Comitán

Comitán (Spanish: [komiˈtan] ⓘ; formally: Comitán de Domínguez, for Belisario Domínguez[2]) is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is the seat of government of the municipality of the same name.

Comitán
Municipality and city
The Temple of San José, in the historic center of Comitán de Dominguez.
The Temple of San José, in the historic center of Comitán de Dominguez.
Official seal of Comitán
Seal
Comitán is located in Mexico
Comitán
Comitán
Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 16°15′0″N 92°08′0″W
Country Mexico
StateChiapas
Area
 • Municipality308.0 sq mi (797.8 km2)
 • City12.98 sq mi (33.63 km2)
Population
 (2020 census)[1]
 • Municipality166,178
 • Density540/sq mi (210/km2)
 • City
113,479
 • City density8,700/sq mi (3,400/km2)
Comitán

It is located in the east-central part of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala at 16.25°N 92.13°W / 16.25; -92.13. The municipality has an area of 797.8 km². Its largest other community is the town of Villahermosa Yalumá.

Comitán is also a popular tourist destination, mostly for Mexican nationals, though some foreign visitors can also be seen. The town possesses colonial architecture, narrow avenues, and clean streets. The climate is cool most of the year, and can get quite chilly from October to March.

History

The old town was founded in a swamp by a group of Tzeltal people. The original name given by the local population was Balún Canán (which means "Nine stars"). As part of the Spanish colonization, the town of Comitan was founded in February 1528 and elevated to the city in 1556 by Dominican friars, belonging to the captaincy of Guatemala. It was later changed to Comitán de las Flores and, in 1915, to Comitán de Domínguez, after Dr. Belisario Domínguez, who gave a memorable speech in Congress against the dictator Victoriano Huerta for which he was murdered.

Geography

Climate

Comitán had a marginal subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) a little below a tropical savanna climate. Afternoons are very warm with fairly high humidity almost throughout the year, whilst mornings are cool in the dry season and mild during the rainy season. The dry season gradually warms up between March and May, before the rainy season begins during May and continues with higher humidity until October, following which the coolest and most pleasant weather of the year prevails.

Climate data for Comitán (1951-2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 32.5
(90.5)		 33.5
(92.3)		 35.5
(95.9)		 37.5
(99.5)		 36.0
(96.8)		 34.0
(93.2)		 36.0
(96.8)		 32.0
(89.6)		 32.5
(90.5)		 33.0
(91.4)		 33.5
(92.3)		 32.5
(90.5)		 37.5
(99.5)
Average high °C (°F) 23.8
(74.8)		 25.3
(77.5)		 27.6
(81.7)		 28.7
(83.7)		 27.9
(82.2)		 25.7
(78.3)		 25.0
(77.0)		 25.7
(78.3)		 25.3
(77.5)		 24.5
(76.1)		 23.9
(75.0)		 23.6
(74.5)		 25.6
(78.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 16.9
(62.4)		 18.0
(64.4)		 19.8
(67.6)		 21.0
(69.8)		 21.1
(70.0)		 20.4
(68.7)		 19.7
(67.5)		 20.1
(68.2)		 20.0
(68.0)		 18.9
(66.0)		 17.8
(64.0)		 17.1
(62.8)		 19.2
(66.6)
Average low °C (°F) 10.1
(50.2)		 10.7
(51.3)		 12.0
(53.6)		 13.4
(56.1)		 14.3
(57.7)		 15.0
(59.0)		 14.5
(58.1)		 14.6
(58.3)		 14.6
(58.3)		 13.3
(55.9)		 11.7
(53.1)		 10.5
(50.9)		 12.9
(55.2)
Record low °C (°F) 0.5
(32.9)		 2.0
(35.6)		 3.5
(38.3)		 5.0
(41.0)		 2.0
(35.6)		 5.5
(41.9)		 7.0
(44.6)		 6.0
(42.8)		 9.0
(48.2)		 3.0
(37.4)		 2.0
(35.6)		 1.5
(34.7)		 0.5
(32.9)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 7.9
(0.31)		 11.6
(0.46)		 18.0
(0.71)		 44.8
(1.76)		 129.3
(5.09)		 216.6
(8.53)		 124.5
(4.90)		 146.0
(5.75)		 220.9
(8.70)		 109.5
(4.31)		 25.3
(1.00)		 11.1
(0.44)		 1,065.5
(41.96)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) 4.2 3.8 3.7 6.5 13.2 19.4 16.7 17.8 21.3 15.1 6.9 5.3 133.9
Average relative humidity (%) 69 66 62 62 67 74 75 74 76 76 74 72 71
Mean monthly sunshine hours 248 218 268 255 226 193 230 230 182 212 228 232 2,722
Source 1: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (humidity, 1981-2000)[3][4][5]
Source 2: Deutscher Wetterdienst (sun, 1961-1990)[6][lower-alpha 1]

Demographics

As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 141,013,[7] up from 121,263 as of 2005.

As of 2010, the city of Comitán had a population of 97,537,[7] up from 83,571 as of 2005. Other than the city of Comitán, the municipality had 340 localities, the largest of which (with 2010 populations in parentheses) were: Villahermosa Yalumá (2,368), San José Yocnajab (1,809), La Floresta (1,743), Los Riegos (1,740), Francisco Sarabia (1,673), Cash (1,429), Señor del Pozo (1,353), Zaragoza la Montaña (1,263), Efraín A. Gutiérrez (1,153), and Chacaljocom (1,056), classified as rural.[7]

Tourism
Junchavin Theater

Tourists in Comitán can see many touristic sights, including Mayan ruins, the Lagunas de Montebello, El Chiflon which is a series of waterfalls (this costs a few pesos to enter), Tenam Puente which is an archeological Mayan Cultural place, and others. Comitán is approximately 2 hours away from San Cristobal by bus and approximately 3 hours away from Tuxtla. It is common for locals to travel 2 hours on the bus to see San Cristobal and then travel an additional hour in order to reach Tuxtla.

Notes
  1. Station ID for Comitan, Chis. is 76848 Use this station ID to locate the sunshine duration

References
  1. Citypopulation.de
  2. Comitán de Domínguez Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México
  3. "Estado de Chiapas–Estacion: Comitan (DGE)". NORMALES CLIMATOLÓGICAS 1951-2010 (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  4. "Extreme Temperatures and Precipitation for Comitan Grandes (DGE) 1961-2010" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  5. "NORMALES CLIMATOLÓGICAS 1981-2000" (PDF) (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  6. "Station 76848 Comitan, Chis". Global station data 1961-1990—Sunshine Duration. Deutscher Wetterdienst. Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  7. "Comitán de Domínguez". Catálogo de Localidades. Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL). Retrieved 23 April 2014.
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