Ed and Fran
Jun 7, 2004, 6:05 AM
Post #2 of 3
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Mike,
I can’t speak to the Pacific Coast, but I can offer some info on the Gulf Coast side. You’re right in that you won’t find the European style ‘trading center’ where a large part of the economy of a city or town was based on commerce, but they did trade things they had for materials they needed. And there were settlements all along the Gulf Coast.
I’m assuming that by ‘indigenous peoples’ you are referring to the pre-Colombian cultures, but maybe I’ve misunderstood your question. There was widespread communication and trading by water routes between Mayan settlements extending around the Yucatan Peninsula, and supposedly reaching as far south as Honduras. Artifacts found in major inland centers show evidence of an ongoing trade between them and the coast also, but that wasn’t your question.
The best source I’ve seen specifically addressing this topic was in Arqueologia Mexicana, Vol VI, No. 33, Sep-Oct 1998, which devoted the entire issue to this theme. Just to give one example, I’ll loosely translate one paragraph which said: “Maritime commerce was so complex and important that the distinguished Mayan scholar Eric Thompson referred to the Mayan merchants as the “Phoenicians of the New World”. Investigations done in the past 20 years have corroborated this view, and we now know that the Mayan mercantile world was much more complex that what we imagined.” The issue also refers to a busy maritime trade along the Chiapas coast.
As far as “the oppressive heat quoted as a contributing factor in limiting peoples’ wish to live along the coast” goes, I’d note that while northerners will find the heat oppressive, the people who actually live there aren’t all that bothered by it (okay, on a really bad summer day no one is particularly happy). As a very small example I’d offer that my wife’s family is very happy living in Tuxpan, Veracruz, which I find tough to take when it gets warm, like in the spring/summer/fall. When they travel inland (like to Mexico City) they find it uncomfortably chilly and dry. (Just as an aside, they find it amusing that I sweat so profusely in the heat and humidity here, while they’re comfortably going about their business). I’ve lived on or near the coast in Tamaulipas, Tabasco and Campeche and found the attitude of the locals there very similar. Imho, the exodus of provincial Mexicans to the big cities of DF, Guadalajara and Monterrey is driven by economic reasons, not by the search for a better climate.
It’s also probably worth noting that the Olmec culture (generally considered the ‘Mother Culture’ of pre-Colombian Mexico) developed in the hot, humid crescent of lower Veracruz. The classic Mayan cities developed in the middle of what I can only describe as an oppressively hot and humid jungle. (I suppose ‘oppressive’, ‘hot’, and ‘humid’ are subjective criteria, but I sure sweat a lot when I spend time there). While neither of these were particularly known as ‘coastal’ cultures, their major centers were along navigable rivers that served as highways and led to the Gulf.
None of this is meant to say that you will find a ‘gem’ of a coastal town, although Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, is interesting. Depends a lot on your definition of a gem and what you’re looking for. You won’t find quaint villages perched up on the rocks overlooking picturesque bays, mainly because the geography isn’t that way. It tends to flat, swampy land, with a lot of the coast separated from the mainland by large lagoons with barrier sandbars (some wide enough to support towns).
I have said in previous posts about the area that northerners will generally find the Gulf Coast towns uncomfortable due to the heat and humidity, and I feel that is a major reason why they’ll never be the retirement destination that the altiplano cities are.
But it was an interesting question, thanks for asking. Hope I provided some of the answers you were looking for.
Regards
E&F
(Ignore the fact that the Red Sox are 2-1/2 games back of the Yankees. We took two from KC this weekend and we're on our way back!)
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