Coatzacoalcos travel guide

Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Campeche, on the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. The city serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name.

In the pre-Hispanic era, Coatzacoalcos was the historic home of the Olmec people. One of the oldest mesoamerican archaeological sites is El Mantial, a sacrificial bog in the Laguna Mantial where a number of relics dating from 1650 BC were discovered. After the collapse of the Olmec civilisation, the region was gradually settled by the Nahua people, and became an independent trade hub between the Aztec Empire and the Mayan city states. The Spanish settled the area in 1522 under the leadership of Gustavo Sandoval.