title=Principales resultados por localidad 2005 (ITER): Quintana Roo |url=http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/sistemas/conteo2005/localidad/iter/ |format=XLS spreadsheet|work=II Conteo de Población y Vivienda [2005] |publisher=INEGI |accessdate=2008-04-20

External links

* [http://www.bacalarmosaico.com/ Bacalar Mosaico]
* [http://www.chetumal.gob.mx/ Ayuntamiento de Othon P. Blanco] Official website of Municipality of Othón P. Blanco