Economically, it is one of the most important cities in Chiapas; as capital of the agriculturally-rich Soconusco region, Tapachula also serves as a key port for trade between Mexico and Central America.

This practice initiated a steady stream of migration and immigration into the area, which continues to this day, and has left the city with a significant Asian and German cultural presence.

[4] Nonetheless, it is the principal port for the shipment of goods and for people traveling between Mexico and the rest of Central America further south, making it economically and socially similar to cities on the US southern border such as Laredo, Texas or San Diego, California.

[4] This has led to a strong and very visible police presence in the city, along with special security measures for major events (such as the Feria Internacional Tapachula).

[4][5] The city has had a strong Chinese presence since around 1900, when a number of people from the country came to Mexico to work for the coffee businesses of the area.

[3][6] A number of businesses selling Chinese food and imported items are concentrated in the San Juan market.

[6] The Casa de la Comunidad China (Chinese Community House) is located Cuarta Avenida Sur.

[3] The San Agustín parish church dates from the 18th century, established to honor the patron saint of the city, Augustine.

The facade is a simple Neoclassical with six Ionic order columns, three on each side of the entrance, joined by false arches.

[1] The Casa de Cultura was built in 1929 as the municipal palace when the city was prosperous because of the surrounding coffee plantations.

[1][3] The municipal cemetery is notable as a testament to the immigrant past of the area, with gravestones with German names and Chinese characters.

It borders the municipalities of Motozintla, Cacahoatán, Tuxtla Chico, Frontera Hidalgo, Suchiate, Tuzantán, Huehuetán and Mazatán with the Pacific on the south and Guatemala to the northwest.

[11] The municipality had 574 localities, the largest of which (with 2010 populations in parentheses) were: Tapachula (Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez) (202,672), Puerto Madero (San Benito) (9,557), Vida Mejor I (6,460), Álvaro Obregón (5,717), Los Cafetales (3,054), Raymundo Enríquez (3,049), Carrillo Puerto (2,676), classified as urban, and Veinte de Noviembre (2,184), El Encanto (1,726), José María Morelos (1,717), Viva México (1,691), Llano de la Lima (1,579), Nuevo Pumpuapa (Cereso) (1,431), Cebadilla 1ra.

Sección (1,384), Los Palacios (1,217), Congregación Reforma (1,132), Octavio Paz (1,124), Acaxman (1,099), San Nicolás Lagartero (1,071), Tinajas 1ra.

[10] Because of its proximity to neighboring Guatemala, the Tapachula area has absorbed a number of ethnicities from this country but the main indigenous group remains the Mam.

The city of Tapachula was founded as a tribute collection center for the Aztecs in 1486 by a military leader named Tiltototl, sent by Ahuitzotl to conquer the Soconusco.

As such, Tapachula became a border area, first among the Spanish colonial authorities of New Spain, Chiapas and the Captaincy General of Guatemala.

[12][13] In 1809, shortly before the start of the Mexican War of Independence, Tapachula protested the high rate of taxation to Spanish authorities to no avail.

[10] However, for most of the rest of the 19th century, the Soconusco would be disputed territory between Mexico (as part of Chiapas) and Guatemala, until a final border was drawn between the two countries in 1888.

The city during this time has grown outward, surrounding industrial structures such as petroleum storage facilities belonging to PEMEX and a terminal of the Chiapas-Mayab railroad.

)[14][15] In September 2019, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chiapas unveiled a monument in a ceremony to commemorate the Bible at Los Cerritos Park.

The intent of the project by the church was to recognize the Bible as the guide to the society and to bring awareness to the public in the reading of the Scriptures.

[16] Since Tapachula is a major border crossing between Mexico and Guatemala, it contains a substantial population of undocumented migrants from the Northern Triangle of Central America who are fleeing violence or unemployment in their home countries.

The municipality stretches over a section of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and west onto the coastal plain to the Pacific with an average altitude of 170 metres or 560 feet above sea level.

[3] The area is one of the rainiest in the world with annual rainfall in the mountains of about 3,900 millimetres or 150 inches drained by a number of rivers and streams that flow from the Sierra Madre de Chiapas over the coastal plain to the Pacific Ocean.

[10] There are eighty-two communities considered to be at high risk to natural disasters due to flooding of rivers and insufficient roadways to evacuate.

[12] Hurricane Stan severely damaged the rail line through here connecting Oaxaca and Chiapas with Guatemala, with repairs still ongoing as of 2011.

The first Feria Internacional Tapachula was held in 1963 with the name of Primera Gran Exposición Agrícola, Ganadera, Comercial e Industrial del Soconusco.

[10] The municipality is part of a region dedicated to the growing and export of cash crops, especially coffee and tropical fruit.

Other attractions marketed to cruise ship tourists include the city of Tapachula and the mangrove sanctuaries on the coast.