TABASCO

state, southeastern Mexico, bounded on the northwest by the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, east by Campeche, southeast by Guatemala, south by Chiapas, and west by Veracruz. Tabasco's 9,756-sq-mi (25,267-sq-km) territory is generally low and flat, largely covered with lagoons and swamps but with a higher area in the south and southeast. It is drained by the Grijalva (also known as the Tabasco) and Usumacinta rivers, which, with their tributaries, act as the principal avenues of transportation. Olmec colossal basalt head in the Museo de la Venta, an outdoor museum near Villahermosa, Tabasco, Pre-Columbian Indian cultures included those of the Quich Maya, Olmec (see photograph), Tabasca, and Nahuatl. In 1518 Juan de Grijalva visited the area. In 1519 Hernn Corts first clashed with the Indians, and Francisco de Montejo partially subdued them in the 1530s and 1540s. Tabasco, an Indian name meaning damp earth, became a state in 1824. Agriculture (the raising of cacao, copra, corn , sugarcane, and bananas), forestry (especially mahogany and red cedar), beekeeping, fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and cattle raising provided much of the state's income until the 1960s, when the potential petroleum wealth began to be exploited. The state's major petrochemical facilities are at Ciudad Pemex and La Venta, utilizing oil from more than 30 fields in the state, many discovered in the mid- and late 1970s. Villahermosa (q.v.), the state capital, is accessible by road and air and, via Teapa, rail. The principal port is Frontera, on the mouth of the Grijalva. Pop. (1984) 1,208,000.