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77780 Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
GPS: 20.213024295933, -87.434585678367
Visit Tulum National Park Mexico 2022: Located east of the modern city of the same name on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, Tulum National Park is home to some of the best preserved Mayan ruins in Mexico. Perhaps less impressive than the remains of Chichen Itza or Teotihuacan from an architectural point of view, the archaeological site of Tulum is nonetheless one of the most emblematic Mesoamerican cities in North America.
In addition to its idyllic location on the Caribbean Sea, the Mayan civilization prized this area as a place of great strategic importance. In pre-Columbian times, the Maya occupied a large territory stretching from southern Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Tulum is one of the few Mayan cities to have been built on the coast, although there are archaeological remains of ancient Mayan ports at Xel-Ha and Xcaret, located a little further north in the Riviera Maya. According to some wall inscriptions, Tulum was built in the second half of the 6th century on much older foundations. Probably linked to the sites of Mayapan and Cobá (both located in the Yucatán peninsula), the city is an important centre of worship for the “descendant god”, a Mesoamerican deity with the appearance of a birdman. Tulum was used not only as a trading centre but also for ceremonial and astronomical purposes. Cliff temples and an observatory were built to track the movements of the sun. A large number of caves and geological formations called cenotes are used by the inhabitants of the city as a fresh water reserve, place of worship and site of human sacrificial offerings.
Called Zamá (“the city of the dawn”) by the Maya, the city was not fortified until its peak in the early 13th century. It was from this time onwards that it was renamed Tulum (“wall”), because of the defensive wall that protected the archaeological site. The city collapsed three centuries later with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in 1518. It was then abandoned and invaded by the jungle. This coastal area of the Yucatán quickly became a major base for piracy. Corsairs, buccaneers and freebooters were a constant threat to Spanish ships and colonies from the 16th to the 18th centuries. With outer walls up to 6 metres thick and 4 metres high, Tulum is prized for its spectacular coastline, coral reefs, white sand beaches, lush forests and sacred wells. Its national park, founded in 1981, is one of the most visited natural and archaeological sites in Mexico.