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Mexican Facts and Figures

Veracruz As you journey west along the Gulf Coast, you will enter next the state of Veracruz, the first Mexican region to fall to Spanish rule when Cortés arrived on its shores. Today, the economy of this state, like Tabasco’s, focuses on the oil industry. The state has more than one-fourth of Mexico’s petroleum reserves; it supplies 17 percent of Mexico’s energy; and it has the nation’s second largest generator and only nuclear power plant. The discovery of oil has caused a population explosion in Veracruz. At the beginning of the 20th century, only about one million people lived in this state; now about 7 million inhabitants make this the third most populated state in Mexico. Veracruz’s fishing fleet is also the

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largest in Mexico, and its oyster catch is among the biggest in the country. Agriculture and manufacturing are also

The castle of San Juan de Ulúa was built in 1528 to protect the harbor at Veracruz from Caribbean pirates. Veracruz was the first European settlement established on the American mainland; today, it is Mexico’s most important seaport.