Campeche

The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Maya city of Can Pech. Little trace remains of the Pre-Columbian city.

The city retains many of the old colonial Spanish city walls and fortifications which protected the city from pirates and buccaneers. The state of preservation and quality of its architecture earned it the status of a World Heritage Site in 1999. Campeche is (along with Quebec City) one of the only cities in North America with most of its historic old city walls intact. Originally, the Spaniards lived inside the walled city, while the indigenous Maya people lived in the surrounding barrios of San Francisco, Guadalupe, and San Román. These barrios still retain their original churches; the one in Guadalupe is almost 500 years old.