Soconusco
Abundant moisture and volcanic soil has always made it rich for agriculture, contributing to the flowering of the Mokaya and Olmec cultures, which were based on Theobroma cacao and rubber of Castilla elastica.
Fincas (estates) were erected in the Chiapaneco jungle and given German names such as Hamburgo, Bremen, Lübeck, Argovia, Bismarck, Prussia, and Hanover.
While most of its ruins now consist of earthen mounds, its importance lies in the information which has been gathered from its steles and other sculpted stone works.
[5] Before the Aztecs, the area was a restless tribute region of Tehuantepec, with the dominant ethnicity being Mame (Modern linguistic corrected to "Mam" in Guatemala because a Spanish word that is vulgar).
In 1486, Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl conquered it; the area was then required to send cotton clothing, bird feathers, jaguar skins, and cacao as tributes.
According to chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo the area had a native population of about 15,000 inhabitants although other estimates have put that number as high as 75,000 in the 1520s.
Pedro de Alvarado is credited with the conquest of the Soconusco as he headed down into Central America from the Spanish stronghold in southern Veracruz in 1524.
[1] In the late 16th century Miguel de Cervantes, future author of Don Quixote, requested from the Spanish king the right to govern Soconusco because of its well-known cacao.
Mistreatment by encomienda and hacienda owners also caused population loss and various uprisings such as one in 1712 by the Tzendals, which involved 32 villages centered on Cancuc.
To counter the mass depopulation of the area, the Spanish Crown created two alcaldes mayores in 1760 to give more protection to the native population.
The first attempt to settle a border in the area occurred in 1831 with several others in the decades that follow but without success, in part because of political instability in Mexico.
The Federal Republic of Central America dissolved between 1838 and 1840, leaving Guatemala to pursue claims to the Soconusco, which it did by declaring it part of the Quetzaltenango District in 1840.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the migration of foreigners from the United States and Europe was encouraged by the Porfirio Díaz regime with land grants and the construction of a rail line.
However, export agriculture is subject to boom-and-bust periods and World War I precipitated a drop in demand for coffee, weakening the plantain owners' position somewhat.
Most illegal immigrants work in agriculture and as domestic servants, with women being vulnerable to sexual exploitation, especially those from Honduras and El Salvador.
[4][8] Tapachula was founded by the Spanish as an Indian town in 1590, with the name coming from the local language meaning “place of the conquered.”[1] Most of the city's monumental structures are in Art Deco style from the early 20th century, when the coffee plantations brought wealth to the area.
It has a beach with dark gray sand, nine km long, a rough surf and a semi humid climate with rains in the summer.
The town is noted for its surrounding coffee plantations and houses made of wood in a style similar to that of Switzerland, giving it the nickname of “La Suiza Chiapaneca.” It has a relatively cold climate with rains in the summer and is the primarily mountain tourist attraction of the state.
Near the town is the Finca Rosario Izapa, which is field research station for agriculture, mostly concentrated on studies on cacao and tropical fruits.
Nearby is the El Chicol waterfall, which forms deep pools of fresh water surrounded by dense vegetation.
They are part of the Central American dry forests ecoregion, characterized by open woodlands and thorn scrub of dry-season deciduous trees and shrubs.
[8][18] At the southern end, the Tacaná Volcano reaches a height of 4,100 meters with all of the climates and vegetation that is found in the Sierra Madres de Chiapas.
The mainstay of the region's economy is agriculture for export, which makes it relatively economically independent from the rest of the country, despite the recent introduction of some industry and tourism.
Most of these workers come from Guatemala for harvests but bust periods can send parts of the local population out of area to find work.
Today, crops include coffee, bananas, papaya, mango, kiwi, passion fruit, carambola and African palm .
[2] One new tropical fruit being grown in the area is the rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) native to Malaysia and Indonesia but become increasingly popular in Central America and Mexico.
One important grower is the Rancho San Alberto in the Cacahoatán municipality which pioneered the growing of this fruit in the country in the mid 20th century.
As coffee plants need the shade of higher trees, this has conserved much of the original vegetation of the area although the cultivation has had a negative effect on natural water supplies north of Tapachula.
[8] Much of the Chiapas’ mangrove areas are linked in a tourist route called the “Ruta del Manglar.” The center is the La Encruciajada Reserve, which was created as part of the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan signed in 1986 by Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
The Barra de Zacapulco Tourism Center features a marine turtle sanctuary which monitors the population of various species.
