Tehuantepec, Mexico

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is at its narrowest (only 200km/125mi wide). This tropical town, with its humid climate and lush vegetation, is situated in a valley surrounded by low hills and the broad sweep of the Río Tehuantepec. The population consists of Zapotecs and Mestizos.

Tehuantepec (Náhuatl: "mountain of the jaguar") almost certainly had a long history prior to the arrival of the Spanish for it was a centre of the Zapotecs. Around ad 1470 the town was occupied by an army led by Axayácatl, the ruler of the Aztecs.

At the time of the arrival of the Spanish in 1521-22 the town was ruled by Prince Cocijo-pii, who was the son of the Zapotec king Cocijo-eza and an Aztec princess. The prince allied himself with the Spanish against the Aztecs. At the beginning of the colonial period Tehuantepec was one of the possessions of Hernán Cortés.

This strategically important town, situated on the shortest land connection in Mexico between the Atlantic and Pacific, set Cortés and then later the Spanish viceroy and the Mexican government thinking about communication routes in this area of the continent. Roads were built, and also a railway line, but the plans to dig a canal never came to fruition. Tehuantepec's importance plummeted when the Panama Canal was opened in 1914 and it is only since the oil boom in Mexico over the last few years and the laying of a pipeline from Teapa in the state of Veracruz that the port of Salina Cruz and with it Tehuantepec have acquired a more significant role.

The town has only a few old buildings of any interest. The former Dominican church dating from 1544, now the cathedral, has been rebuilt on several occasions but still retains its old arches and domes. The colourful town hall, supported on pillars, is very striking.