[8][9] The northwestern portion is on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico with the south and east as part of the mountain chain that extends into northern Chiapas.

[10] Tabasco has seventeen municipalities: Balancán, Cárdenas, Centla, Centro (Villahermosa), Comalcalco, Cunduacán, Emiliano Zapata, Huimanguillo, Jalapa, Jalpa de Méndez, Jonuta, Macuspana, Nacajuca, Paraíso, Tacotalpa, Teapa and Tenosique.

In the Chontalpa zone and in parts of the municipalities of Centla and Jonuta, there are swampy depressions extremely vulnerable to flooding from both riverflow and from excessive rainfall.

Mammal species have declined because of deforestation, but still persist; one may encounter spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, jaguar, ocelot, coatimundi, jaguarundi, oncilla, coyote, margay, bobcat, puma, raccoon, northern tamandua, prehensile-tailed porcupine, agouti, paca, woolly and common opossums, brocket deer, white-tailed deer, collared peccary and tapir.

[18] In the early 16th century, the main ethnicities of Tabasco were the Mayas-Chontals, the Zoque people, and the Popolocas, living in small villages with the Chontales dominating.

[16][19] Despite the early conquest and the foundation of Santa María de la Victoria (today Frontera), the territory was not fully subjugated because of the climate, terrain and lack of minerals.

[19] Tabasco was a landing and crossing point for the conquest of southern Mexico and Guatemala, referenced by Hernán Cortés in one of his letters to the Spanish Crown.

[20] The Spanish did not begin to pacify the area until the second half of the 16th century, when Santa María de la Victoria was secured, slightly inland from the original Frontera location.

[18][20] At the beginning of the 18th century, Tabasco and Veracruz united to combat the pirate threat, and succeeded in expelling them from the Isla del Carmen.

[18] After the Americans left, Tabasco governor Justo Santa Anna rebelled against Mexico City over its lack of support during the war.

[18][27] The Porfirio Díaz period from the 1880s to 1910 was free from political violence and allowed the state to build infrastructure, but only slowly owing to its isolation.

During this time period, a woman by the name of Salomé Marín Virgilio founded schools in Balancán to teach workers to read and write along with liberal political ideas.

By 1909, there were a number of large protests in the state which led to the formation of the Gutierrista Party, headed by Ignacio Gutiérrez Gómez along with his two brothers.

Unlike other parts of the country, there was little resistance against this repression of the church and the success of Garrido's dissuasion left a vacuum, which was later filled by missionaries from Protestant and Evangelical groups.

[18] The petroleum boom produced great wealth, but there have been disputes over the money earned from the facilities owned by PEMEX, the nation's oil company.

There have been issues related to the breaking of environmental laws, but corruption and the lack of legal jurisdiction outside of the federal government, which owns PEMEX, has hampered efforts to sue for enforcement.

Reforms to decentralize power away from Villahermosa were undertaken but in the 1990s, political instability remained with farmers, ranchers and others continuing to complain about how PEMEX was affecting their economic activities.

This eventually covered about eighty percent of the state's territory as deep as 4 meters (13 ft) in places, affecting over a million people.

[41] In Jalpa de Méndez, the main attractions are its gourd handcrafts, the San Remo cigar factory, the La Encantada Turtle Farm and the Pomposú Juliva wetlands on the Mezcalapa River.

The reserve is home to a wide variety of wildlife species such as herons, storks, ibis, crocodiles, fresh water turtles, manatees and more.

Other attractions include the Centla maritime port, the Museum of Navigation, the town of Frontera (where the Spanish founded the first European settlement on mainland America) and the Punta Manglar ecotourism facility.

[47] The mountain adventure route is in the highlands of the state with its forests, sulphurate waters and caves, centered on the town of Tapijulapa, which is noted for its handcrafts of wood and wicker.

Sites include the Río Puyacateno park, Los Azufres hacienda and spa, the José Natividad Correa Tosca museum and Coconá Caverns.

[57] (amashito) Traditionally, people in Tabasco eat seven times a day, these meals are called "puntal" (after getting out of bed), breakfast, "refigerio," "apertivo," "comida," "merienda" and "cena."

[57] Typical dishes include those with iguana meat, gar fish, beef puchero, smoked oysters, totopostes, pork with beans and tortillas made with banana and fresh corn.

Most are located in the Villahermosa area but others can be found in Comalcalco, Huimanguillo, Balancán, Emiliano Zapata, Jalpa de Méndez, Jonuta and Teapa.

[39] Patron saint days are still popular events in the state, with some of the more notable being San Isidro in Comalcalco and Nacajuca, James the Greater in Chontalpa, Our Lady of the Remedies in Nacajuca, Our Lady of the Assumption in Cupilco, Francis of Assisi in Tamulté de las Sabanas [es], events related with Lent in Atasta and Tamulté and the Saint Sebastian in Tenosique.

The site shows a number of the characteristics of Olmec culture, including depictions of jaguars, colossal heads and images of figures of rotund children.

It is on the Usumacinta River, giving it an important role in the political and economic relations of the time, as many ocean products passed through here on their way to the Peten area.

[37] The Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Tabasco was founded in 2006 as a state university to offer higher education to those from lower socioeconomic classes and indigenous communities.