Benito Juárez Municipality, Quintana Roo

Benito Juarez
Benito Juarez
Municipality
	Municipal Hall, Cancun
INEGI Code	23005
Website	cancun.gob.mx

Benito Juárez is one of the eleven municipalities of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Most of its population reside in the municipal seat, Cancún. It is named after the 19th century president and statesman Benito Juárez.

Geography

Benito Juárez is located in the north of the state with the Caribbean Sea as its eastern border. It borders on the municipalities of Isla Mujeres to the north, Puerto Morelos to the south, and Lázaro Cárdenas to the west. The municipality covers an area 1,664 square kilometres (642 sq mi) which is 3.72% of the territory of the state.

Communities

The 2010 census enumerated 295 populated localities and 272 unpopulated localities. The largest are as follows:^[3]

Community	Population (2010)
Cancún	628,306
Alfredo V. Bonfil	14,900
Puerto Morelos	9,188
Leona Vicario	6,517
El Porvenir	505
Los Tres Reyes	470
Colonia Chiapaneca Siglo XXI	275
Lagos del Sol	156
Entire municipality	661,176

Puerto Juárez, the primary location of the original population of the area before the founding of the city of Cancún

, was considered a separate location from 1960 until 1990, when it was abolished as such and incorporated as one of Cancún's districts.

History

The

Mayan culture occupied the territory and they are still subsisting. In Cancún are different types of archeological monuments like "Ruinas de el Rey". At the time the town of Cancún was founded (1902) the majority of its business activity was the production and export gum and "palo de tinte". They transported it to Puerto Morelos for the translation to Cozumel

and from there it was exported to other countries.

After World War II gum production dropped. In the 1960s, other commercial activities were started. In the 1960s the "island of Cancún" was only occupied at certain times of the year,

Isla Mujeres territory and received municipality status one year later in 1975.^[5]

In 2016, the

municipality of Puerto Morelos

was split off from Benito Juárez.