Mapastepec

Mapastepec
Mapastepec is located in Mexico
Mapastepec
Mapastepec
Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 15°25′40″N 92°53′54″W / 15.42778°N 92.89833°W / 15.42778; -92.89833
Country Mexico
StateChiapas
Government
 • Municipal PresidentMartín Ruiz Rosales
Area
 • Total419 sq mi (1,085 km2)
Population
 (2015)
 • Total47,932

Mapastepec is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Its name derives from the place name mapachtepec, "Hill of the Raccoon", a compound of the Nahuatl words mapachi ("raccoon") and tepetl ("mountain").[1]

Mapestepec is on the Pacific Ocean, with roughly half of its territory on the Pacific Coastal Plain and half in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountain range. It is partly within two of Mexico's Biosphere Reserves, featuring a number of important species, including the horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus), Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii), the Jaguar (Panthera once) and rare cloud forest and mangrove habitat.

The primary sector makes up over half of the local economy. Key products include cheese and dairy products and the local Ataulfo mango.

  1. ^ Starr, Frederick (1920). Aztec Place Names, Their Meaning And Mode Of Composition (2nd ed.). Privately printed by the author. Retrieved September 22, 2018.