Yucatán is a state in the northwestern part of the Yucatán Peninsula, with its coastline facing the Gulf of Mexico. To the east is the state of Quintana Roo, home of Cancun and Cozumel; Campeche is to the south.
Yucatán is where the Chicxulub Crater is located; geologists say that this crater dates back approx 65 million years from the Earth's collision with a meteorite, and it is implicated with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Around 1000 AD, Yucatán was one of the centers of the Maya civilization. While their big cities and temples have fallen to ruins long before the arrival of the Spaniards the Maya people still make up much of the state's population. The Spanish came to conquer in the 1500s, and their descendants stayed and contributed to the historic heritage of Yucatán. In the late 1800s Henequen cactus was the "green gold" of Yucatan and was responsible for much of the wealth of Yucatan. Henequen made Yucatan into one of Mexico’s richest States. Today, one can still visit some of the henequen producing haciendas that reflect this wealth.